Campaign to promote ‘My Africa, My Voice’ launched
A campaign to promote accountability and active citizens’ participation in the implementation of Africa Union (AU) protocols, conventions and policy decisions among member states of the continental body has been launched in Accra.
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Using civil society organisations (CSOs), music and the media as vehicles, the campaign forms part of the activities of the State of the Union (SoTU) — a Pan African CSOs project, which is currently being implemented in 10 African countries.
Some AU Charters and Conventions
Dubbed “My Africa, My Voice,” the campaign seeks to rally and empower ordinary citizens to achieve the objectives of the Africa Union and also demand the status of the implementation of conventions and protocols, including the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and African Convention of Nature and Natural Resources.
Others are the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption; Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights; Rights of Women in Africa; Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament; the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; and the African Youth Charter.
The campaign is being jointly supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG).
The Director of Africa and Regional Integration Bureau of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mrs Sena Siaw-Boateng, who launched the campaign on behalf of the sector minister, Ms Hanna S. Tetteh, said the project would not only empower Africans to ask questions about the protocols and conventions but also help promote the AU agenda.
She observed that without the support of CSOs, the activities and programmes of the AU headquarters would be far away from the ordinary people.
She urged IDEG to train young people in the second cycle institutions to lead the campaign.
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SoTU 2013 Report
According to the 2013 SoTU Report which audited and monitored Ghana’s compliance and implementation of AU protocols, conventions and decisions, there exists a gap between decisions taken by the AU and the practice of most member states.
According to the report, the gap was such that decisions taken at the continental level risked the danger of not being implemented nationally.
In the case of Ghana, although it had ratified 22 out of the 42 Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/ AU treaties, acceded to one and signed 13 and is yet to either sign or ratify five others, the report said the process of incorporating the provisions of such international instruments into domestic laws had encountered a number of challenges.
“In some instances, even when Parliament has ratified the instruments, the necessary policy frameworks to support effective implementation are non-existent,” it said.
To stem the trend, a Pan Africanist, Prof. Atukwei Okai — Secretary General, Pan African Writers Association, called for the extension of the project beyond the shores of Ghana to create the needed environment to hold African governments accountable.
The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Zimbabwe’s High Commissioner to Ghana, Ms Pavelyn Tendai Musaka, shared that sentiment.
“Ghana is Africa’s firstborn. We still expect Ghana to lead us,” she said.