ECOWAS bemoans implementation of laws by member-states

The Vice President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Gberi-be Ouatttara, has bemoaned the poor application of community laws by the national courts of ECOWAS member-states.
He said this was impacting negatively on the growth of the law and the region’s integration project.
Justice Ouatttara made this known at the opening of the first ordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament for the year 2022 during which the parliamentarians will consider various reports, hold an interactive session with the regional civil society and consider the report of the President of the ECOWAS Commission on the implementation of the community work programme.
Justice Ouattara who represented the President of the Court, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, at the ceremony, also blamed the situation for the poor knowledge of the court despite its enviable jurisprudence and the various sensitization campaigns and external court sessions in member- states designed to improve public awareness of its activities and bring it closer to the citizens.
He also expressed concern about the absence of nationally designated focal points for the execution of the court’s decisions in most of the member-states stressing the importance of the authority “as the focal point between the court and the member-states on the one hand and the court and the applicants who are the beneficiaries of the decisions of the court and therefore have a stake in the enforcement of its decisions.”
He also challenged member-states to domesticate community’s legal instruments, particularly the Revised Treaty and the Protocols of the Court which they have signed, adding that the affected states were taking too long to trigger the procedure for the domestication of these instruments.