ECOWAS court laments non execution of judgment by member states

                                                                 

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, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that only three out of 15 member states had put in place mechanisms 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.

Mr. Wright said 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. (NAN)