MONROVIA, Liberia – The Speaker of the Home of Representatives of Liberia, Richard Koon and his three counterparts on Sunday, July 20, launched the Mano River Union Parliamentary Physique (MRUPB). The ceremony was held on the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Advanced in Monrovia.
By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway
The occasion introduced collectively all 4 Audio system of the Mano River Union (MRU) member states — Segepoh Solomon Thomas (Sierra Leone), Dr. Dansa Kourouma (Guinea), and Adama Bictogo (Côte d’Ivoire) — together with parliamentary delegates and key Liberian authorities officers, together with Senate President Professional Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence.
“At this time, we reaffirm our shared future and collective duty to construct a area that’s extra united, extra resilient, and extra conscious of the wants of our individuals,” Speaker Koon stated in his keynote deal with.
“This Parliamentary Physique is a important institutional bridge. It permits us to method our regional challenges not in isolation, however with a unified legislative voice—constant, coherent, and dedicated to the well-being of all our residents,” Speaker Koon famous.
He emphasised the urgency of constructing institutional synergy and leveraging parliamentary collaboration to deal with cross-border challenges and promote regional progress.
The MRUPB is designed as a legislative platform to harmonize nationwide legal guidelines, coordinate regional insurance policies, and collectively deal with points reminiscent of cross-border commerce, environmental challenges, regional safety, and gender fairness.
Outlining the MRUPB’s strategic priorities, Speaker Koon listed 5 focus areas: selling regional unity via legislative motion, combating smuggling and illicit commerce, local weather and environmental safety, boosting regional commerce, and mainstreaming gender equality.
He significantly emphasised gender inclusion as each an ethical obligation and an financial necessity. Main his signature “he4she” chant, he referred to as for the mainstreaming of gender concerns in all legislative efforts underneath the MRUPB framework.
Speaker Koon urged MRU nationwide parliaments to not accept symbolic participation however to decide to full implementation via participation, useful resource help, and capability constructing.
He additionally acknowledged the important help of worldwide companions reminiscent of ECOWAS, the African Union, the United Nations, and international growth companies.
“Allow us to rise, collectively, as one regional voice for peace, growth, and dignity. Allow us to legislate not only for our nations, however for our neighbors. Let this new parliamentary physique be a dwelling, respiration establishment of motion and integrity,” Koon declared.
The MRUPB is predicted to carry common periods, draft mannequin laws, and collaborate intently with regional organizations to affect key coverage areas affecting Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire.
Sierra Leone’s Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas, delivered a forward-looking deal with, voicing full help for the brand new parliamentary physique and underscoring the significance of institutionalized collaboration in tackling regional challenges reminiscent of youth unemployment, local weather change, and financial instability.
“The proposal to ascertain a Regional Parliament underneath the MRU framework is each visionary and well timed. Our nations have skilled the devastating results of battle and financial volatility, however we’ve additionally witnessed the resilience of our individuals. This twin actuality of problem and alternative calls for that we institutionalize collaboration,” he said.
Speaker Thomas emphasised the practical advantages of the MRUPB, together with harmonized laws, improved democratic accountability, structured citizen illustration, youth and gender empowerment, environmental safety, and strengthened advocacy inside continental frameworks just like the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA) and the AU’s Agenda 2063.
“Let this MRU Parliament not be a symbolic chamber,” he urged, “however a dwelling physique that crafts binding protocols, evaluates compliance, and upholds people-centered governance.”
Speaker Thomas added that for Sierra Leone, the regional parliament would improve cross-border commerce, scale back customs bottlenecks, appeal to funding, and assist consolidate peace in border communities. He pledged Sierra Leone’s full help from ratification to implementation.
Audio system Dr. Dansa Kourouma of Guinea and Adama Bictogo of Côte d’Ivoire, talking via French-language statements, additionally pledged their nations’ dedication to the MRUPB and its foundational mission of regional integration, peace, and growth.
The occasion was held underneath the theme: “In the direction of a regional parliament for integration, peace and growth.”
A Foundational Declaration
The 4 Audio system issued a joint declaration recalling the unique function of the MRU’s formation in 1973: to foster sub-regional integration, peace, stability, and socio-economic growth. They agreed that attaining these targets requires the energetic engagement of elected representatives in step with democratic governance ideas.
The declaration harassed the significance of institutionalizing parliamentary cooperation to enrich the work of MRU Heads of State and referred to as for the formal institution of the MRUPB as a ahead step in integration.
“Guided by the shared imaginative and prescient of peace, democratic governance, and socio-economic integration that drives the Mano River Union,
We name upon the Heads of State of the Mano River Union to champion and help this strategic initiative via high-level political steerage,” the Audio system declared.
The communique added: “This declaration represents our agency and shared dedication to work in the direction of a Mano River Union with an bold, consultant, and efficient framework of trade, in service of our peoples. It opens a brand new chapter within the historical past of our sub-region, grounded in citizen participation, parliamentary solidarity, and the joint development of our frequent future.”
