Three-Day Accra Meeting on ECOWAS Free Movement--Still Valid?

As newly-elected Sierra Leonian president Koroma returns from meeting both ECOWAS and Mano River Union officials, ECOWAS ministers are meeting today, Tuesday, here in Accra.

The objective of their meeting is to discuss ECOWAS's free movement protocol.

Top on the agenda will be:

ways of overcoming problems militating against the implementation of the protocol

dealing effectively in countering the ignorance of citizens about their rights under the 1979 protocol

effectively dealing with the harmonisation of the ECOWAS passport, adopted by Headds of State of Government in 2000, "including the incorporation of biometric features such as digital photographs and thumb prints which not only enhance security but also reduce the possibility of fraud and forgery" (from:http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9246&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=115

While we can balk at CARICOM earlier this year for having failed to "secure" a free movement protocol by way of its Cricket World Cup, we can at least hope they might also be monitoring events worldwide to see how best to bring into fruition a visa-free area -- as exempplified by the ECOWAS-zone in 2007 -- where West African citizens can veritably make any of the fifteen countries their residence for a good 90 days, before regularising.

Right now, though, the ECOWAS passport, in my view, ought to be harmonised in ALL countries.

For it to be applicable in only SIX member states some 28 years after the free protocol was adopted is a woeful expression of where ECOWAS has gone. These six countries currently using the passport are: Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal ; the others using an ECOWAS travel certificate are: Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone

"Fixed deadlines" and "operationalisation" come to mind in a fast and furious way!

Here's hoping that the leaders meeting in the three-day meet here in Accra will be (im)pressed upon by us--common and concerned citizens--to come up with a date that is more definitive than one comparable to what is looking like a pie-in-the-sky date of 2009 for the ECO--ECOWAS' regional currency.

In checking ECOWAS's news website here, the last meeting you see is that of 19 September!

Without a google search, how on earth would anyone have known about this meeting? ECOWAS, PULL your socks up.

You are now a Commission--and things gotta get a-changing...

Now, chance would be a fine thing!

The ECO Re-Gains Currency in ECOWAS

Exhortations notwithstanding, when it comes to facilitating regional integration, a degree of commitment is critical. News coming in from Ghana's Statesman newspaper, which was culled from Nigeria's Vanguard paper, suggests strongly that:

ECOWAS members have resolved that there is no going back on a single currency and a unified central bank for the region, according to Famara Jatta, Governor of the Central Bank of Gambia.

It appears that Gambia, one of the countries in the West African Monetary Zone countries -- comprising Ghana, Guinea, the Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone -- is being a bit more vocal.

According to the article, the HQ of the Central Bank for the single currency will be in Ghana. Mr.Jatta, the Governor of the Central Bank of Gambia says:

the initiative for a single currency and central bank in the West African countries was on course, and reiterated that West African countries could not afford to shy away from the need to have a unified currency and a unified central bank for the region.

The officials maintain that 2009 WILL be maintained as the year of the launch, and that they will not be shaken in their resolve to get the ECO, the new West african currency, launched by that year.

To date, it has been postponed more times than one can imagine, and so it is normal for this level of skepticism to be expressed by observers. Let's just get the statistics clear here, though.

The West African Monetary Zone countries' "estimated growth is 6.9 percent, higher than the average 6.0 percent over the past five years."

So, clearly, there is growth, and so it is little surprise to hear optimistic noises from the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Gambia, Saho, admitting:

there has been considerable improvement in economic growth in the ECOWAS region, adding that economic convergence was now attainable due to improvement in the economic performance of member countries

It's all good stuff. Let's just hope that that cream bits in the in-set map will all be colored either green- and yellow-colored zones--constituting the UEMOA zone and the CFA?--come 2009.

The idea is once the ECO gets off the ground, it will merge with the CFA to create a larger West African currency.

Let's pray that our ECOWAS officials make this more than pie-in-the-sky!

Have a good weekend.

Till Tuesday (it's Easter!)