Leader of Ghana’s delegation to the Sixth Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, George Kweku Ricketts Hagan, has described the official handing over of the leadership mantle by Third Deputy Speaker Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin in Accra at the just-ended Second 2026 Extraordinary Session and Seminar as symbolic, saying it brings finality to previous challenges.
According to him, the leadership baton changed months ago. He described Afenyo-Markin’s address as fantastic and said the Third Deputy Speaker was encouraged to hand over to bring closure to any challenges that might have existed earlier.
In an interview on the sidelines of the session, he noted that the Third Deputy Speaker is his good friend and brother on the other side of the aisle in Ghana’s Parliament, and that they need to come together to work for Ghana and save the country.
“We need to be able to do that with decorum and peace in a way that advances the country Ghana,” he said. On what to expect under his leadership, he said he will continue to steer the ship that is the Ghana delegation, bringing his own style and ideas, as well as ideas from the new Ghanaian members of the Community Parliament.
He added that he will support the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, together with his colleagues from sub-regional member states, to manage the institution called the ECOWAS Parliament. “Without Parliament in any country in the sub-region, you have no democracy. Parliament is democracy, and democracy is Parliament.
“So, if you say you are practising democracy, then Parliament is the bedrock of democracy. To grow regional democracy from strength to strength, we must first grow our own domestic parliaments and feed into the regional Parliament. It is extremely important to preserve the democracy we are enjoying, which is giving us development.”
Mr Ricketts Hagan further noted that ECOWAS member countries are working together so that the development Ghana enjoys can be shared across member states. He said Ghana has practised democracy for over 30 years and is still growing; there are challenges and differences, but somehow the country always works through them successfully.
“Again, we should not take democracy for granted. It does not happen automatically. Men and women have worked on democracy for years, and it has gotten to our turn to advance it, take it to new heights, and make Africa, ECOWAS and Ghana proud and developed,” he said.
He thanked the Parliament and the entire ECOWAS staff for the decision to bring the Extraordinary Session to Ghana. “We in Ghana are very grateful for this opportunity. This is not the first time; we have done it before. We did a good job, which is why it has come here again, and we have done a better job this time around.”
Under the leadership of the Clerk of Ghana’s Parliament, they worked together with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Community Parliament partners to put together arrangements at Palms Hotel and other hotels, and to use the transportation system and buses put in place to reduce traffic in town while getting participants to the session on time.
“It has been a fantastic function. I thank President John Dramani Mahama, who agreed that it should be hosted here, as well as the Speaker of Parliament for the guidance through the Clerk of Parliament. As leader, I am grateful for the support I have received from Parliament and the Presidency to put this together.
“I also thank Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who stood in for the President. The President wanted to be here but for the UN General Assembly assignment. Together with the Speaker of the Community Parliament, we went to thank the Vice President at the Presidency. We are happy to have brought the programme to an end, and I thank members of my Ghanaian delegation.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/EcowasNewsOnline.com
