Lack of political will affects integration - Veep

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, “the 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.