Ghana Decided peacefully on 7 Dec, 2012, but Issues Arose, including "Facebook Tipping Point" for Ghana

By now, most of you following Ghana's elections will have known that Ghana has a new president in the incumbent John Mahama. I will be posting some thoughts over thenext few days about what happens to our body-politic. In the meantime, enjoy the article below--sent by Facebook friend and academic John Schaefer--who follows Ghana as often as I do!

Enjoy!

Did You Know the Facebook Tipping Point Happened in Ghana on Sunday?

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On Sunday, the Electoral Commission of Ghana changed the place of social media in African politics forever. After a very close race for the presidency of Ghana, they posted Ghana's official election results on Facebook!

Now Kajsa gives three ideas why the Electoral Commission posted to Facebook instead of their own page:

1. The Electoral Commission’s own Website came down earlier in the day (too many visitors?) and as that channel was not working they chose the next available thing, their Facebook page.
2. The meeting with the parties and the NEC was dragging out and the results were provided to show the meeting delegates that postponing declaration of results was not an option.
3. As the media was waiting in a adjacent room since a couple of hours, the results were released on Facebook to calm nerves of the press corps and the country.

Regardless of why they posted to Facebook, this is a BIG deal! Previously, the thought of posting such a critical government document/decision on a non-government website, much less on a social media site, would be so far outside the realm of possibility as to be laughed at as an option.

With 1.7 million Facebook users in Ghana (77% of the online population), and with usage spiking with the introduction of Facebook Zero, the question now becomes, "Why not release public documents and decisions on Facebook?"

Of course, public documents should also be on government websites, and Facebook cannot and should not replace direct government communications, yet as Ory Okolloh points out, Facebook is a much more democratic conveyance of information than what was done before.

So I am calling it. Sunday, December 9th, 2012 was Facebook's tipping point in Africa. Social media, and especially Facebook, is now the primary information and communication technology tool to accelerate the social development of Ghana, and of Africa as a whole.

Ghana Votes, #GhanaDecides!

It is election day, and while there have been reports elsewhere of difficulties in voting, overall, voting has been pretty smooth, with orderly lines.
Someone is just saying behind me that this is the "shortest line" he has seen. Well...

9 Hours Away from Ghana's Elections on 7 Dec, 2012

We are hours away from Ghana's fifth attempt at its democratic dispensation. Earlier today--around 13h30, it rained heavily--in East Legon. I understand the rain has "spread" to other parts of Accra. Some see it as a sense of foreboding for either of the bigger parties--the National Democratic Congress (incumbent) and the right-of-centre New Patriotic Party--to come back to power, or wrest it from the incumbent.

Some of us claimed we would not vote because we are "tired" of Ghana's politicians. CITI fm's Bernard Avle tried his level-best this morning to encourage those of us who might decided not to vote to re-consider. After all, it is our civic responsibility.

GhanaDecides, the parent project of BloggingGhana, has been doing its very best to encourage people to go and vote, and do it efficiently and wisely.

I encourage those of you who will be voting to do same: efficiently; calmly; and quietly. Ghana first!

See you tomorrow at 7am...in front or the other side of the camera!;-)

BBC Africa Debate: Will Africa ever benefit from its natural resources?

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19926886

Africa Debate: Will Africa ever benefit from its natural resources?

COMMENTS (39)

Whether Africa will ever benefit from its natural resources is a question that is more relevant now than ever, as new discoveries of coal, oil and gas across East Africa look set to transform global energy markets and - people hope - the economies of those countries.

But can the likes of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda really turn their newfound riches into tangible wealth for ordinary people?

This month the BBC Africa Debate team will be in Ethiopia asking just that. Politicians, business representatives, activists and academics from across the continent will be taking part, as over 800 experts gather in Addis Ababa for the Eighth African Development Forum.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

On average, resource-rich countries have done even more poorly than countries without resources”

Joseph Stiglitz

"On average, resource-rich countries have done even more poorly than countries without resources," according to Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank and professor of economics at Columbia University, in the United States.

There are greater economic inequalities in resource-rich countries than elsewhere - as perhaps indicated by on-going miners' strikes in South Africa, considered one of the most unequal countries in the world - and too often there is also endemic corruption.

In Nigeria, the continent's biggest oil producer, at least $400bn (£250bn) of oil revenue has been stolen or misspent since independence in 1960, according to estimates by former World Bank vice-president for Africa, Oby Ezekwesili. That is 12 times the country's national budget for 2011. Meanwhile, 90% of people live on less than $2 per day.

There has been violence between Sudan and South Sudan over oil this year, and Malawi and Tanzania have yet to resolve their dispute over who owns the oil and gas in Lake Malawi.

A different story?

Ghana started producing oil in December 2010 and there is further exploration all along the West African coastline. Only five of Africa's 54 countries are not either producing or looking for oil.

From Algeria to Angola - and from petroleum to platinum, iron ore to oceans - the scramble for Africa's resources has often caused problems rather than created prosperity.

Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation

Meanwhile, much of the profits from resource exploitation leave the continent entirely in the hands of foreign-owned companies which pay low rates of tax.

Few African countries process their own raw materials - rather, the value is added elsewhere, to the benefit of others.

Foreign-owned resource extraction companies are often criticised for providing little in the way of local employment and contribution to local economies.

But could there be a different story?

Diamond-rich Botswana has been praised as a country doing things right, experiencing relatively stable and transparent economic growth for decades.

It has also managed to retain some of the profits from processing its raw materials - something most African countries have failed to do.

