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Separate
Regional Cooperation and NEPAD from Foreign Ministry"
Accra, March 22, Ghanadot/GNA - Professor Samuel Kinsley
Botwe Asante, a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and
Sciences, on Wednesday said the recent merging of the
Ministry of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD with the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs showed Government's lack of commitment to
regionalism and Pan-Africanism.
He recommended that the merger should be reconsidered with a
view to establishing a separate Ministry of Regional
Cooperation and NEPAD.
Prof. Asante made the suggestion during the last of the
three-series 40th J. B. Danquah Memorial Lectures under the
broad theme: "Ghana and the Promotion of Pan-Africanism and
Regionalism."
Speaking on: "Ghana: Opportunities and Challenges of Pan-Africanism
and Regionalism Today", Prof. Asante noted that the current
arrangement, where Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, were
placed in the same ministry with Foreign Affairs "does not
give high profile recognition to the seriousness of
Government's commitment to regionalism and Pan-Africanism".
He said the merger made it difficult for Ghana, among other
things, to integrate NEPAD principles, priorities and
strategies into the national development process to
demonstrate Government's commitment to implementing NEPAD.
Prof. Asante said instead of placing NEPAD under the Foreign
Ministry, the separation was a better option to allow for
the creation of NEPAD Desk in each relevant ministry to
ensure broad-based, technical integration of all NEPAD
priorities.
He also proposed that Government should establish a National
NEPAD Steering Committees (NNSC), with representations from
civil society, labour unions, the media and corporate
private sector to popularise the NEPAD document.
"With Ghana as host of the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI)
and subsequently of the West African Central Bank (WACB), a
separate ECOWAS/NEPAD Ministry would be required to support
the activities of these institutions for the benefit of the
country," he said.
Prof. Asante said with Ghana as a strong advocate of West
African Regionalism, there was a need to have such a
separate ministry not only to effectively implement NEPAD,
but also to respond effectively to the challenges of the new
ECOWAS Commission, of which Ghana's own Dr. Mohammed Ibn
Chambas was president.
He noted that "whiles ECOWAS leadership must be
congratulated on its commendable transformation of the
Secretariat into a Commission to enable the community to
play a more effective role in the integration process, there
is the need for ECOWAS to have more impact and become more
visible in Ghana and the rest of the ECOWAS countries," he
said.
Prof. Asante said in that direction, there was the need to
build ECOWAS's capacity in the areas of human resource and
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enable it
to provide development opportunities for individual member
States.
"A strong and adequately staffed Policy Analysis and
Strategic Division should be established to serve as a
'think-tank' to provide technical and advisory support in
policy formulation, if ECOWAS is to effectively and
efficiently implement its mandate and achieve its objectives
to benefit member States," he said.
Prof. Asante also recommended the establishment of major
multinational industrial projects that would encourage
integrated production activities to save member States from
over-dependence on imports.
He noted that whereas in Europe and Latin America, there
were regional centres for the study of regionalism, Africa
and West Africa for that matter had no such centre in spite
of all the professed efforts at Pan-Africanism.
"There is a need for an African Centre for the Study of
Regionalism to provide organised and institutionalised
support at policy, technical and intellectual levels to
African governments, regional economic communities, private
sector organisations, civil society groups and other parties
involved in furthering regionalism in Africa," he said.
GNA
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