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!


Call us on the following number
+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 .

*Follow the conversations on #AfricainFocus on twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/africainfocus14 .

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

*Follow 24/7 on  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.radioxyzonline.pc
Call Radio XYZ93.1FM on +233(302)777.173

NEW!>PODCAST: #DGTrends Special for the 4th African Union High-Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights & Governance; #Chad; #FOCAC

Executive Producer of Africa in Focus Show E.K.Bensah is currently in Kigali to cover the 4th African Union High-Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights & Governance. Working in close contact with the media team, the idea is to expand and ramify conversations around the theme of this conference.

On twittersphere, the two hashtags --  #DGTrends and #WomeninPolitics -- are being used to aggregrate views by tweeting participants on the topic.

This special edition of the #ECOWAS@40Podcast seeks to elucidate the little-known African Governance Architecture of the African Union, but more importantly, offer listeners an insight into some of the more popular conversations/tweets that emanated from the conference underway in Kigali, Rwanda.

Happy listening!

BURKINA FASO: A Ghanaian Expat’s view of the latest Burkina Coup; and the Role of the AU/ECOWAS

A Ghanaian Expat’s view of the latest Burkina Coup; and the Role of the AU/ECOWAS

By Anatu Ben-Lawal, Regional Advocacy & Partnerships Director at The Hunger Project

I have lived in Burkina Faso for the past 10 months. Needless to say I am disappointed but not surprised for various reasons at the recent turn of events. One of which is that when Heads of States and their goons get used to seeing a country as their personal ATM and when three quarters of all buildings in the country, gas supplies, hotels and businesses belong to the president, his brother, wife and goons it is kinda hard to simply let go of of your personal investments like that. (You know what they say about coming between a man and his money.)

Secondly the transition process could have been better supported by the AU, ECOWAS (actually other african countries and bodies). I refrain to use the international community because they are not responsible for africa. ( We are happy to claim neo colonialism when it suits us and in the same vein decry their absence when it is time to clean up our mess so i don't go there anymore.)

ECOWAS refuses to be bold about capping presidential terms to a maximum of 2. Long standing oligarchies are a major part of the reason why people refuse to leave power till they croak and until that is tackled we will continue in this trend. It is because of this similar mindset and outcomes that i am still frozen shocked as to how africans and even civil society advocates fail to see that amending the constitution for Paul Kagame to run a 3rd term is bufoonery in the highest of orders and setting precedents that we will live to regret. However to be fair to them hindsight has never been our forte.

Given the problems that Africa has i have always found the mandate of AU and ECOWAS at tangential proportions to the real causes which is why to me the AU especially is now an official white elephant. I actually wrote about the AU being a white elephant at the age of 12 as part of an essay competition by the Non -Aligned Movement. I am 36 now so that is a heck of a long time to stay white and to be an elephant smile emoticon. We do not need any institution that cannot make bold decisions nor enforce anything at this stage in our history. The path to victory calls for a revolution nothing less.

Africa's number one problem continues to be that the very leaders and institutions she has mandated to lead her to independence are cowards and half baked bureaucrats themselves who will do anything to avoid conflict or hard issues. It is a job, a salary and a let me do my minimum best in order not to rock the boat.
No boat ever served its purpose by staying in the harbour( but maybe that is another subject for another time).
I am currently not in Burkina as i have been on leave. My staff tell me they are safe but the situation is precarious.

Let us not spit out platitudes and eulogies this time. Instead we should roll up our sleeves, stand up and be counted in laying the ax at the root of the problem to stem the incessant hemorrhaging of our nations which always always end up costing the lives of our people.
I continue to weep......

This was posted on her Facebook page. Used with permission