Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 50 Restructuring the Community Parliament The Community Parliament has operated for close to eight years since its inaugural session that took place in Bamako, Mali between the 16 th and the 19 th of November 2000. All this while, the Parliament has operated strictly as a consultative and advisory body in compliance with the provisions of the protocol establishing it. However, the important principle of making representation in the Parliament based on direct universal adult suffrage has remained practically untried and illusive. If the objective that underpins the parliamentary representation of the peoples of the sub­region is to allow their voices to impact on the processes of decision-making and integration policy, it is obvious that this has so far being done indirectly. The elected officials, though from their national assemblies, may not necessarily represent the interests of different constituents at the grassroots. Even then, the powers of the Community Parliament and, for that matter, the representatives are largely circumscribed since they cannot take independent decisions or embark on policy initiatives that can enhance the development of the Community without instructions from the Authority of Heads of State and Governments. It is these considerations, among others, that led to discussions to restructure the Community Parliament together with other community institutions, including the Executive Secretariat. The necessity for the restructuring had been on the agenda of the ECOWAS for some time now. This was further buttressed by the President of Niger, His Excellency Mr. Mamadou Tandja, the then ECOWAS Chairman when he stated that the proposed restructuring as was decided at the 53 rd Session of the Council of Ministers held in Accra from January 16 th to 18 th , 2005 should be executed immediately. 69 A series of meetings were, therefore, held in Abuja between November 27 th and 29 th 2005, convened by the then Executive Secretary(now President of the Commission) for the Secretaries-Generals/Clerks and Speakers of West African parliaments. The purpose was to examine the proposals and invite inputs to the documents relating to the restructuring exercise for the consideration of the Council of Ministers and subsequently, the Extra-ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Governments in Niamey, Niger which took place in January of 2006. 70 The restructuring has, in principle, been approved, pending the necessary transformational activities which are scheduled for 2010. In the area of representation in the Community Parliament, elections are to be organised in individual member-states and through direct universal adult suffrage and members 69 Linda Quashigah, op. cit., p. 27. 70 Ibid., pp. 27-28.