COMING UP!> Ep.59 of "Africa in Focus" Show on 27 January, 2016: Africa's Preparations Towards UN General Assembly Special Session(UNGASS)

We want to use this edition of "Africa in Focus" to revisit the very important issue of drug policy and Africa's preparations towards the special session of the UN General Assembly that will be held in April.

Known as UNGASS, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for African countries to help craft and shape the agenda on drug policy.

The literature is clear that the war on drugs has caused more casualties than necessary, and the whole semantics of "war" has conjured an image of "Us vs Them" typical in any war.

Kofi Annan believes bad policies on drug policies has caused more harm. But he is not the only one.

An increasing number of civil society activists, starting with the Accra-based West Africa Civil Society Institute, have, since 2015, embarked on a campaign to ensure the debate on drug policy and Africa' s preparation towards it is open, transparent, and clear: as law enforcement does its work to catch drug-traffickers, drug policy should be treated as a public health issue.

Furthermore, drug users who may have found themselves trapped in the spiral of drugs must be equally treated with dignity so as to ensure they are weaned of its deleterious effects. This attempt at harm-reduction, while controversial, will go a long way in framing the future of drug policy.

To this end, I will be speaking on 27 January with Maria-Goretti Ane, who is a consultant for the International Drug Policy Consortium(IDPC). She will brief us on what transpired at last week's Regional Consultation on Drug Policy Reform in West Africa here in Accra.

Apart from unpacking the outcomes of the conference, we want to especially demystify drug policy for listeners and explore what Kofi Annan Foundation's West Africa Commission on Drugs has done so well for which reason even East Africa is interested in establishing a similar Commission.

Join us at 14h05!

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more details will be available soon on http://www.africainfocusradioshow.org ; http://africainfocusshow.blogspot.com. Follow the conversations on #AfricainFocus on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/africainfocus14.

Tweet Emmanuel ahead of time on http://www.twitter.com/ekbensah, using #africainfocus .

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COMING UP!> Ep.58 of "Africa in Focus" Show on 20 January, 2016: What happened in Kenya at the WTO?

Episode #58:

What happened at the WTO in Kenya?

In December 2015, the world met in Africa for the first time to discuss global trade .

The Kenyan capital Nairobi hosted the Tenth World Trade Organisation meeting, hoping to conclude the so-called Doha round of negotiations which conclusion had remained abortive since 2001.

In Ghana, there was scant coverage of the meeting as COP21 discussions on climate change seemed to virtually eclipse those on global trade.  

We want to use Episode 58 to discuss what exactly happened in Kenya at the WTO negotiations, and what the major outcomes are.

As far back as 2001 when the Doha Round commenced, the topic barely inspired the Ghanaian media. Fourteen years down the line, the inspiration, or lack thereof, has not spawned any novel excitement that would even trigger an important conversation on Africa's place in the global trading system.

Does Africa have its work already cut out for it in the trading system? And what about the tortuous question of Africa's agriculture? Was WTOMC10 a success for Africa -- or yet another pyrrhic victory?

Join me on 20 January at 14h05 as I interview two experts from civil society who were at the negotiations in Nairobi to demystify and unpack Africa's future in the global trading system.

Call us on the following numbers 

+233(0)289.000.931 // +233(0)289.931.000

Join us if you can between 2pm & 3pm on 20 January, 2016.

Guiding questions:

• why should Ghanaians be interested -- let alone concerned -- about what happened in Nairobi?
• What about new issues by the US and EU?
• How does Africa reconcile CFTA(scheduled for 2017) with Nairobi outcome?
• The Conference Chair described Nairobi outcome as "historic" in that it will deliver development. What do CSOs think?
• Does Africa still need the WTO?
• Is it not time Africa invested totally in the AU's CAADP, & created its own Africa Trade Organisation?

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Sylvester Bagooro, Programme Officer, Third World Network-Africa

Ø  Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah, General Agricultural Workers Union

Follow the conversations on #AfricainFocus on twitter:http://www.twitter.com/africainfocus14. Tweet Emmanuel ahead of time on www.twitter.com/ekbensah, using #africainfocus .

Call Radio XYZ93.1FM on 0289.000.931 / 0289.931.000.

Follow 24/7 on https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.radioxyzonline.pc?

"Africa In Focus" Show Gets New Date, New Time

Africa in Focus Show is a weekly magazine show that demystifies; unpacks; and explains ECOWAS; AU; South-South Cooperation policies around Africa's integration.

It is airborne every Wednesday from 14h00 to 15h00 GMT on Radio XYZ93.1FM

For more news about the show, check www.radioxyzonline.com.

Coming up on Ep.57 of Africa in Focus Show on 13 January, 2016: "Afro-Democracy Look-ahead!"

Episode #57:

Afro-Democracy Look-Ahead

On 15 September 2015, Ghana joined the global comity of nations to celebrate International Day of Democracy.

For Ghanaians, it seems, no election matters more than their own. Africa in Focus(AIF) believes otherwise, for which reason it has populated a power-packed triumvirate to help us demystify; and unpack democracy – as practiced by African countries.

Demystifying democracy on the show is about seeking clarity on Africa’s peculiar type of democracy, including shedding light on the latest fad, where leaders decide to tweak the constitution or –better still – take it to a referendum (Rwanda). Some speculate this is a democratization of non-democratic practices as this inevitably has consequences on our peace and security.

To this end, WANEP will join us to unpack the security issues around Africa’s democracy, as well as offer insights into what the world should expect in light of Burkina Faso; Benin; & Niger’s upcoming elections in February.    

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 between 2pm & 3pm on 13 January, 2016.

Guiding questions

·       How central is citizenship in the conversation on Africa’s democratic discourse?

·       How do citizens help strengthen democracy-promoting institutions of State?

·       What should citizens do more of to deepen democracy?

·       What is the role of CSOs in promoting Africa’s democracy?

·       What mechanisms do you think must be put in place to engage non-state actors in policy-making processes?

·        Where does Burundi go from here?

·       Has the East African region lost the plot on a conversation on two-term limits?

 Guests in the studio:

Ø   Isaac Hubert, West Africa Civil Society Institute(WACSI)

Ø Levinia Addae-Mensah, Programmes Director, West Africa Network for Peacebuilding(WANEP)

   

Coming up on Ep.56 of Africa in Focus Show on 6 January, 2015: Review 2015

As a way of warming up to coverage of #AUSummit26 in Addis from 21 January, as well as all-things AU & democracy, we will briefly-reprise the issue of the African Governance Architecture that brings together AU institutions such as the Pan-African Parliament, & the Africa Peer Review Mechanism(APRM) that both seek to entrench Africa's attempts at democratic dispensation. To that end, we will play back an interview with Hon Dr.Bernadette Lahai of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP).

It is not every day we obtain access to a member of PAP, so at the 4th High-Level Dialogue on Democracy, Governance & Human Rights that was held in Kigali early December, AIF host & exec producer E.K.Bensah took opportunity to meet her. She tells us in the interview challenges facing African women seeking to enter politics, including an intimate and personal insight into how her entry affected her children -- despite the tremendous support of her academic husband.

Juana Akuamoah Boateng, of the West Africa Drug Policy Network, returns to pick up review of the Network's 2015 activities around #supportdontpunish, as well as what the world should expect to see at the UN General Assembly on drug policy, & what it means for Africa(UNGASS).

Finally, we speak to youth advocate Azeez Gomda on the line who offers perspective on the migrant crisis of 2015, which spawned an ongoing #migrantCrisis hashtag on twitter to remind the world about ordinary voices around a problem that may not go away in 2016.

At 15h00, get exciting updates in the "Ear on East Africa" segment, where we brief you on developments in East African region that are inspired by our East African sources from our East Africa Rising whatsapp group.

We are airborne from 14h10 to 15h55 on Radio XYZ93.1fm here in Accra. Download the Radio XYZ app from Google Play Store for free and listen to us live. Podcasts are available for download fromwww.africainfocusradioshow.org &www.facebook.com/africainfocusshow.

Follow the conversation on twitter using #africainFocus. We are @africainfocus14.

Africa in Focus is your mid-week compelling lunchtime conversation on Africa!