PRESIDENT TO OPEN 2019/2020 YEAR OF ECOWAS COURT ON MONDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2019

The 2019/2020 legal year of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, the first by the present college of Judges since their swearing-in on 31^st July 2019, will be declared open by the President of the Court, Honorable Justice Edward Amoako Asante, on Monday, 30^th September 2019.

The annual solemn ceremony, which formally marks the transition into another legal year, offers the Court an opportunity to interface with its stakeholders and present its judicial records as well as its aspirations and programmes for the new legal year.

The 2019/2020 legal year ceremony will be celebrated around the theme “The need for a Strong and Independent Regional Court for the Economic Integration of West Africa,” in order in order to improve access to the Court.

In choosing the theme, “our intention is to draw attention to the need for a strong and independent regional court for the economic integration of West Africa,”’ the President explained, adding that ‘the European Union has demonstrated that any successful Regional Economic Community, needs a strong and independent regional court in addition to the normative framework in order to facilitate the integration process.’

A renowned and distinguished scholar, Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, will speak on the theme as Guest Speaker. The Professor of Public International Law and Comparative Jurisprudence of Regional Integration Law, who has a long association with the Court, is the Director of Legislative Support Services of Nigeria’s National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies.

Honorable Justices Edward Amoako Asante (President, Ghana), Gberi-bè Ouattara (Vice President, Cote d’Ivoire) Dupe Atoki ( Nigeria), Keikura Bangura ( Sierra Leone) and Januária Tavares Silva Moreira Costa ( Cape Verde) were sworn on 31^st July 2018 in Lome, Togo by the then Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, His Excellency, President Faure Essozinma Gnassingbe of Togo.

Dignitaries expected at the ceremony include High Authorities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Heads of ECOWAS Institutions in Abuja, Members of the Diplomatic Corps including Ambassadors of Member States accredited to ECOWAS and the Bar Association.

The Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS was established pursuant to the provisions of Article 15 of the Revised Treaty of ECOWAS as the principal legal organ of the Community, and in the discharge of its functions, independent of the Member States and Institutions of ECOWAS.