Winneba hosts fourth ECOWAS Parliament session

Winneba, the capital of the Effutu Constituency in the Central Region, will host another delocalised meeting of three joint committees of the ECOWAS Parliament from July 29 to August 3, 2024.

The conference of the committees on Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resources, Energy and Mines, and Infrastructure will inform legislators about the strategies and mechanisms developed for an environmentally sound management of plastic waste within the bloc. 

An invitation dated July 12, 2024, and signed by the Secretary General of the ECOWAS Parliament, K. Bertin Some, was extended to the Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, to confirm Winneba as the venue for the session.

Per the letter, the event will enable the legislators to make recommendations to the attention of the ECOWAS Commission on sustainable management of plastic waste.

That, it said, would help improve community legislation to ensure the coordinated implementation of environmental management policies and integrated management plans for chemicals and plastic waste.

Meant to bring governance close to the citizenry, the event will be held on the theme: “Plastic Waste Management Challenges and Prospects in the Implementation and Community Activities”.

It will be the fourth consecutive time that Winneba, a town endowed with green vegetation, nature and a conducive environment, will be hosting a meeting of the bloc outside Abuja, where the ECOWAS headquarters is located.

The first delocalised joint meeting to be ever held by any member state outside Abuja was held in Winneba in May 2021. In October of the same year, Winneba also hosted the extraordinary sessions of the entire ECOWAS Parliament, with the last session held in October 2023.

Opportunity

In his response, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the meeting would offer an opportunity for the continent to appreciate the investment potential in the area.

Labelling Effutu as a “burgeoning hub for tourism,” Mr Afenyo-Markin, who is also the Majority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament, said: “We are excited to unveil several investment projects that promise significant returns and contribute to our community’s development.”

With an impressive 82 per cent literacy rate, he said the area boasted a highly educated and skilled workforce ready to manage such investments for mutual benefit.

He pointed out that the strategic location of Effutu, sandwiched between Accra and Cape Coast along the ECOWAS trans-coastal highway, made it easily accessible to markets and resources.

“Investing in Effutu means taking advantage of Ghana’s stable democracy, access to a large domestic and regional market, abundant natural resources, and a business-friendly environment. Effutu is not just a place to invest; it is a place to thrive and grow,” he said in a statement.

Dignitaries

Special guests billed to deliver a keynote address at the event are the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, and the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.