A once poor European country, Norway, also proves it can be done - distributing its oil wealth so equally that it heads the United Nations Human Development Index (Nigeria comes in 156th place).

So why have so many African countries failed to turn natural riches into benefits for the masses? Who is to blame for the foreign exploitation, and whose responsibility is it to put things right? What about possible solutions - renegotiation of contracts, better transparency mechanisms, higher taxation, resource nationalism?

Should the likes of Mozambique and Ghana be celebrating their resource discoveries - and what do they need to do to make the most of them? Will Africa ever benefit from its natural riches?

Join the debate by leaving your comments here. You can also take part on Twitter - using #bbcafricadebate and #resourceafrica - or via BBC Africa's pages on Facebook or Google+

Tune in to the BBC World Service at 1900 GMT on Friday 26 October to listen to the Africa Debate broadcast from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

I Now Have a Legitimate Reason to Use Foursquare, or a Tale of the birth of the Africa Media Forum for Geo-Information Systems(AMFGIS)

I have been home for the past hour or so mulling in my mind exactly how the day went. Simply put: it was fantastic. This is because for the first-time-ever, I got to chair a meeting impromptu and I actually had a few funny things to say--including wondering how the plot of "Avatar" might have been different if only Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver's characters knew how to use geomatics, which is basically another name for geospatial information technology.

If you are confused, don't be, because geospatial information technology is quite simple. It is about LOCATION, LOCATION, and LOCATION. The academics and specialists will give you long lectures of what it is about--including how it "refers to technology used for the measurement, analysis and vizualization of features or phenomena spatial occurrences, which has an impact on a country's socio-economic development ..."-- and much more. In my view, it is pretty simple, especially for journalists in the sense that it is about using maps to tell better stories.

I know that many of the Ghanaian journalists that were there probably got this sense, but I think it is important to home in on this point: it is to complement more than serve as a substitute for anything stories.

Some might say that I would say this wouldn't I, for I had the priviledge of attending a Trainer-of-trainer's meeting on Geospatial Technologies from 16-18 September in Addis. I partly agree. I say partly because I am still trying to get to grips on what it can do for journalists. I have not quite hit it, but I am getting there. Did I say it was using maps to tell better stories?

Out of the Addis meeting, a baby was born--the Africa Media Forum on Geo-Information Systems, which seeks to "be a leading information; knowledge and awareness-raising platform on “Geospatial information science and technology system for socio-economic development."

Today's meeting--sponsored by the UN Economic Commission for Africa--is the first-ever meeting held by AMFGIS. The workshop comes a day before the 7^th Annual African Conference & Exhibition on Geospatial Information, Technology & Applications,-which takes place at Movenpick Ambassador Hotel from 3-4 October, 2012 (http://www.africageospatialforum.org/2012/programme_schedule.htm).

Journalists were drawn from print; online; radio; and television, and included Multi TV's Mary-Ann Acolotse and Dansowaa Awuku; Ghanabusiness News' Emmanuel K Dogbevi; Mawutodzi Abissath of the Information Services Department(ISD); Ghana Community Radio Network's Kumadzra; Ghana Radio's Rayborn Bulley; and CITI97.3fm's Citi Breakfast Show producer Philip Kofi Ashon.

The UNECA were in town to offer their usual insights into Geospatial technologies. Aster Denekew Yilma, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Officer of the ICT and Science and Technology Division and the Director of the Division Mrs.Aida Opoku-Mensah (who is incidentally a prolific tweeter on http://www.twitter.com/AidaOpokuMensah) offered very useful insights, including providing information on the UN Global Geospatial Initiative (http://ggim.un.org/). Most importantly, however, were her statements regarding what the UN is doing (in response to a question raised by a participant).

Aida explained that the UN can only do what the UN member states ask it to do; secondly, if we think about how geospatial technology was used to track Al-Qaddafi, we already know what situation we are dealing with. The issue is that one's sovereignty ends, where someone has access to your domain. Third, there is an issue of intellectual property in the sense that Google has our data. Question is: WHO owns the data that Google has of our digital layouts: is it Ghana that owns it, or Google? These kind of issues are those that will inform the discussions of a meeting that will be held in Morocco at the end of October, including legal and regulatory frameworks for geospatial technologies.

If there is anything we should probably take away from the AMFGIS workshop, it is that elements of GIS are already around us as GIS technology can already be found in our smartphones, what with GPS and all. In social media, there has been a development of location-based social media , such as foursquare, including an increased number of web applications that enable one to anchor tweets.

For me, however, a foray into GIS usage would have to be the usage of foursquare. It is essentially location-based social networking. I don't know how many Ghanaians are on that site, but I do know people do use it to show where they are, and to show pictures to attest to their location.

I want to imagine a world where many more Africans find themselves on foursquare, and decide, therefore, to use it constructively by broadcasting their location--not all the time, but at critical times, such as holidays; when they are in town and witness an accident; when they are in the village and want to showcase an innovation coming from there; during public celebrations; etc etc. While the so-called crisis-management community are those likely to benefit  from many more Ghanaians on foursquare, I want to think that it can benefit us all.

The question, now, is whether our journalists have seized the opportunity to think this way, too. I do not know how many participants are on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, or foursquare, but I do know going forward, it might be important to do a quick mapping of these skills and see how they can be built. In addition, it would be good to know what they think they learnt from the meeting, and what examples they found could be localized.

AMFGIS and geospatial technologies are not an easy sell, but we must all believe it to be useful for development in the long haul and long run.

Happy October! Happy new month!

I am alive! Yes, I am alive. If you are reading on my Trials and Tribulations... blog, allow me to just say that apart from living life to the full, some serious tectonic changes have taken place in my life seriously obviating the ability and desire to write full-blown entries. 

