Rethinking the Proposed Restructuring of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice

In a bid to restructure the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States, with a view of ensuring efficiency; several recommendations have been made, including inter alia the need for the reduction of the number of statutory appointed positions across all institutions of the Commission.

One of the institutions affected by this proposed reduction is the ECCJ. It is proposed that the total number of judges at the Court be reduced from the current seven (7), to five (5) judges.

This proposal – which will have the impact of essentially “dismantling the community court”8 – cannot be justified because: