COMING UP!》Ep.76 | Season 4, Ep.11 |Bringing Harmony to Africa Day 2016 – With 2 Conversations with State of The Union Africa; & AU Day Choral Concert: to Celebrate the Music of Africa!

Episode #76
(Season 4; Ep.11):
Bringing Harmony to Africa Day 2016 –
With 2 Conversations with State of The Union Africa; & AU Day Choral Concert: to Celebrate the Music of Africa!

Even as Season 4 is on the theme of making money for Africa, Africa in Focus is celebrating May as Regional Integration month.

It's ECOWAS Day on Saturday 28th May, so we used episode 9 to unpack Model ECOWAS Summit that will take place on that day.

In last week's episode, we travelled from Kigali for a conversation about AU's protocols to Lome for an interview about Africa and its integration projects.

Now for the 25th May edition of Africa in Focus, STILL in the spirit of Regional Integration month, traditionally scheduled for May since 2013, we have still yet-another special edition celebrating Africa's integration at both ECOWAS and African Union levels.

 Although 28 May is the 41st anniversary of ECOWAS' integration efforts, perhaps the climax of May's celebration as Regional Integration Month is 25 May, when Ghana joins five other countries on the continent, including Namibia; Mali; & Zimbabwe to celebrate Africa's integration efforts.

On 25 May 1963, the AU was born when representatives from *twenty-two countries met in Africa's diplomatic capital of Addis*. Fifty-three years later, the growth of regional economic communities (RECs) like ECOWAS, SADC, and COMESA may have reduced interest in the African Union, but the bottom line is this: the RECs are; have been; and will always remain the building blocks of a United Africa by 2034.

At least, so states the Abuja Treaty of 1991.

Even as AU day may be a difficult day to celebrate for some African countries (Nigeria as ECOWAS' largest economy does not celebrate it), *it remains an important and symbolic day for continental citizen reflection and discussion on how far Africa has come in its development efforts*.

If anything, it should be a day of monitoring and assessment – for which reason      we are happy to speak anew to SOTU who have been doing just that on AU Member States' compliance to protocols for a number of years.

Finally, we bring harmony to the discussions by wrapping it all up – as one may do – with music: by speaking to Harmony Attise, of Commec Ghana, who are organizing a musical concert on Africa, with the theme “Awake and Build Africa” right here in Accra.

We all know what love's got to do with Africa, but what's music got to do with it? And why now?

Join us if you can in celebrating a truly unique day on the continental agenda!


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+233(302)777.173
Guiding questions
Ø Why should Africans care about the Pan-African Parliament?
Ø How is SOTU celebrating Africa Day?
Ø What is the rationale behind the AU Choral Concert?

Guests on the line:
Ø Osai Ojigho, Co-ordinator, State of the Union, Kenya LIVE FROM NAIROBI

Guest in the studio
Ø Harmony Attise, CEO of Commec Ghana


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more details will be available soon on  www.africainfocusradioshow.org  ;  africainfocusshow.blogspot.com .

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