Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector: Lessons from Ghana

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in the sub-region as the main priority areas for his committee and has initiated moves tobring to an end some of the crises through dialogue. He stated that the Committee wouldnot just consult with officials, but would also conduct public consultations. That fact thatcivil society organizations will be consulted regularly for expert input to the Committee’sformulation of security policies, resource allocation, and general analysis is a welcomedevelopment. There is further room for regionally-based research centers with skills insecurity analysis to support the work and emerging capacity of the Committee.At the same time, there is uneasiness between the Committee’s activities vis-àvisnational executive authority and the role of national assemblies. The DSCI Chairsounded a note of caution even before the Committee began its oversight: “We are notusurping the powers of ECOWAS Heads of State; all we are doing is to act as anadvisory body to them in areas that concern the development of the sub-region.” TheParliament, he continued, intended to “work hand in hand with ECOWAS Heads ofState,” including ”meeting with the presidents of each country to discuss modalities forour peace moves so that it helps us to take decisions.” 118 Such deferential consultation,if more than rhetoric, does not bode well for the Committee’s functioning as more thanan executive rubber-stamp.7.4.3 Emerging contradictions and confusionsThere are problems associated with the Defence, Security, and Integration CommitteeChair’s perception of the Parliament’s role and power in relation to the heads of state,and specifically to members of the Mediation and Security Council. Notwithstanding hisconcerns, the ECOWAS Parliament is sovereign in its actions and power; it cannot anddoes not “usurp” executive power – rather, it has started to exercise some checks andbalances. The Chair’s concerns take cognizance neither of the Parliament’s supranationalitynor of the ECOWAS declaration of constitutional principles, which in theorybinds all member states concerning separation of powers between the Executive,Legislature and Judiciary. 119The Parliament has responsibilities in ECOWAS conflict prevention, primarilyconcerning financing and oversight. Under ECOWAS’s new mechanism for conflictprevention, certain aspects of its peacekeeping operations automatically fall underscrutiny by certain parliamentary committees, especially the Defence and SecurityCommittee and the Budgeting Control and Accounts Committee. The Protocol’s article36 (1) asserts that ‘the Executive Secretary shall make provision in its annual budget, forfunds to finance the activities of the Mechanism…[However] as soon as the Protocolgoverning conditions for application of the Community Levy enters into force, apercentage of the said Levy shall be earmarked for these activities’. The Parliamentadministers the Community Levy.In so far as community funds are disbursed for a peacekeeping activity, both ofthe above committees have the authority to ensure that the budgets are properlyapplied. However, the Protocol asserts in Article 37 (1) that ‘the states contributingcontingents may be invited to bear the cost of operations during the first three (3)months.’ Subsection (2) does reassure that ‘ECOWAS shall refund the expenditureincurred by States within a maximum period of six (6) months.’ There is a potentialdifficulty here. Once funding for a peacekeeping operation is shifted from the communityto the national level, issues of national security come into play. Then there is a naturalreluctance to openly discuss national security spending. Worse, most West African118 Ibid. Ghanaian Times, 4.119 ECOWAS 2001b, 6.26
legislatures have neither the clout nor the capacity to ensure democratic governance oftheir security sectors.Events in the Community Parliament are replicating Hutchful’s argument that “thepredominant pattern in many countries has tended to be executive dominance in thecontext of a weak legislature and civil society.” 120 Such a pattern prevails in WestAfrica’s nascent parliaments. Such weaknesses should not be transferred to theECOWAS Parliament. Yet executive power still needs effective oversight; where will thiscome from, if not from the Community Parliament? The protocol’s designers seem tohave been unaware of the importance of Parliament’s oversight function, because theprotocol never mentions the Parliament. Hence the dilemma: West Africa needs moreforceful legislatures, and the ECOWAS Parliament itself needs to assert its independentrole vis-à-vis the executive; yet sooner or later such strengthening will involve politicalcollision with the executive at both the national and the regional level.7.4.4 International CooperationThe need for international cooperation under the emerging ECOWAS security regimebecame manifest after 2001. ECOWAS has an agreement with the United States,France and the United Kingdom to build ECOMOG capacity for peace supportoperations. Under this dispensation, three cooperative programs have evolved in WestAfrica, all responding to the strategic, tactical and operational level of security priorities.Known initially as the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI), the Americanprogramme has been renamed the African Contingency Operations Training Assistance(ACOTA). The French programme, known as RECAMP involves practical training tostrengthen cohesion and effectiveness of African capacity for peace supportoperations. 121 The British assistance is mandated under the auspices of the AfricanPeacekeeping Training Support Programme. As noted by Ebo, a major challenge facingWest African states under such sub-regional security cooperation is the need to maintaina delicate balance between external assistance and the need for local ownership ofsecurity arrangements and reforms. 122Local ownership can be facilitated if more democratic space is created for theparticipation of ECOWAS Community Parliament, including sub-regional civil societygroups in the oversight responsibilities of such international cooperation. Currently, thisis rarely the case. It is also very important to be wary of the increasing interest ofwestern powers in regional security cooperation in West Africa. For example, the US isconsidering the establishment of the US African Command (AFRICOM) in West Africa.This raises numerous questions: What will be the security implications of establishingAFRICOM for member states in the sub-region? How will the command of AFRICOMaffect the ECOWAS security architecture and operations? What kind of institutionalarrangements will be put in place for the overall oversight of its operations in Africa? Willparliament and civil society groups be involved in the oversight role? If so, will they havethe requisite mandate and capacity to play such roles? 1238.0 Conclusion120 Ebo Hutchful, 2001, 6.121 Sarjoh Bah and Kwesi Aning, “Understanding US peacekeeping policy in Africa: from ACRI toAFRICOM,” International Peacekeeping, 15:1, 2008.122 See Ebo Adedeji, “Security Sector Reform as an Instrument of Sub-Regional transformation in westAfrica,” http://www.dcaf.ch/publications/e-publications/SSR_yearbook2004/Chapter4_Ebo.pdf, accessed 7July 2008.123 Bah and Aning, op. cit.27
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Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector: Lessons from Ghana

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