Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Coming up!>>Ep.43: SPECIAL: Talking Points around #ECOWAS@40(4): One-on-one with former ECOWAS Official Frank Ofei

Episode #43:
SPECIAL: Talking Points around #ECOWAS@40(4): One-on-one with former ECOWAS Official Frank Ofei




In ep.43 of #AfricainFocusShow, we will be doing something a little different around the "Talking Points around #Ecowas@40

We will be having a one-on-one with former Ecowas official Frank Ofei on aspects of Ecowas' integration, which is timely as the 47th Ordinary Session of Ecowas is underway here in Accra.

 It is also timely because Ecowas turns 40 on 28 May!

 The difference for 19 May's edition is that, given how some of us have been studying and monitoring Ecowas for a decade-plus, & calling for it to be more accountable to the average ECOWAS Community citizen, it is important to also include a small appreciation of the theory of regional integration so listeners appreciate how powerful this Ecowas bloc is when pitted against the larger global context.

ECOWAS obviously turns 40 on 28 May, but what does ECOWAS need to quickly do over the next ten years to ensure it remains relevant and meaningful for its citizens?

We will also use the show to briefly touch on how ECOWAS sits in the grand scheme of regional integration theories, such as neo-functionalism, which sees member states of a grouping cooperating; collaborating on specific projects (such as Liberian intervention by Nigerian-led ECOMOG in 1989) to such an extent that it spills over to cooperating on other projects in the furtherance of integration.

To speak to these, and many more questions, we will be having a very important discussion with former ECOWAS official Frank Ofei.

Call us on the following numbers when we open the phone lines at 14h30 GMT
+233(0)289.000.931 // +233(0)289.931.000
Join us if you can at 1pm on 19 May, 2015.

Guiding questions
  • ·        There’s a crisis brewing in Burundi. In the absence of a Peace & Security Architecture comparable to ECOWAS’ what lessons can that region learn from ECOWAS to inform how they manage the crisis?
  • ·        ECOWAS’ free movement has meant that more than 70pct of the migrants have originated from the sub-region. How has ECOWAS been actively seized on the migrant crisis, given its collaboration with Spain since 2008?
  • ·        How have #ECOWAS40 celebrations been so far throughout the sub-region, and what is your assessment of how other ECOWAS Day celebrations have been? How, for example, was #ECOWAS30 celebrations?
  • ·        What are some of the economic integration-related issues we need to look out for from the ECOWAS Summit underway?
  • ·        Is it not time for the revised 1993 ECOWAS Treaty to be revised to reflect realities; structures; and institutions of 2015?
  •  

Guests in the studio:
Ø  Frank Ofei, ,former ECOWAS official, & responsible for revision of ECOWAS Treaty (1993)

Guests on the line:
Ø  Official from Forestry Commission on FORESTRY WEEK @13h20
Ø   Daniel Afriyie, IOM Mission, Ghana @ 13h30 (briefing on what IOM is doing concretely to help mitigate #migrantCrisis)





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