An Analysis of the African Diaspora as an Agency in Regional Integration: The Case of the Ghanaian Diaspora

Abstract

As Africa’s regional integration continues to gain prominence in the African Union’s agenda, there has been an increasing demand to rope in all relevant stakeholders, beyond the individual states. It is against this backdrop that the AU in 2003 formerly designated the African diaspora as its sixth region, essentially recognizing it as an integral constituency. At a critical phase where the political, economic and cultural importance of the Diaspora is being religiously evaluated, this paper disparagingly examines the agency of the African Diaspora in the integration process with a particular focus on the Ghanaian Diaspora. Mainly through content analysis of secondary data, this paper argues that the wholistic agency of the Ghanaian diaspora in contributing to Ghana’s regional integration efforts remains untapped, except for the functional capabilities. Drawing from Ghana’s numerous diaspora engagement initiatives, this paper maintains that previous governments and the current government have centralized their efforts on the economic agency of the diaspora, which is a fundamental flaw being replicated even at the continental level. At the same time, the elitist approach of regional integration has eluded the citizenry, to a large extent, the Ghanaian diaspora, thus, limiting their involvement. The paper recommends that for a more ‘mutually beneficial’ relation with the Ghanaian diaspora, the government must appreciate the full agency of the Ghanaian diaspora and re-access its engagement particularly within the purview of regional integration. Else, the newly adopted diaspora policy, like previous engagement initiatives will be conveniently pursued and not wholistically applied.