July is too long a time to have written an entry. Let me just say that it is a new month, bringing a lot of hope and excitement in my life--so be prepared to read more entries of life in Ghana. There's so much going on you would not believe. 

For my Accra Daily blog, I want to thank my loyal readers who keep coming back to read old entries, or who have just uncovered--or discovered--the blog. There are many pictures waiting to grace the blog, and they shall do so this month!

With regard to my Africa Union Citizen blog, let me just say that a paucity of entries is far from a reflection of no-work. I have written quite a bit on the African Union for the past couple of months--just that I thought it was not always necessary to post the entries on that specific blog. Instead, let me direct you to the site where you can find those entries: http://www.modernghana.com/columnist/EmmanuelKBensahJr

I still love Ghana very much; I still love taking pictures of Accra; and I very much love writing about the AU. 

Expect so much more this month--and when you think I am not delivering, write me: ekbensahATekbensah.net.

See you on the other side!

Psst...The picture of SMART TV is a note-to-self about getting smarter on my blogging!;-)

--

NEWS RELEASE: Encouraging developments as Africa looks to establish Continental Free Trade Area

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <Denekews AT uneca.org>
Date: 2012/7/13
Subject: NEWS RELEASE: Encouraging developments as Africa looks to establish Continental Free Trade Area
To:

Suurce :UNECA News

Encouraging developments as Africa looks to establish Continental Free Trade Area

ECA Press Release No. 115/2012

Addis Ababa, 13 July 2012 (ECA) -As preparations for next week's launch of the fifth edition of Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA V) get underway  in Addis Ababa, the Heads of States Summit of the African Union is once again tackling the theme, Boosting intra-African Trade from 9-16  July 2012. ARIA V is published jointly by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB); and the fifth edition of the report inquires into Africa's Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). The three institutions affirm that its findings come at a time of renewed political commitment to accelerate the pace of regional integration in Africa as seen in many positive developments, such as steps towards a favorable environment to create the free movement of factors of production.

According to Abdoulie Janneh, Under Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary, the case for boosting intra-Africa trade was made at the January Summit of the Heads of States and remains on the agenda of this month’s Assembly of Heads of State and Government. He told the 21st Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council that legitimate observations were made in January, about the limited infrastructure and diversity of goods to allow for successful take-off of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). He informed the gathering that ECA has examined these concerns and found that manufactured goods make up 46% of intra-Africa trade as compared with 10% for agricultural goods.  “Moreover," said Janneh, "we also found that the degree of infrastructural development was not much higher in a comparable group like MERCOSUR in Latin America when it took off."

Mr. Janneh took the opportunity to re-affirm that ECA will accompany the CFTA process through the auspices of the African Trade Policy Centre, which is supported by Canada.  “Specifically, ATPC will draw its future priorities from the mandate given to the AUC and ECA to advance the continental trade agenda.”

He pointed out that boosting intra-Africa trade also depends on the provision of infrastructure and expressed the hope that the G20 initiative on infrastructure financing will gain further traction and that the multilateral finance institutions, particularly the African Development Bank and World Bank will strengthen their instruments for financing regional infrastructure projects.  “Such investments will also improve accessibility for humanitarian agencies, which continue to play a crucial role in the continent,” he said.

The overall objective of ARIA V was to contribute analytical insights to shape the debate and the move towards fast-tracking the establishment of a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) through the removal of outstanding obstacles to trade, including barriers to the free movement of people, investments and factors of production across Africa.

The report is complemented by a number of related products, including a mobile application, a film on intra-African trade, a proposed e-learning platform and a new ECA knowledge online network.

 

 

Media inquiries throughout the Summit period:

denekews@uneca.org

More on the report, the film, the mobile app and the discussions at: www.uneca.org/ARIA and  http://knowledge.africa-devnet.org/

Issued by:

ECA Information and Communication Service

P.O. Box 3001

Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251-11-551 03 65

E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org

Web: www.uneca.org

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Sittin' and Thinkin' about Google Currents! Here are My Tips!

It was only a couple of weeks ago that my work colleagues and I broached the issue of pushing some, if not most, of our flagship publications onto Android and Tablet formats.

A quick google search revealed there are a number of programmes that can do that, including those which one needs to spend time working on--as one would do with, say, HTML editors, just so one gets a feel of what's happening.

Fortuitously, I would chance upon Google Currents elsewhere over the weekend, and decide to try my luck again at work to see whether I could push some of  the content of out just-ended conference on the Africa Mining Vision, which was held at Mensvic Grand Hotel from 26-29th June. If you missed the conference, it's not difficult to catch up at all;

• website: http://www.twnafrica.org
• Google Plus:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cu71mo8pea3eu1ghe6tdvjsfi4s/100486382858452552990
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/twnafrica
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/twnafrica
• ...and finally on Google Currents:  https://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAowh6TpAQ/cso_conference_on_africa_mining_vision

The latter is evidently work-in-progress. Undoubtedly, with practise, the diligence to  the detail will be second nature, and I intend developing that second nature soon! I look forward to the day I can create an edition for the Android/Tablet formats in under an hour!

A simple note to self and to you is this. Before embarking on any kind of document importing from Google Drive, ensure you have done the following:

1. Back up your material for publication to Google Drive, making sure you have saved most of the work in Google Documents format. If not, export it to Google Docs/Drive format. 

2. Take note that it Google Currents does NOT seem to like PPT or PDF extensions, so ensure you upload .DOCX/DOC files (Microsoft Word), which you can in turn convert

3. Plan your edition layout on paper beforehand

4. upload documents into the ARTICLES section

5. Master your sections

Go publish!

