1. Africa Day; Ghana Decides 2012 and Ghana’s place
in it
By E.K.Bensah Jr
On 25 May, most member states (excluding Egypt and Nigeria) celebrated Africa Day. Although
confusion abounds as to the nature of the celebration of that day, there is no gainsaying that like 9
May as Schuman/Europe Day for the European Day, Africa Day is a necessity for the continent to
reflect on the future direction of the African continent. It is often very easy to point the finger of
blame at certain state institutions, like our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
Truth be told, they do not seem to have their eye on the ball on what is happening in African
integration, otherwise most of us would have known—long before 25 May—that the AU was going
to launch an “I am African. I am the African Union” campaign on that day. Same can be said about
the entry- into- force of the AU Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance on 15 February,
2012. In this fairly- familiar piece commissioned for BloGha [the up-and- coming association of
Bloggers in Ghana] and its “GhanaDecides.com” website—I refer to Ghana’s place and the role of
elections in the context of Africa Day .
At the beginning of May, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration issued a release to the
Ghanaian media, which sought to underscore the sector-Ministry’s continued engagement with African
integration initiatives, such as those of ECOWAS and the African Union, which will be celebrating its
tenth anniversary this September.
One of the objectives of the release was to equally-emphasize how committed the ministry continues to
be in its engagement with the sub-region, through ECOWAS, and the AU. That Africa Day and ECOWAS
Day are celebrated on 25 and 28 May respectively made it timely and necessary to remind Ghanaians
about the symbolism behind the declaration of May as “Regional Integration Month.”
Regrettably, the Ministry has been less than forthcoming about Africa Day and Ghana’s place in it. For a
country which President Nkrumah not only gave us independence, but played a critical role in the
emancipation of other African countries, it is indeed a shame that Ghanaians are not sufficientlysensitized to the struggles inherent in the liberation of Africa that should epitomise celebrations of any
Africa Day.
If that is a mouthful, consider the fact that since the statement, there has been scant regard to ECOWAS
and AU matters in the media. Much has happened within and outside Africa, but the fact that there has
even not been a link between Africa Day and elections can only prompt speculation about the lack of a
coordinated response by the media in general and ministry of foreign affairs and regional integration in
particular around ECOWAS and AU matters.
Steps forward for Ghana and Africa Day
First, they could have informed Ghanaian citizens before the “regional Integration month” was declared
that on 15 February, the African Union’s Charter on Elections, Democracy and Governance had been
signed. Consequently, a sensitization and popularisation of that AU charter was necessary. Given
Ghana’s putative democratic “credentials”, Ghana could blaze the trail on its popularization. In addition,
they could be asking that at a time that the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance
has been ratified by AU member states is it not time to revise how election observers are chosen on the
continent? Is it not time to allow a corps of younger men and women to partake in the observation of
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2. elections? And if so, how should governments begin to build capacity for African citizens?
Secondly, given that the Ministry has necessarily been involved in the upcoming July Summit in Malawi,
of the 16th AU Summit on the Shared Values theme, it would have been commendable for the ministry
to contemplate sharing information about the African Governance Architecture (AGA) that the AU is
planning.
The emergence of an African Governance Architecture
Simply put, the AGA is described as “a policy approach aimed at defining the necessary norms,
institutions and processes that facilitate policy and programme convergence on Governance amongst
AU Member States as a means to accelerate deeper integration”. These decisions, coming from
intensified discussions with the AU’s Department of Political Affairs, are thus part of “a programmatic
shift of focus of the AU from norm setting to consolidation and implementation”. Truth be told, the AGA
is “the overall political and institutional framework for the promotion of democracy, governance and
human rights in Africa.” The AGA is therefore considered to be “an evolving framework to facilitate,
coordinate and promote structural conflict prevention in Africa”. It seeks to “strengthen coordination
amongst AU organs and institutions with a formal mandate in governance, democracy and human rights
as a measure of enhancing their capacity and optimising their impact. ”
That none of these has been put out in the media can only call for a revision of priorities for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, including what it is really doing to sensitize Ghanaians more
holistically and comprehensively about the role of Ghana in ECOWAS and the continental organisation
that is the African Union
In 2009, in his capacity as a “Do More Talk Less Ambassador” of the 42 nd Generation—an NGO that promotes and
discusses Pan-Africanism--Emmanuel gave a series of lectures on the role of ECOWAS and the AU in facilitating a
Pan-African identity. Emmanuel owns "Critiquing Regionalism" (http://www.critiquing-regionalism.org).
Established in 2004 as an initiative to respond to the dearth of knowledge on global regional integration initiatives
worldwide, this non-profit blog features regional integration initiatives on MERCOSUR/EU/Africa/Asia and many
others. You can reach him on ekbensah@ekbensah.net / Mobile: 0268.687.653.
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