ECOWAS Parliament appoints new Secretary-General

• Speaker Tunis formally presented the acting secretary-general to the staff of the parliament on Nov. 20 in Abuja

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has appointed a new Acting Secretary-General of the Parliament, Mr Bertin Somé.

The appointment was made by the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Sidie Tunis, in a statement issued by the parliament on Saturday in Abuja.

It stated that the former Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Research, Somé, got the appointment by the parliament.

Somé who assumed office on Nov. 1, replaced Mr John Azumah, who retired from active service of the community.

Speaker Tunis formally presented the acting secretary-general to the staff of the parliament on Nov. 20 in Abuja.

During the ceremony, the speaker extolled Somé’s human, managerial and other qualities, including his sound knowledge of the workings of the institution.

Somé, a Burkinabe, joined the ECOWAS Parliament in September 2009 as a Committee Clerk and was appointed Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Research in February 2016.

While serving in the two positions, he demonstrated his attention to detail, particularly in his relations with staff and members of the parliament.

Somé, before joining the Community Parliament, had a successful long-standing career in the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, during which he held various positions.

Also, he was Director General of Legislative Services, Reporting Director and Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the NASS.

The ECOWAS Parliament has a total of 115 seats and 14 standing committees; each member state is guaranteed a minimum of five seats.

The remaining 40 seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.

Consequently, Nigeria has a total of 35 seats followed by Ghana with eight seats.

Then, Côte D’Ivoire is allotted seven seats, whereas Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal have six seats each.

The remaining ECOWAS Member States, namely Benin, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo, have five seats each.