Lack of political will affects integration - Veep

Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Friday said lack of political will was one of the factors that had contributed to the slow pace of the economic and monetary integration of the West African sub-region.

He said economic integration was crucial for the sub region and the continent to succeed in meeting developmental goals and also to become effective partners in the global economy.

He said however, that efforts towards this goal had been hindered by factors such as the lack of political will, non-achievement of economic transformation, conflicts, low level of implementation of treaty obligations and what he described as 'an overly economistic approach that has neglected the resolution of political and social differences.'

The Vice President who was speaking in Accra at the opening ceremony of the 19th meeting of the convergence council of ministers and governors of the West African Monetary Zone which is expected to come out with the second currency of the sub region said, 93the traditional explanation of the failure of integration schemes on the continent is that, there is lack of political will in the member countries which is necessary to see integration succeed.'

Other contributory factors, he said, were the small and disjointed nature of economies, the over dependence on export or primary commodities, weak industrial and agricultural base, low level of intra-regional trade and the vested interests in incomes from trade tariffs.

These contributory factors can be identified in the chronic non-observance of commitments undertaken within agreements and also in the insufficient use of the instruments set up by the governments.

Five countries; Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Gambia form the West Africa Monetary Zone. The need for a second currency by those countries arose when the leaders realize a common currency was the answer to increased trade, integration and economic growth.

Four convergence criteria including single digit inflation and an import cover of more than three months were set in addition to other secondary criteria for the implementation of the currency to take off. The WAMZ which set its self 2003 for take off has had to postpone the date three times to the current date of 2009.

The meeting in Accra is one of the annual meetings expected to assess progress made and to commit member countries to targets. Alhaji Mahama said despite the set backs, some progress had been made by the member countries as one body and individually. On individual levels, the Vice President said The Gambia and Nigeria continued to be the frontrunners and were moving closer to the convergence criteria.

The Gambia maintained her performance in three primary criteria that were met since 2004 and maintained her performance in the secondary criteria, according to the WAMZ report as at June 2006.

Nigeria met all the four criteria as at June 2006 but failed to sustain her performance on the secondary criteria.

Alhaji Mahama said the inability to sustain and improve on the criteria so far met posed a challenge to the member countries saying "In the coming years, it is imperative that we take rapid, sequenced, realistic and irreversible steps to realise these commitments and goals to turn our economic and monetary integration from an inspiration into an effective reality."

Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, explained that the postponement of the last take off date of the second currency to December 2009 in Banjul was based on reason that even though member countries showed promise in meeting the agreed criteria, the progress attained was not sufficient to enter a formal union arrangement.

He said the focus of the Zone was broader now and included structural issues that related to the actualization of the single economic zone for the whole region.

The new action plan, he said, was to achieve macroeconomic convergence and multilateral surveillance, create WAMZ customs Union by 2007, achieve financial sector integration and make ratification and incorporation into national law of the WAMZ legal instrument.

Mr Baah-Wiredu who is also the Chairman of the Convergence Council expressed the hope that the formalization of trading and exchange of rates in the members' own currency was a step in the right direction to achieving the 2009 target.

In a speech read for him, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS) expressed the commitment of the community to achieving total integration for the whole region.

He said the coming into force of the ECOWAS as a commission had the potential to strengthen the authorities to focus on and implement the treaties and agreements such as the common external tariff, free movement of goods and citizens and also to pursue the establishment of an ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development.

The setting up of a database to be known as the ECOWAS macroeconomic database application software would also facilitate data reporting, harmonization and comparability in the WAMZ and improve on surveillance.