Call for Papers: Third Congress of African Economists -- DEADLINE: Nov 2012

Eng Congress La_Commission_organise_toutes_les_2_ans_le_Congres1 (1).pdf Download this file

from:  http://au.int/en/dp/ea/content/call-papers-third-congress-african-economists

Call for Papers: Third Congress of African Economists

Fri, 2012-06-29 17:41 — admin

THIRD CONGRESS OF AFRICAN ECONOMISTS

Call for Papers

The Commission of the African Union organises every two years the Congress of African Economists in order to identify and analyse the economic problems marking African countries and to propose for them an effective and lasting therapy. This Congress will bring together the best African Economists in the Diaspora and those living in Africa. The First Congress was organised on the theme: “Towards the establishment of a Single African Currency”. The Second Congress focused on “How to achieve strong and sustainable Economic growth in Africa so as to reduce unemployment and sustain the dynamics of Regional and Continental integration”.

The next Congress, the Third one, will discuss the theme: “Industrialisation and Economic emergence in Africa”.

During this Congress, the following sub-themes, among others, will be considered: Can Africa develop without getting industrialised? ; the impediments to industrialisation in Africa; Technology Transfer and Industrialisation in Africa; Agro-industry and African Industrialisation; Industrialisation, Growth and Employment; Role of the Industry in the emergence of African economies; Economic Emergence: criteria, manifestations and prospects; Economic Emergence and Integration; Economic Emergence: Should it be done at national, regional or continental level? ; Partnerships with the rest of the world: assets or brakes to the industrialization and emergence process?; China-Africa Cooperation: Advantages and Disadvantages for African economies; how can Africa tap part of the value added generated from its natural resources?; Which industrial policy is necessary to boost the Industrialisation process in Africa?; Industrialisation in Africa: Role of the State, the private sector and the outside world.

Articles on the main theme and on the sub-themes are sought from African Economists, those of the Diaspora and those interested in the resolution of economic problems in Africa.

The Articles must be accompanied by a summary not exceeding 1000 words
and must be sent to the Commission on 15 November 2012 at the latest. The
participation in the Congress of the authors of the Articles chosen will be borne by the Commission of the African Union.

All the African Economists (those of the Continent like those of the Diaspora), all the
economists across the world who are interested in the problems of African economies as well as all the development partner institutions are invited to this important Congress which will be held during 2013 at a venue and date to be communicated at the appropriate time.

For more details, please contact:
Mr. Yeo Dossina, Ms. Fetun Getahun,
E-mail : DossinaY@africa-union.org; FetunG@africa-union.org;
Tel: +251-11-552 6373; Fax: +251-11-551 0249,
African Union Commission, P.O. Box: 3243
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
www.au.int

--

[African Citizens] PRESS RELEASE - 19 th AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT

Comrades,

Important information on the upcoming AU Summit! Enjoy!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Desire Assogbavi <desire.assogbavi AT oxfaminternational.org>
Date: 2012/7/4
Subject: [African Citizens] PRESS RELEASE - 19 th AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT
To: AfricanCitizens AT yahoogroups.com

AFRICAN UNION		UNION AFRICAINE
		UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  P. O. Box 3243  Téléphone : 5517 700  Fax : 5511299 website :   www. africa-union.org

DIRECTORATE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

PRESS RELEASE N0. 01/ 19th AU SUMMIT

NINETEENTH AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON BOOSTING INTRA-AFRICAN TRADE

Addis Ababa, 3^rd July 2012 – The 19^th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) is scheduled to take place from 09 to 16 July 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Holding under the theme: “Boosting Intra-African Trade”, the 19^th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union will officially kick off on Monday 9^th July 2012, with the 24^th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC).  The PRC will discuss items on the agenda in preparation of the upcoming AU Summit, to be submitted to the Executive Council for adoption.

According to the PRC agenda for the 19^th AU Summit, the Ambassadors will, for two days (09 and 10 July 2012) exchange views on specific reports including the reports of the Advisory Sub-committee on administrative, budgetary and financial matters; sub-committee on programmes and conferences; sub-committee on structures; multilateral cooperation;; economic and trade matters; the report on the NEPAD as well as that of the refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in Africa). They will consider the working documents and draft decisions in preparation for the 21^st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council.

On the other hand,        the 21^st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council will hold from 12 to 13 July 2012 at the headquarters of the AU in Addis Ababa. The Ministers of External Affairs and other ministers or authorities designated by the governments of AU Member States will deliberate on the different reports of the ministerial meetings organised by the AU Commission during the last six months.  They will consider the activity report of the Commission; the recommendations of the PRC on the implementation of previous Decisions of the Executive Council and the Assembly; and the report of the ministerial committee on candidatures.

The Executive Council will further look into reports of some AU Organs including the Pan-African Parliament (PAP); the African Committee of the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the Union (ECOSOCC); the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption; and the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL) before embarking on the consideration of items proposed by Member States. One of the high moments during the Executive Council meeting will be the election of Commissioners of the African Union and the election of three judges of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) as well as the appointment of one judge of the AU Ad-Hoc Administrative Tribunal.  

The 19^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union is scheduled to take place on 15 and 16 July 2012.

AU Summit to Discuss President’s Report of Activity:

The AU Heads of State and Government will consider the recommendations of the Executive Council on the report of the Commission on the implementation of previous Decisions of the Executive Council and the Assembly; the report of the Peace and Security Council on its activities and the state of peace and security in Africa, including the activities of the Panel of the Wise; the report of Mr. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Chairperson of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC); and that on Africa’s preparation for the Climate Change Negotiations at the 18^th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP18), in his capacity as Coordinator of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC).

