*MAIDEN REPORT OF #WAMKELESPEAKS*

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*MAIDEN REPORT OF #WAMKELESPEAKS*

by _E.K.Bensah Jr_

*August 2021*


*Introduction*

On 24 June, 2021, Secretary-General of Afcfta made a 26-minute presentation at a "Summit", which was organised by regional integration think-tank, AfCFTA Policy Network, to assess the "State of AfCFTA Trading Six Months On". 


As part of continuous monitoring of Agenda 2063 and its seven aspirations, Deputy Executive Director of APN, E K Bensah Jr, undertook to examine his speech and identify the extent to which his speech reflected 7 aspirations of Agenda 2063. To this end, Bensah put his speech through an "APN-ometer".


*Methodology*

The 26-minute video was divided into five videos of around 4.5 minutes each to make it easier to pay greater attention to the rhythm of the speech and how closely Mene was sticking to Agenda 2063 aspirations. The 7 aspirations were tabulated against the videos and we measured which aspiration Mene was referring to in each video.


*Results*

In video 1, Mene refers to "market integration" and "seamless movement of goods and persons". This a reference to aspiration 2 that speaks to an "integrated continent". 


Video 2 also refers to market integration (aspiration 2), but touches on aspiration 1 when Mene argues that Africa has never had.this.opportunity before as a continent. This opportunity is consistent with aspiration 1, which calls for a prosperous continent. 


Video 3 also calls our attention to aspiration 1, which is a prosperous continent when Mene draws our attention to Africa's industrial capacity to be celebrated. It also refers to aspirations 6 and 7, when he announces that there will be a protocol in women and for a dynamic young population that will be "a huge market." Mene also announces there will be an Afcfta Business Forum for private sector and CSOs.


In Video 4, Mene refers to Pan-African Payment Settlement Systems platform, and how that will resolve the cost of currency convertibility. He also speaks to availability of an Adjustment Fund. These are consistent with aspirations 1 and 2. Aspirations 6 and 7 are revisited when Mene talks about the African Trade Gateway, where SMEs across the Continent can speak to each other; and how tariff will be an industrial tool. 


Finally, in video 5, Mene harks to aspiration 2 (an integrated continent), when he admonishes Africans on needing to implement daily challenges and difficulties, failing which we will not succeed. He concludes AfCFTA will benefit women in trade and SMEs, which speaks directly to aspiration 6, which calls for an inclusive and people-centred Africa where women and youth are included.


In the videos, there was no reference to aspirations 3 (good governance); 4 (peaceful and secure Africa); 5 (Africa with a strong, cultural identity). 


For us, Mene does very well speaking most of the time to aspirations 1, 6 and 7, but his speech needs to be more reflective of all 7 aspirations. Because of this, we will give him 4/7, just under 50%.


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*About #WamkeleSpeaks*

As part of innovating education on Agenda 2063, the office of Deputy Executive Director of APN in collaboration with AAUTV is introducing *#WamkeleSpeaks*


#WamkeleSpeaks is the start of an all-important project seeking to identify the extent to which speeches by the Secretary-General of AfCFTA  go to *streamlining 7 aspirations of Agenda 2063*


#WamkeleSpeaks will help continue the spirit of challenging people on education of 7 aspirations by getting them to think *how truly AfCFTA Secretariat is incorporating all 7 aspirations of Agenda 2063* and walking the talk of the AfCFTA being a flagship project of Agenda2063



*About Agenda2063 TV Show*

_As part of AfCFTA Policy Network's pioneering work on sensitization of AfCFTA, Deputy Executive Director E K Bensah Jr started hosting the Show in January 2020. He was headhunted by Association of African Universities (AAU) to host the uniquely-named Agenda 2063 Show on AAUTV.  It remains the only Show of its kind in Ghana, West Africa, and the Continent telling authentic stories about Africa's integration on a weekly basis, with a specific focus on reminding audiences about the centrality of Agenda 2063. You can view all videos on-demand at http://TV.aau.org/category/agenda-2063_

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