ECOWAS Parliament's Third Deputy Speaker, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has handed over leadership of Ghana's delegation to fellow lawmaker George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, using the occasion to press parliamentarians to stay closely connected to the citizens they represent, according to a report by Guardian Nigeria. The handover took place during the Second Extraordinary Session and Seminar of the ECOWAS Parliament in Accra, Ghana, and covers only his role leading Ghana's delegation, Afenyo-Markin remains Third Deputy Speaker of the parliament itself.
In his remarks, Afenyo-Markin argued that the real value of regional integration has to show up in ordinary people's lives, in the opportunities available to young people, in how freely businesses can move across borders, and in the bloc's collective ability to respond to shared regional challenges, rather than existing only as an abstraction debated among officials in capital cities.
Ricketts-Hagan, representing Cape Coast South, takes over leadership of Ghana's delegation at a moment when the ECOWAS Parliament has been pushing a heavier focus on climate security, displacement and cross-border integration issues across the region's legislative agenda.