Sierra Leone’s President Bio takes over ECOWAS Chairmanship, sparking questions

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 23 June 2025:

President Bio of Sierra Leone was yesterday elected Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the ECOWAS summit in Abuja.

The first time Sierra Leone held the ECOWAS chairmanship was in the 1980s, with President Siaka Stevens as head of State of Sierra Leone.

According to Sierra Leone’s State House report, “The announcement has been met with great national pride, as President Bio takes on a role that symbolizes renewed commitment to unity, peace, security, and sustainable development across the West African region. Known for his democratic credentials and consistent pursuit of social and economic progress, President Bio is widely seen as a transformative leader ready to steer ECOWAS through challenging times.”

But many Sierra Leoneans are expressing shock and dismay at Bio’s appointment as head of ECOWAS, given his questionable victory at the 2023 general and presidential elections, which the opposition and the international community had described as “lacking credibility”.

The opposition’s demand for the election results to be fully published has not been accepted by President Bio, leaving many to conclude that Bio is concealing the truth and preventing the people from achieving electoral justice.

ECOWAS was established on 28 of May 1975 by the Treaty of Lagos signed by fifteen West African Heads of State and Government. The treaty of Lagos was initially limited to economic cooperation, but emerging political events led to its revision and expansion of scope of cooperation in 1993.

The vision of ECOWAS is to promote cooperation and integration, leading to the establishment of an Economic Union in West Africa to raise the living standards of its peoples, to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations among member States as well as to contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent.

The objectives of the Revised Treaty of ECOWAS are to deliver the following:

• The harmonization and co-ordination of national policies and the promotion of integration programmes, projects and activities, particularly in food, agriculture and natural resources, industry, transport and communications, energy, trade, money and finance, taxation, economic reform policies, human resources, education, information, culture, science, technology, services, health, tourism, legal matters;
• The harmonization and co-ordination of policies for the protection of the environment;
• The promotion of the establishment of joint production enterprises;
• The establishment of a common market;
• The establishment of an economic union through the adoption of common policies in the economic, financial, social and cultural sectors, and the creation of a monetary union;
• The promotion of joint ventures by private sector enterprises and other economic operators, in particular through the adoption of a regional agreement on cross border investments;
• The adoption of measures for the integration of the private sectors, particularly the creation of an enabling environment to promote small and medium scale enterprises;
• The establishment of an enabling legal environment;
• The harmonisation of national investment codes leading to the adoption of a single Community investment code;
• The harmonization of standards and measures;
• The promotion of balanced development of the region, paying attention to the special problems of each Member State particularly those of landlocked and small island Member States;
• The encouragement and strengthening of relations and the promotion of the flow of information particularly among rural populations, women and youth organizations and socio-professional organizations such as associations of the media, business men and women, workers, and trade unions;
• The adoption of a Community population policy which takes into account the need for a balance between demographic factors and socio-economic development;
• Any other activity that Member States may decide to undertake jointly with a view to attaining Community objectives.

The Authority of Heads of State and Government is the prime organ responsible for overseeing the Council of Ministers; the Community Parliament; the Economic and Social Council; the Community Court of Justice; the ECOWAS Commission; the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID); the West African Health Organization; the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in West Africa (GIABA), and other regional institutions.

Accepting his election as Chairman of ECOWAS, President Bio outlined four key strategic priorities: restoring constitutional order and deepening democracy; revitalizing regional security cooperation; unlocking economic integration; and building institutional credibility. These pillars are expected to guide ECOWAS’ efforts toward regional stability, economic prosperity, and enhanced cooperation among member states.

President Bio thanked the outgoing Chairman –  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria, for his steadfast leadership and commitment to regional dialogue and peace-building during his tenure.

“Thank you for placing your trust in me and in the Republic of Sierra Leone,” President Bio said in his acceptance remarks. “I accept this responsibility with full awareness of the magnitude of the task ahead and the complexity of the moment.”

President Bio’s appointment comes at a critical juncture not only for the West African region but for Sierra Leone, a country that is now classed as a global hub for the trans-shipment of narcotics and a haven for dangerous narcotics barons.

Sierra Leone and the Netherlands are still at loggerheads over President Bio’s failure to extradite Dutch drugs baron – Jos Leijdekkers, who is Europe’s most wanted criminal after his 20years imprisonment court sentence handed down in absentia in Holland, early this year.

President Bio is also accused of the extra-judicial killing of over 200 unarmed Sierra Leoneans for political reasons, since coming to power in 2018.

His two-year tenure as ECOWAS chairman will end in 2028 as the people of Sierra Leone go to the polls to elect a new President.

The outgoing Chairman of ECOWAS – Nigeria’s President Tinubu has faced difficult regional challenges, including military coups and growing political instability across several West African countries including Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

President Bio is expected to steer the region out of these troubled political and economic waters.

But questions are now being asked as to whether he has the moral capital and gravitas to succeed, where Nigeria’s President Tinubu has failed.