The Presidents and Heads of Delegations will also exchange views on the report of Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo and Africa’s Coordinator on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) .They will discuss the report of Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Chairperson of the Committee of Ten on the UN Reforms.

The Assembly will further consider the report of the High Level Committee of Heads of State and Government/ Chair of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on Boosting Intra-African Trade, among others. According to the agenda of the Summit, the Heads of State will proceed to the election of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

For more information, consult the African Union website: www.au.int  and visit the 19^th Summit web page of the AU at the following link:  http://au.int/en/summit/19thsummit

Journalists are invited to cover the official opening and closing ceremonies of the 24^th   Ordinary Session of the PRC on 9 and 10 July 2012, the 21^st  Ordinary Session of the Executive Council 12 and 13 July 2012 and the 19^th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly on 15 and 16 July 2012.

Journalists wishing to interview the leadership of the AU Commission during the Summit should submit their requests to Mrs Esther Azaa Tankou E-mail: YambouE@africa-union.org / esthertankou@yahoo.com

********************************
Desire  Assogbavi (Mr.)
Head of Office
Oxfam International
Liaison Office with the African Union
TK Building - Bole Airport Area Suite 406
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel.: +251 11 661 1601
        +251 11 661 2492 (direct line)
Mobile: +251 911 20 83 32

Fax:        +251 661 2795
E-mail: desire.assogbavi@oxfaminternational.org
             
----- Forwarded by Desire Assogbavi/Addis Ababa/International/Oxfam on 04/07/2012 18:19 -----

From:        Tankou Azza Esther <YambouE@africa-union.org>
To:        Wynne Musabayana <MUSABAYANAW@africa-union.org>, Asmerom Girma <AsmeromG@africa-union.org>, Yaye Nabo Sene <SENEY@africa-union.org>, "afraht@hotmail.com" <afraht@hotmail.com>, "Gamal Eldin Ahmed A. Karrar" <GamalK@africa-union.org>, Mike Fikre <m_fikre@hotmail.com>, Molalet Tsedeke <MolaletT@africa-union.org>, Seblu Zenebe <SebluZ@africa-union.org>, Rahel Akalewold <RahelA@africa-union.org>
Cc:        Habiba Mejri-cheikh <HabibaM@africa-union.org>
Date:        04/07/2012 18:10
Subject:        PRESS RELEASE - NINETEENTH AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON BOOSTING INTRA-AFRICAN TRADE

---

 

AFRICAN UNION		UNION AFRICAINE
		UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  P. O. Box 3243  Téléphone : 5517 700  Fax : 5511299 website :   www. africa-union.org

DIRECTORATE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
 
PRESS RELEASE N0. 01/ 19th AU SUMMIT
 
NINETEENTH AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON BOOSTING INTRA-AFRICAN TRADE

 
Addis Ababa, 3^rd July 2012 – The 19^th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) is scheduled to take place from 09 to 16 July 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Holding under the theme: “Boosting Intra-African Trade”, the 19^th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union will officially kick off on Monday 9^th July 2012, with the 24^th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC).  The PRC will discuss items on the agenda in preparation of the upcoming AU Summit, to be submitted to the Executive Council for adoption.
 
According to the PRC agenda for the 19^th AU Summit, the Ambassadors will, for two days (09 and 10 July 2012) exchange views on specific reports including the reports of the Advisory Sub-committee on administrative, budgetary and financial matters; sub-committee on programmes and conferences; sub-committee on structures; multilateral cooperation;; economic and trade matters; the report on the NEPAD as well as that of the refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in Africa). They will consider the working documents and draft decisions in preparation for the 21^st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council.
 
On the other hand,  the 21^st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council will hold from 12 to 13 July 2012 at the headquarters of the AU in Addis Ababa. The Ministers of External Affairs and other ministers or authorities designated by the governments of AU Member States will deliberate on the different reports of the ministerial meetings organised by the AU Commission during the last six months.  They will consider the activity report of the Commission; the recommendations of the PRC on the implementation of previous Decisions of the Executive Council and the Assembly; and the report of the ministerial committee on candidatures.
 
The Executive Council will further look into reports of some AU Organs including the Pan-African Parliament (PAP); the African Committee of the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the Union (ECOSOCC); the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption; and the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL) before embarking on the consideration of items proposed by Member States. One of the high moments during the Executive Council meeting will be the election of Commissioners of the African Union and the election of three judges of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) as well as the appointment of one judge of the AU Ad-Hoc Administrative Tribunal.  
 
The 19^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union is scheduled to take place on 15 and 16 July 2012.
 
AU Summit to Discuss President’s Report of Activity:
 
The AU Heads of State and Government will consider the recommendations of the Executive Council on the report of the Commission on the implementation of previous Decisions of the Executive Council and the Assembly; the report of the Peace and Security Council on its activities and the state of peace and security in Africa, including the activities of the Panel of the Wise; the report of Mr. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Chairperson of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC); and that on Africa’s preparation for the Climate Change Negotiations at the 18^th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP18), in his capacity as Coordinator of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC).
 
The Presidents and Heads of Delegations will also exchange views on the report of Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo and Africa’s Coordinator on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) .They will discuss the report of Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Chairperson of the Committee of Ten on the UN Reforms.
 
