Challenges before new ECOWAS chair

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has assumed the leadership (chairmanship) of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, with a promise to consolidate peace and security and call on member states to intensify onslaught against terrorism. Johnson-Sirleaf was elected by her colleagues at the 49th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the Authority […]

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has assumed the leadership (chairmanship) of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, with a promise to consolidate peace and security and call on member states to intensify onslaught against terrorism.
Johnson-Sirleaf was elected by her colleagues at the 49th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Saturday.
The 77-year- old has been President of Liberia since 2006, the first ever woman to be elected President in Africa and the first female head of state to hold the position. She took over from Senegalese President, Macky Sall who has completed his tenure after succeeding Ghana President John Mahama in 2015.
However, as she jump-starts her new post as chairperson of the ECOWAS, the Liberian President is faced with huge challenges. She took over at a time when the economic bloc was reeling from the impact of terrorism and violent extremism, financial instability, coupled with the recent Ebola outbreak.
Although much achievements may have been recorded in the area of democracy with peaceful elections in Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire among others boosting the sub-region’s democratic credentials, ECOWAS has been contending with some challenges since its inception 41 years ago.
Prominent among these is the scourge of terrorism. With the increase in the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Sahel region, countries in the region are today threatened by insurgents and terrorists whose activities have caused the death of thousands. In the Gulf of Guinea, the increasing incidence of piracy, drug trafficking, oil bunkering and human trafficking has reached a worrisome dimension.
As talks on economic cooperation and regional integration continue from regime to regime, free movement of people and goods within the sub-region still remain a challenge while the issues of extortion at the border is an established stumbling block to achieving the desired ends of abolishing the trade obstacles.
Beyond this, the 15-member regional bloc is also faced with huge financial difficulties and have affected its ability to meet commitments. This became worsened when Nigeria, the biggest donor, suspended its contributions.
The new president of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Marcel Alain de Souza had said that the community levy which represents 90% of the commission’s funding was not being regularly paid by most member states with Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde and Senegal as major defaulters, but that the greater challenge lied with Nigeria with debt of $694,000.
The financial constraint, however, forced the West African leaders to adopt a precautionary measures to rationalize and control expenses, and instructed the commission to investigate as soon as possible long-term solutions to the implementation of the community levy.
Johnson-Sirleaf, cognizant of all these challenges, rolled out key priorities aimed at consolidation of peace, security architecture, conclusion of negotiations and legal actions, the transformation of Vision 2020 and improvement in financial stability.
In her acceptance speech, Johnson-Sirleaf, charged member states to work even harder to ensure that terrorism is totally defeated. She also called for the conclusion of negotiations and legal actions to enhance trade integration, but warned that failure to close the negotiations could lead to differentiation among member states.
Meanwhile, President Sirleaf has proposed the ardent need to achieve transformation of Vision 2020 through agriculture and infrastructure, pointing out that during her tenure, the imperative will be to holistically improve financial stability through existing protocols and mechanisms. 
As she grapples with the ECOWAS’ challenges, question on the person of Johnson-Sirleaf would be “how much can she achieve in the next 12 months?”