“The Accidental Ecowas
& AU Citizen”:
Will the African Integration
Revolution be Televised (2), (or a Tale of Africa’s Zeitgeist!)
By E.K.Bensah Jr
After the indefatigable efforts
of West African civil society organizations, including the Economic Justice
Network, to stall and stop Ghana from signing an interim Economic Partnership
Agreement(EPA) with the European Union, you could be forgiven for thinking the
guard of African integration watchers might be let down. Truth be told, the
stalling serves only as a reminder of Nkrumah’s call for eternal vigilance.
That no less than the African Union has stated categorically that the EPAs are
not “a priority” for Africa, but regional integration is, can only help
vindicate all those who work assiduously every day towards the emancipation of
Africa—be it in West Africa, or continentally.
Last week, I touched on three
(out of five) major developments that might lend weight to the view that
Africa’s about to take off in 2012. The first was the Africa Trade Forum,
hosted by the UN Economic Commission in Africa; next was the Seventh Ordinary
Session of Conference of African Trade Ministers that just concluded meetings
in Accra on 3 December; third was the launching of the Least Developed
Countries report in Geneva – at which I expressed disappointment that there was
no coverage of it probably because Ghana is not an LDC.
The two remaining developments
are the Second Congress of African Economists; and the ECOWAS Ministerial
Monitoring Committee—and related activities by civil society—that concluded
discussions in Accra on 1st December.
Second Congress of African Economists
If there is a second, then it
surely means there was a first – and the First Congress took place in Nairobi,
Kenya in July 2009. The theme was: “Towards
the Creation of a Single African Currency: Review of the Creation of a Single
African Currency: Which optimal Approach to be adopted to accelerate the
creation of the unique continental currency?” Doubtless, a heavy topic, so
it is little wonder the outcome document is more than 200 pages!
The Second Congress of African
Economists took place from 24-26 November in the West African state of Cote
d’ivoire. The theme is “Achieving strong
and sustainable economic growth in Africa to curb unemployment and promote
regional and continental integration dynamics.” Unbeknownst to many African
Integration watchers, the main objective of this gathering is to provide a
platform for Economists from Africa; the continent and the Diaspora to “come up
with concrete solutions to integration and development challenges facing
Africa.” Above all, the Congress promotes knowledge sharing; and provides clear
recommendations “to assist African countries in reformulating their economic
policies with a view to addressing current socio-economic challenges.”
The Abidjan Declaration is the
final outcome statement from the Congress. Recommendations were made on the
following: foreign direct investment and domestic resource mobilization as a
tool for alleviating poverty and generating employment in Africa; Unemployment
as a barrier to sustainable economic growth in Africa; Governance,
institutional reform and the role of the private sector in boosting economic
growth in Africa; Africa and the new development paradigm; Boosting
intra-African trade; and Aid effectiveness.
On “foreign direct investment and
domestic resource mobilization as a tool for alleviating poverty and generating
employment in Africa”, the Congress recommends that Africa should agree
on its own definition of poverty as well as an appropriate system of
measurement; second, the AU should work with member states and RECs to “develop
a comprehensive plan for the promotion of long-term investment and strategies
for the creation and retention of labour in Africa.”
On “Unemployment as a barrier to
sustainable economic growth in Africa”, the Congress includes
“comprehensive strategies should be developed aimed at the transformation of
Africa’s natural resource based economies into knowledge-based economies…”;
second, there should be more investment in research and development; third,
gender dimension should be reflected in employment policies.
As regards “Governance, institutional reform
and the role of the private sector in boosting economic growth in Africa”,
the recommendation includes “specific strategies on SME development” and how
they should be led by African countries; the need to improve the
competitiveness of African industries; as well as the need for member states to
“implement financial sector reforms aimed at deepening the financial system…”
With respect to “Africa
and the new development paradigm”, the Declaration states that “African
countries should consider enhancing the use of the Human Development Index to
complement GDP as a measure of development”; African countries ought to work
towards implementing African-led development initiatives, such as NEPAD. Above
all, and most importantly, the AU; RECs; and member states ought to “take all
necessary measures to expedite the regional and continental integration process
as a stepping-stone towards integration into the global economy through
measures such as the implementation of the Minimum Integration Programme(MIP)”,
which was the outcome of the Fourth Conference of African Ministers of
Integration(COMAI IV) in Yaounde, Cameroon, in 2009. In addition, African
countries should set their sights on outreach with the Diaspora and seek “to
build alliances” with them to attain development.
On “Boosting intra-African trade”,
the AU should be tasked to work with RECs and Pan-African institutions “to
promote monetary and financial integration in Africa”; African countries ought
to take steps to implement regional and sub-regional agreements on free
movements of persons; goods; services; and capital; the AU and member states
should support “cross-border infrastructure development programmes”, such as
the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa(PIDA). Critical to all
these ought to be the support given by the AU and its member states to boost
intra-African trade and create a continental free trade area – as prescribed by
the just-ended 7th ordinary session of African Trade ministers here
in Accra.
If there is anything that has
brought into sharp relief this year the need for the AU to seek alternatives
sources of financing, then it must be the Libyan crisis. Although this does not
feature in the Abidjan declaration, what does is the need for the AU and its
member states to continue to seek alternatives to the conventional sources of
Overseas Development Assistance(ODA); and the donor funding, which is often
late and inadequate in any case.
Little wonder, therefore, that in
the final point on “Aid effectiveness”, the Congress recommends how “Africa should
explore innovative sources of finance, including domestic resource mobilization
n and Diaspora bonds as a means of reducing dependence on aid.” Closely tied to
this is the proposal for a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, which finds
expression in an “annual reporting on the delivery and utilization of aid
within member states as well as regional institutions such as RECs and the AU.”
If, like me, you can feel some
sense of Zeitgeist of African Integration, then you’ll look out for next week
when I conclude on the fifth development that will contribute to sending Africa
off to better places in 2012.
In
2009, in his capacity as a “Do More Talk Less Ambassador” of the 42nd
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-
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