2025 BUDGET: ECOWAS MPs’ training and oversight given priority---Tunkara

Oversight and training of Members of Parliament (MPs) of the 6th Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has been given priority in the 2025 budget. 

According to the leader of the Gambian delegation to the sub-regional Parliament, Hon Billay Tunkara, compare to the 2024 budget, next year’s budget has seen some increase in the area of training and oversight.  

In an interview he pointed out that, the concerns of the Community Parliament lawmakers for priority to be given to training and sensitization activities in various members of the workings of the Parliament was considered. 

“But you should understand that there are no enough resources to run the Parliament; the limited resources will have to be shared among other ECOWAS institutions as we are mindful of the short coming of the levy”, he stated. 

He further pointed out that, ECOWAS is experiencing some short falls because some members are defaulting in the payment of the levy; so all these should be taken into account. We need to prioritize our activities too, he emphasized. 

According to him, the indications given by the three Sahel Countries to leave the bloc whiles they are not paying their levies, all these are contributing factors, meanwhile their nationals are within the system. 

“We pray the exit threat by the three Sahel countries is not carried out. In all these challenges ECOWAs should function; now priority has been set in terms of getting ammunitions and getting a standby force. 

Again, in the light of the challenges pointed out, the 2025 budget did not see any increase, it is same as the 2024 budget, just that we had to focus on priority areas and cut from one and add up to other areas”.   

As to what the Parliament is doing to encourage member states who are defaulting to pay up their levies for the running of ECOWAS and its activities, he said, “the Bureau is responsible for diplomacy, when we pay courtesy calls on Heads of States and Government, we request for the lists of member states defaulting so that we can write to their national Parliaments and encourage our colleagues to push for the payment of the levies as well as encourage the Finance Ministries to release the levies collected on time”, he concluded.