Confirmed information reaching this newspaper state that Hon. Chericoco has not welcomed the news of him throwing his weight to his colleague. According to sources, Hon. Chericoco has similar intent to occupy the seat as Hon. Tunis do and the former has no intention to quit the race for anyone.
Therefore, at the forthcoming election for the ECOWAS Parliament seat, Sierra Leone is expected to have the two MPs vying for the same.
It can be recalled that Hon. Tunis was recently formally endorsed by President Julius Maada Bio and Speaker of Parliament (MP), Dr. Abass Bundu, on behalf of the People and Government of Sierra Leone to be Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament for the next four years, beginning February 2020.
Hon. Tunis was unveiled as the choice for the Speakership among its five-member delegation to ECOWAS Parliament on Friday, September 13, 2019 at the Paynesville City Hall in Paynesville, to the rest of 110 MPs visiting from 13 West African Countries.
Similarly, information has it that Hon. Chericoco will also make a public declaration of intent shortly.
The ECOWAS Parliament alphabetically holds the speakership for four years, to steer the affairs of the body and should anyone of them win the forthcoming election, Hon. Tunis or Hon. Chericoco will take over the Seat from Hon Moustapaha Cisse Lo of Senegal, whose speakership will expire on February 3, 2020.
The Speakership of Sierra Leone will run the ECOWAS Parliament from February 2020 to February 2024, after which, the Speakership will go to Togo. At that time, the Togolese Government will also select one of its members to the ECOWAS Parliament, to also become Speaker. Outgoing ECOWAS Parliament Speaker, Moustapaha Cisse Lo, in a special statement said the transition of the Speakership in the Parliament is part of the tenets of democracy and it is hoped that the members will peacefully co-exist in the region.