The Assembly will further consider the report of the High Level Committee of Heads of State and Government/ Chair of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on Boosting Intra-African Trade, among others. According to the agenda of the Summit, the Heads of State will proceed to the election of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
 
 
 
For more information, consult the African Union website: www.au.int  and visit the 19^th Summit web page of the AU at the following link:  http://au.int/en/summit/19thsummit

 
Journalists are invited to cover the official opening and closing ceremonies of the 24^th   Ordinary Session of the PRC on 9 and 10 July 2012, the 21^st  Ordinary Session of the Executive Council 12 and 13 July 2012 and the 19^th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly on 15 and 16 July 2012.
 
Journalists wishing to interview the leadership of the AU Commission during the Summit should submit their requests to Mrs Esther Azaa Tankou E-mail: YambouE@africa-union.org / esthertankou@yahoo.com
 
 
 

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Tankou Azza Esther Information Officer Communications and Information Unit African Union Commission

Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 Mobile: Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 Email: YambouE@africa-union.org Web: www.au.int

Roosvelt Street(Old Airport Area)W21K19 3243 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Disclaimer: This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the recipient . If you are not the intended message recipient  you must not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The Sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission.    Please consider the environment before printing this email message.

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SOCIAL SECURITY:"Providing retirement benefit for migrant workers in West Africa"

from:  http://nationalmirroronline.net/news/43410.html

Providing retirement benefit for migrant workers in West Africa

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OMOBOLA TOLU-KUSIMO 25/06/2012 21:16:00

The plight of migrant workers in Nigeria and other West African states with little or no access to social protection and retirement benefits was recently brought to the fore by the International Social Security Association (ISSA), West African Regional Office and the National Pension Commission (PenCom). OMOBOLA TOLU-KUSIMO reports. Amidst the rising number of migrant workers due to the various bilateral and mul-tilateral agreements on the move-ment of people, goods and services across countries, the right to ensure protection for migrant workers has remained a challenge in the West-African sub-region. Indeed, the growing pace of eco-nomic globalisation has created more migrant workers than ever be-fore. Unemployment and increasing poverty have prompted many people in developing countries to seek work elsewhere, while developed coun-tries have increased their demand for labour, especially unskilled la-bour. As a result, millions of workers and their families travel to coun-tries other than their own to find work. According to the United Nations, 230 million people, that is, more than 3 percent of the world’s population lived and worked outside their coun-try of birth in 2011, as opposed to 75 million or 2.3 percent in 1965. At present there are approximately 175 million migrants around the world, roughly half of whom are workers. Migrant workers contribute to the economies of their host countries, and the remittances they send home help to boost the economies of their countries of origin.

Yet, they often enjoy little social protection and are vulnerable to exploitation.

Worried by this wave, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the International Social Security As-sociation (ISSA), West African Region-al Office recently organised a meeting in Abuja to guaranty the protection and portability of benefits of workers across the West African sub-region.

The occasion was the meeting of the migrant workers working group in Ni-geria held recently and it focused on identifying ways that would ensure the provision of retirement benefits for every migrant worker in the sub-region, facilitate the transfer of these benefits as and when due and provide adequate protection to the pension as-sets of this class of workers.  

At the end of deliberations by all stakeholders, a draft working docu-ment was produced to help address most if not all social security chal-lenges associated with migrant work-ers across African sub-region.

According to the National Pension Commission, the region has witnessed an annual average growth rate of 1.8 percent in the number of migrant workers between 2005 and 2010, which proportionally represented 2.8 percent of the total population of the sub-re-gion. 

In an address by the Director-Gener-al of PenCom, Mr. Muhammed Ahmad recalled that Nigeria introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004 that allowed employees of both the public and private sectors to open Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) in which they accumulate assets for payment of pension after they retire from employments.

He stressed that the system made it possible to isolate the pension as-sets of every registered contributor right from inception.

According to him, retirees have the option of procuring Programmed Withdrawal or purchasing Life An-nuity as a way of accessing their re-tirement benefits from their RSAs.

He, however, stated that while mi-grant workers are allowed to trans-fer the full content of their RSAs to their countries of choice on retire-ment, there are challenges that has made this difficult.  He said, “It is well known that many pension schemes are not as flexible.

Thus, portability of the re-tirement benefits of migrant may not be possible. Indeed in some cas-es, the workers are employed as con-tract staff with contract salaries that are slightly higher than the benefits of the employees that could benefit from some form of pension arrange-ments.  The former employees are not entitled to any retirement ben-efits. 

This bias has since been cor-rected in Nigeria by the introduction of the CPS, which allows every em-ployee to register an RSA and have his or her retirement benefits remit-ted on monthly basis.“This step taken by Nigeria solved not only the above problems and oth-er logistics associated with retire-ment benefits, but also generated a pool of log term funds for economic development.

“So far, about N2.6tn, equivalent to over $16bn has been generated under the scheme and had been in-vested in various sectors of the economy. The scheme had created institutional investors and gener-ated direct employment as well as provided business opportunities to third party service providers.”

He urged the participants from other West African countries to ful-ly explore the experiences of other jurisdiction in handling the subject matter and try to come up with solu-tions that are workable for the coun-tries in West Africa even as he ask that their recommendations should not be unmindful of the various existing agreements between coun-tries in the sub-region, particularly.

He added that there is also the need to identify areas that require amendments in such bilateral and multilateral documents in order to facilitate the protection and por-tability of migrant workers retire-ment benefits.

Also speaking at the meeting, ECOWAS President, Mr. Kadre De-sire Ouedraogo stated that the ne-cessity of ensuring social protec-tion for migrant workers and the portability of their benefits has be-come increasingly imperative and the issues bothering on the rights of workers, integration, provision of social security and portability of benefits among member countries through the provision of enabling laws, enforcement and conducive working environment must be ad-dressed.

