Ghanian President Akufo-Addo re-elected as ECOWAS Chair

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been re-elected for the second term as Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

At an extraordinary meeting of the Heads of States of the Authority held virtually on February 2, 2021, President Akufo-Addo received the consensus ECOWAS Member States to serve for one more year.

In a communique issued at the end of the conference, President Akufo-Addo, with support from the Ministerial Ad hoc Committee on Institutional Reform, would oversee the implementation of institutional reforms to enhanced financial management and internal control of the Institution.

Fourteen Heads of States, who took part in the summit, were President Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso; President Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca,l of Cape Verde; President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire; President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana; President Prof. Alpha Conde of Guinea; President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau and President George Manneh Weah of Liberia.

The rest are President Macky Sall of Senegal; President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone; President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe of Togo; President Yemi Osinbajo, Vice-President of Nigeria; Prime Minister Brigi Rafini of Niger; Moctar Ouane, Prime Minister of Transition of Mali and Aurélien Agbenonci, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Benin.

The session was also attended by H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission.

The session chaired by President Akufo-Addo was in preparation for the 34th ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on the election of the new management team of the African Union Commission.  

President Akufo-Addo was first appointed Chair of the 15-member ECOWAS in September 2020 by the 57th Ordinary Session of the Authority.

He replaced President Mahamadou Issoufou of the Republic of Niger, who steered the activity of the Authority for a year.