BISHOP PETERSON COMMENDABLY CLAPS A SIERRA LEONEAN PARLIAMENTARIAN AT ECOWAS SITTING_ BY BISHOP SAHR ISAAC PETERSON

Look at that! 

No, just look at how a Sierra Leonean Parliamentarian stood bold in the eyes of other octogenarians in African ECOWAS discourse. 

Thank you, Calabash newspaper. We've all read what the fearless leader said in the ECOWAS Parliament, as the proceedings continue to unfold.

Now, as a facelift for Africa, precisely in the West, ladies and gentlemen, kindly let me shift your reading skills this morning. 

Among the lots that you've shared here since this morning, I'm particularly drawn to the ECOWAS brouhaha; precise enough, the fearless speech of Saa Emerson Lamina. His boldness is commendable. 

I read Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina’s intervention at the ECOWAS Parliament on May 5, 2026, and I must say this: he is farfetched from others. He is indeed a trailblazer in times of analytics and parliamentary discourse.  

Why do I say so? Look at the evidence. First, he listens before he speaks. He commended Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and The Gambia for ‘comprehensive details on their political situation, democracy, peace, security and human rights.’ Many parliamentarians rise only to condemn. He starts with data. Second, he names the contradiction. On The Gambia’s term-limit debate, he said, ‘I expressed concern about the presidency and entrance legitimacy which seem to change from what they promised to the reality on the ground.’ He did not hide behind diplomatic fog. He called it ‘surprising’ that ‘there is no term limit now.’ Third, he connects symptom to disease. ‘The danger in the prolongation of term limits and shifting from campaign promises is that it attracts military intervention,’ he warned. That is analytics: cause, effect, consequence. Most speeches stop at outrage. He delivers diagnosis.  

Now, where does ECOWAS bridge the standpoint of leadership in favouring themselves? The pattern is clear. Article 1(b) of the ‘ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance’ (2001) says ‘every accession to power must be made through free, fair and transparent elections.’ Yet the same Protocol is silent when incumbents erase term limits after winning. Article 2(1) states ‘no substantial modification shall be made to the electoral laws in the last six months before the elections.’ We cite it proudly. But Article 40.2, which Hon. Lamina referenced, only ‘encourages’ uniform democratic principles. It does not mandate two-term limits. So a leader keeps ‘accession’ clean, then shifts the ‘duration.’ The goalpost moves, but the game stays legal. That is how leadership favours itself: by obeying the letter while betraying the spirit.  

Hon. Lamina is not the first to see it. I recall Senator Aissatou Sow of Senegal in 2019 telling this chamber, ‘We cannot preach alternation and practice entrenchment.’ In 2022, Hon. Kwame Asare of Ghana said, ‘Term elongation is the new coup, only without khaki.’ Even Speaker Sidie Tunis in 2023 warned that ‘constitutional manipulation is the slow poison of our Union.’ Those were strong words. But after the applause, what changed? No resolution. No sanction. No flyer, no banner, no binding text to close the loophole. The gaps were named, but the bridge back to self-service remained open.  

What makes Lamina different is that he turns record into request. He did not just lament The Gambia’s 1997 Constitution that ‘permits unlimited five-year terms.’ He invoked Article 40.2 and argued, ‘It is possible for countries in ECOWAS to have uniform laws… Uniform laws will bring out the real tenets of democratic principles.’ He moved from country report to community remedy. He tied The Gambia’s 22 political parties to weak thresholds and linked that to ballot confusion, a point others miss. He praised Early Warning mechanisms, then asked why they did not flag the silence on tenure in the report itself. That is parliamentary discourse: commend, question, construct.  

I have sat through three Ordinary Sessions. I have heard courtesy. I have heard caution. On May 5, 2026, I heard clarity. Hon. Lamina said, ‘Leaders in West Africa must not shift the goalpost in the middle of the game. That is a red flag.’ He is right. And because he said it with articles, examples, and a path forward, he is not just another voice. He is the one who filed the motion our region has avoided.  

ECOWAS must now choose: keep the Protocol as a shield for incumbents, or amend it as Lamina urges, so ‘accession’ and ‘duration’ face the same law. Until then, his warning stands. Military coups are not the only coups. Changing the rules after the whistle is a coup too. Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina saw it, said it, and gave us the text to stop it. That is why he is a trailblazer.  

©Bishop Sahr Isaac Peterson  

English Consultant and Poet, Africa

- Sierra Leone