Minister of Labour and Produc-tivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu noted that various conventions and bilateral agreements notwithstanding, the protection of migrant workers’ rights remains a significant chal-lenge, especially for workers in the informal and unregulated sectors of the economy such as domestic work and those involved in forced labour.

He said, “Migrant workers with irregular status are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in work.

“Areas of concern include threat or physical harm to the worker; re-striction of movement and confine-ment to the workplace or to a limited area; debt bondage; withholding of payment or excessive wage reduc-tions; retention of passports and identity documents; and threat of denunciation to the immigration authorities where the worker has an irregular immigration status.

As labour mobility increases, these concerns are likely to become even more acute for low-skilled and ir-regular migrants.”Wogu pointed out that the initia-tive by the ISSA Liaison Office to address the course of migrant work-ers is a welcome development as it would engender a common position on the issue of social protection for migrant workers and the portability of their benefits among West Afri-can countries.

The problem with bilateral arrange-ments he said, lies in the fact that such arrangements can put West African countries in a delicate position as some of the provisions of these arrangements may run contrary to the ECOWAS proto-col on free movement of persons, goods and services.

Besides, some transiting migrants could be stranded as a result of contra-dictory provisions in the bilateral ar-rangements and the ECOWAS protocol, he added.

In his view, “available documents such as Draft ECOWAS General Conven-tion on Social security of 1993, the 2006 ECOWAS Common Approach on Migra-tion, the ILO and UNO Conventions on various rights of migrant workers and the portability of their benefits should serve as working tools in coming up with a common position for West Africa states on the social protection of mi-grant workers and the portability of their Benefits”.

#youth offers both an...

...opportunity and challenge for country's #peace and #security #ejnGhana

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Dr.Baah-Boateng:#employment...

is very different from #jobs. #sustainability is key #EJNSeminar

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UN calls for Mobile Banking rules in East African Community(EAC)

dtlstict2012d2_en-mobilemoney.pdf Download this file

from: http://www.mfw4a.org/news/news-details/2/un-calls-for-mobile-banking-rules-in-eac.html

UN calls for mobile banking rules in EAC

19.06.2012

The United Nations is calling for rules to be introduced to coordinate the use of mobile money services in East Africa.

The United Nations is calling for rules to be introduced to coordinate the use of mobile money services in East Africa.

Using mobile phones to make payments and transfer cash is popular in this part of the continent, UN News Service reports.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development has published a report on the matter called Mobile Money for Business Development in the East African Community: A Comparative Study of Existing Platforms and Regulations, focuses on the East African Community (EAC).

In it, the organisation states: "Governments in the region need to address issues relating to telecommunications and financial regulation to ensure that mobile money services bring the desired broad benefits, especially to the poor."

Currently, the EAC offers more than a quarter of all mobile money systems in Africa.

Mobile banking has grown considerably in Africa in recent years, with figures from the African Development Bank showing there were less than two million mobile phone users on the continent in 1998. By 2009, this had grown to over 400 million.

ENDs

Pls find attached herewith the UNCTAD report in question. 

Happy reading!

Emmanuel

UPCOMING: "Africa-wide Cross Networks Meeting on the African Mining Vision (AMV)"

Upcoming Africa-wide Cross Networks Meeting on the African Mining Vision (AMV)

The Pan-African extractive sector network AIMES (African Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa are jointly organizing a meeting of Africa-wide cross networks/constituencies on the Africa Mining Vision (AMV). The meeting is being hosted by the Third World Network – Africa (TWN-Af), with support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) from June 26^th to 29^th, 2012 at Mensvic Grand Hotel, East Legon, Accra, Ghana.

From February 2007 to December 2011 the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) and the Africa Union (AU) led a process of reforming the mining regimes operating in Africa. This follows recognition of the marginal developmental impacts and the preponderant negative environmental and social impacts in the over twenty years of mining on the continent. This process resulted in the adoption of three important policy documents: the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) in February 2009 and an Action Plan in December 2011 for the realization of the AMV. A Report of the International Study Group (ISG) which offered an intellectual analysis by deepening key tenets of the AMV and from which the Action Plan draws content was also launched by African ministers responsible for the development of mining in December 2011.

These policy documents set the stage for a departure from the current regimes operating on the continent into a new regime in which mining catalyses transformation mineral producing African countries. A departure into the new regime envisioned by the policy documents requires a strong constituency of change rooted in ownership and support within African society. African civil society organizations and networks/coalitions are key part of this constituency. Secondly, the scope of issues raised by the reform agenda requires an engagement with a broad range of civil society actors and constituencies for the realization of the change set out for mining in Africa.

The meeting would bring together representatives of African civil society networks/coalitions and social constituencies from labour movements, mining affected community groups, artisanal and small scale mining organizations, gender groups, the media among others to discuss and improve understanding of the AMV and related policy documents, issues and processes of the Africa mining reform agenda. 

The meeting is also expected to generate a common understanding about opportunities and challenges for civil society advocacy around the African mining reform agenda and make inputs and contributions to the finalization of the business plan of the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC). The AMDC is being established as result of the decisions of the December 2011 AU Ministerial  Conference  on Minerals and Development and will be a coordinating centre for the implementation of decisions towards the realization of the AMV.

Thank you for your attention and looking forward to welcoming you to the meeting.

