“Africa in Focus” Show on Radio XYZ93.1 FM returns with a
discussion on Africa’s integration
By
E.K.Bensah Jr
After almost two weeks of
being off air, the one-month old “Africa in Focus” show is back with a bang on
Radio xyz93.1 fm.
In the last edition on 3 June,
2014, Emmanuel hosted two people in the studio. These were Ashesi University’s
Dr. Lloyd Amoah, and Capacity Building Development Officer of the West Africa
Civil Society Institute(WACSI) Charles Van Dyck.
On the line in Addis were
Dr.Joseph Atta-Mensah of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and Mkhululi
Ncube, former UNECA official-turned-entrepreneur in his own country of
Zimbabwe.
The show sought to
interrogate the question of whether Africa is integrating. The general
consensus at the end of the show clearly showed there is a lot of work to be
done on sensitizing Africans to the urgency of building Africa’s integration
process.
As explained by the UNECA’s Dr.Joseph Atta-Mensah, there
are a number of milestones that have been chalked along the road to Africa’s
integration. These include the Sirte Declaration on 1999 that sought to
fast-track integration. He concedes there remains much to be done – even if
leaders are slowly and surely recognizing the necessity of integration.
Mkhu Ncube related to the
audience how the East African Business Council works very efficiently – as does
the one for the COMESA sub-region (populated by 19 member countries). He
confessed that though he is a national of the SADC region, he cannot vouch for
the efficiency of a Business Council in that part of the world. Without a
doubt, though, he believes the private sector is going to have to take charge
on Africa’s integration, because governments are never going to automatically
give that space.
We learnt from Dr.Amoah,
who has recently penned a book on Africa’s telecommunications, that there are
only three member countries – Ghana; Nigeria; and Rwanda – that have so-called
TelChams, or Telecommunications Chambers. By virtue of Ghana’s small market
being populated by six telcos, this country was always going to be an important
test-case on TelChams. Nigeria’s is the largest, though not necessarily the
most efficient. With regard to Rwanda, we find this to be an interesting case
in the sense that that country is seeking to position itself as the
cyber-gateway to East Africa. This is certainly something many African
countries can learn from—as well as leveraging on the immense potential that
telcos offer to help create synergy in Africa’s integration. All that said, it
is pitiful to have only three member countries out of a whopping fifty-four be
the only ones to have TelChams.
WACSI’s Charles VanDyck stressed the fact that African integration is a “bread-and-butter” issue, and that African peoples are already integrating. It is time governments began to domesticate the many protocols they are quick to sign, and ensure that Africans feel well-integrated. Even if West Africa has made commendable effort on free movement, clearly, much still needs to be done.
ENDs
