ECOWAS court laments non execution of judgment by member states
(Nigeria) The ECOWAS Court has expressed concern over non implementation of its judgment by the members’ states.
The Vice President of the Court, Justice Micah Wright said in
Abuja on Tuesday, that only three out of 15 member states had put in place mechanism to
execute the court’s decision.
``The court has experienced a couple of hardships or
impediments as you say in the dispensation of its work, for example, notably in
the execution of the judgment of the court. The court as you know does not have a police and the court
does not execute or implement its own decisions, the court depends upon the
goodwill of the member states.
``So, when the court renders a judgment, the court forwards
the judgment to the member states and requests the member states to execute or
implement that judgment - that is one of the impediments we have.
``Out of the 15 countries, our last information was that
only three states had put in place proper mechanisms for the enforcement of
judgment by this court, the countries are Nigeria, Guinea and Togo,” he said.
According to him, those are the only three countries that
have mechanisms to receive and implement or execute the decision of the court.
Wright said that the court was embarking on efforts to get
other member states to see the wisdom in complying with the judgment issued by
the court.
The Vice President said that another impediment that the
court was facing was insufficient fund for its operation due to non-payment of
levy by member states.
`` The court and by extension the entire community is facing
financial difficulties where member states are not paying up the community levy
and that is the means of finance for all ECOWAS activities.
``The court is always at disadvantage when the funds are
being distributed. But we have to take more initiatives to impress it upon the
commission the mandate of the court is of such that the court is alone.
``The court cannot source external funding like the
commission or like other institutions. We don’t want to compromise our
independence and neutrality by going out to seek donor funding.
``Where the donor will have to dictate to the court the kinds
of things they want the court to engage in, we want to maintain our
independence and autonomy within the ECOWAS infrastructure," he said
According to him, the court has been lobbying with the
commission to ensure that the fund disbursement will be more favourable to the
court’s interest.
He said that another critical challenge the court was facing
was inadequate space for office facilities that would give it proper
accommodation.
According to him, at the moment the court has two facilities
separated because the space in each one of them is not sufficient to host all
the staff members of the court.
He said that the facilities Nigeria provided as its
obligation as the host community in line with the treaty signed was becoming
smaller because of the growth in the number of staff.
``We have observed that over the last 15 years, the staff of
the court have outgrown the number of facilities we have already , we are
repeating our call to the government of Nigeria to met up to its obligations.
``It is not a favour, it is a treaty obligation undertaken
by Nigeria to host the court and that obligation places the responsibility on
Nigeria to provide facilities to whichever institution it hosts.
``So I must say that this administration has taken one step
because a month ago, the management of the court met with the minister of state
ministry of foreign affairs and was kind enough to inform us that she would
convey the concern of the court to the president.
``I m sure that the president will use his good faith to
discharge the responsibility of the obligation,” he said.
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