New Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Memounatou Ibrahima.
By Mark Longyen
The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has elected the first female speaker in the annals of the regional legislative arm.
The new Speaker of the Community Parliament, Memounatou Ibrahima, from Togo, was elected on Thursday at the 2024 Second Extraordinary Session of the Sixth Legislature of the Community Parliament in Kano, State, North West Nigeria.
She emerged as Speaker due to the rotation of the speakership of the Community Parliament in alphabetical order, which makes it Togo’s turn to produce the new speaker, in accordance with the provision of the Supplementary Act on Enhancement of Power.
The position of the fifth Legislature of ECOWAS Parliament was held by Sierra Leone.
Ibrahima was the third Deputy Speaker in the fifth Legislature of ECOWAS Parliament; she has been in the ECOWAS Parliament since 2021.
She is taking up the baton from the Nigerian leader of the delegation, Senator Barau Jubrin, who was elected the First Deputy Speaker at the inauguration of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament on April 4th, 2024, and became acting Speaker to avoid creating a vacuum of leadership.
This was because during the inauguration of the Sixth Legislature, the delegation of the Republic of Togo had not conducted an election to enable the country to send its representatives to the Community Parliament.