You can find more information on http://www.twnafrica.org. Check us out on http://www.facebook.com/twnafrica

Draft Concept Note - Cross neworks meeting on AMV.doc Download this file

Draft Programme for Meeting on AMV.doc Download this file

ECONOMIC JUSTICE NETWORK (EJN) WORKSHOP ON JOBS & LIVELIHOODS

EJN is organising a seminar on Jobs & Livelihoods on Thursday 9am at Coconut Grove Hotel, Accra. Please see below & attached.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE NETWORK (EJN) WORKSHOP ON JOBS & LIVELIHOODS

Concept Note

Introduction: The EJN is organizing a workshop on current problems, challenges and appropriate policy responses to the crisis of Jobs and Livelihoods in Ghana today. The workshop will bring together trade unions, women and youth organizations, farmers, industrialists, policy makers, academics and policy research and advocacy organizations and networks. It will be held in Accra on 21^st June 2012.

 

Background:  In 2011, Ghana attained record levels of GDP growth, marking a pronounced accentuation of the long-term trend of positive economic growth experienced over the last several decades. On the face of it, this reflects the success of the export-led strategy that has dominated policy and economic restructuring over this period. But this masks severe problems and developmental costs that this has entailed.

 

Primary among these is the crisis of joblessness that has characterized the pattern and nature of Ghana’s economic growth. Only an estimated 11% of the labour force remains in the formal sector; and only one-seventh of these are young workers under the age of thirty. In a country in which more than 70% of the population are young people this shows the depth and severity of the crisis of income-generating livelihoods and productive employment. In the context of the afore-mentioned export-led growth it also reveals the underside of an economy incapable of generating sustained improvements in the standard of living for a growing majority.

 

The dimensions of this that are given most recognition in official circles (at least at the rhetorical level) are the socio-political problems of the apparent inequality reflected in the regressive distribution of the benefits of the jobless growth that prevails. In recent years, mainstream policy establishment have emphasized this danger by reference to the upheavals in North Africa and across the Arab region. The most high profile policy response has been the increasing promotion of ‘inclusive growth’ which can be summarized as more systematic public policy interventions that privilege employment creation schemes within the mix of poverty reduction tools.

 

But this poverty-reduction or consumption-driven orientation of ‘inclusive growth’ has already shown crucial limitations. It retains the add-on, post-facto character of the social intervention programmes that have become institutionalized in the structural adjustment years, starting with PAMSCAD in the late 1980s. As such it does not bring into view, let alone seek to address, the actual source of the problem which is constantly reproduced and whose effects such interventions are intended to mitigate.

 

In particular, it overlooks the implications of the domestic deflation that has been pursued as the prerequisite of maintaining international cost competitiveness and external market share for both the foreign capital and primary commodity exports that Ghana has become even more narrowly dependent upon. Nor does it pay serious attention to the ever deepening economic distortions accompanying and resulting from the suppression of wage costs, employment growth, domestic consumption and the production that would have been oriented on growing domestic demand.  Another cost of the resultant de-industrialization and agrarian paralysis is an import dependency that accentuates both the shock of every economic downturn as well as the distortions of every export-led growth cycle.

 

Crucially, the global economic crisis has greatly undermined the credibility and sustainability of primary commodity export-led growth strategy, which is revealed not only as a threat to poor people or for social and political stability, but, just as much, if not more, for the sustainability of growth and the prospects of development transformation.

 

There is now an urgent imperative to reorient growth on the more sustainable base of rebuilding domestic production capacity and domestic markets on the basis of the transformation of productivity and its structural integration.

 

 An employment- and incomes-led growth path is a vital part of this – both as a kick-start and as part of long term sustainability. This must also situate itself on economic justice critiques and agenda’s of key constituencies such as the Trade Union’s current ‘Decent Work’ project, among others.

 

The EJN seminar will explore how developing the advocacy work of key constituencies in responding to current context of the jobs and livelihood crises can also set the agenda for alternative growth and developmental transformation policy in Ghana today.

 

Forum Objectives:

i)                    Develop shared understandings of causes and trends of joblessness; pressures on job-creation, viability of rural, smallholder and informal productive activity; and livelihood incomes.

ii)                   Share experiences by key socio-economic constituencies of jobs and livelihood threats and challenges and their struggles for defending and improving conditions

iii)                 Explore and share approaches and initiatives for policy and advocacy alternatives in response to the jobs and livelihood question

iv)                 Develop shared understanding and a collaborative agenda of collective organizational, networking and advocacy requirements for EJN as vehicle for contributing to synergizing and strengthening jobs and livelihoods agendas of popular constituencies in the context of alternative paradigms for economic growth and development.

Seminar Programme Structure:

The one-day workshop will comprise of 3 sessions:

Session One: Analytical Overview of Policy Approaches and Initiatives for Jobs and Livelihoods in Ghana

a)      Government approaches and policy programmes to Employment Creation and Livelihood enhancement in Ghana: Past & Present

b)      Employment, Growth and Development in Ghana: An analytical overview

c)        Export-led Growth & the Politics of Jobs and Incomes Policy in the era of Global Crisis

(or: The Politics of Jobs and Livelihood under the Export-led Growth and Trade Liberalisation regime)

d)      Alternative Initiatives for Jobs: The Decent Work Agenda for Ghana

 

Session Two:   Strengthening Constituencies for Effective Advocacy

a)      Experiences and Responses of Trade Unions, Farmers, Informal Sector, Women and Youth to Jobs and Livelihood challenges

b)      Lessons of Popular Needs and Struggles for Jobs and Livelihoods

 

Session Three: Elements of EJN’s possible contribution to a Developmental Jobs & Incomes Agenda

a)      Synergies for a common alternative paradigm

b)       Mobilising constituencies towards an EJN agenda for advocacy