As ECOWAS leaders continue to discuss security issues and the need to sustain democratic governance in the sub-region, it is imperative to discuss the prevailing social strata and how rural communities in the Sahel have consistently been left out of social protection programmes in the already limited social protection space.
As the design and architecture of our northern communities have shown over centuries now, we have had the capitals and economic cities being where all political and economic power flows, without any programmed effort to integrate rural communities with the economically vibrant urban settings like Ouagadougou, Banfora and Bobodioulasso in Burkina Faso.
Privileged
It is these privileged residents who have access to modest education, including coming down to Ghana or moving eastwards to Nigeria to access credible education paid for in foreign exchange.
Again, these privileged residents have access to public sector jobs like the military, police, prisons, immigration and the gendarmerie, for that matter. Intriguingly, it is that same space that absorbs the politicians and bureaucrats as well as attorneys and judges.
Finally, it is still these same privileged class that send their kids abroad to France with prospects for self-realisation and empowerment – back to the political class who win all the contracts.
To break that cycle, one has to migrate to Tamale or Techiman or Kumasi and Accra in trying your luck. Little wonder that any time there is an eruption in their communities back home, their first port of call is Ghana where the economic centres are several, though we still need to do more to add to that space and reduce migrant activity among our own people.
Colonial architecture
Speaking on a UN Security Council platform recently, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia stressed the need for access to basic opportunities to be created for all. We believe he was only urging ECOWAS Heads and leaders, for instance, to spread development that touch the nerves of crop and livestock farmers.
The access of these people to markets in the sub-region are cut out by middlemen, who take ten per cent in livestock and fruit and vegetables, which are the major commodities that the rural Sahel communities produce.
That point has also been succinctly made by the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He continues to urge ECOWAS states to take matters of security serious as they show more inclusivity in relating, particularly, with the diverse ethnic groupings and developing strategies to bring them on board through clear, unambiguous empowerment programmes.
Digitisation of agriculture
As the history and records of our brothers and sisters in the Sahel show, agriculture is still the traditional crop and livestock that goons in Nigeria and Ghana often by on credit and abscond.
Thankfully, on the advice of the Ghana Mission in Ouagadougou, the previous Blaise Compaore administration helped in bringing producer-buyer transactions into the open. This was done by creating provincial markets where activities of crooked middlemen and dubious traders could be checked, as efforts were made to introduce standards into the crop and livestock sectors.
Such presidential initiatives have potential for creating jobs in rural farm gate communities, including currency transactions, packing and packaging, ‘kaya’ and sorting of the commodities for the youth.
Political engagement
Public opinion on the coups in the sub-region is mixed. It is the opinion of the Daily Statesman that political leaders in the Sahel would learn to engage more and more with the religious and traditional leaders across the entire space in national conversations. This should be part of the strenuous efforts to tackle security issues most of which are connected with lack of access to political and economic space.
Ghana’s success as a modest actor on the democratic governance space in the sub-region is attributable to our moderately higher tolerance level and commitment to engagements.
This is an example other stakeholders in the sub-region must emulate, if they mean well for their countries and want to see the abiding fruits of democracy.
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