By Tabora Bojang
Gambia’s Omar Touray, the current president of the Ecowas commission, will leave office in July 2026, at the end of his 4- year term.
Touray’s candidature was proposed by the Gambia government and unanimously endorsed by the Ecowas Heads of State and Government in 2022 making him the first Gambian to hold the presidency of Ecowas Commission having taken over from Ivorian diplomat and economist Dr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of this year’s Ecowas summit in Nigeria, Touray confirmed that his management’s term will end in July next year and that his predecessor, will come from Senegal, while the vice presidency will go to Nigeria, and the portfolio for the Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security will go to Sierra Leone. “Also, the Commissioner of Economic Affairs and Agriculture will come from Liberia, Internal Services from Côte d’Ivoire, Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation from Ghana, Human Development and Social Affairs from Benin and the Auditor General to come from Cape Verde.”
Acording to Touray, ther statutory management appointees including the director general of the West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO) will come from Togo and the director general for the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa will come from The Gambia. He also stated that the five judges to be appointed at the Ecowas Court of Justice will come from Benin, Togo, Gambia, Nigeria and Liberia.
