Political Representations At The Hamburg 2017 G20 Summit

It is a foundamentail right of any human being in a democratic environment to be politically represented and such representative must be clear to the represented at any point in time. In ensuring that all society conform to this political obligation to its citizen, the Greek philosopher Aristotle, was quoted saying "Man is a political animal", implying every rational man is inclined to being represented and interested in knowing who is representing him.

I strongly believe the Greek philosopher meant "every man" without excluding the black man whose political behaviour on representation tends to be at odd with political norm of the modern world where ever only the black race make up an exclusive political group.

The black only society tend to approach political issues in such odd manner that result in wrong outcome. This in turn makes it very difficult for any serious society to take the black group serious. This spectacle tend to be obvious anytime the G20 Summit is taking place.The Humburg G20 Summit 2017 confirm what has been the norm in any forum where nations are represented, outside the shoddy close doors of the Unoted Nation in New York. The blacks representation at this yerar's G20 Summit was only there to make up the racial colours, in a summit where decisions taken are going to be binding on every political entity in the world.

The G20 Summit is actually another version of a global meeting away from the bureaucracy of the UN, where all the world political leaders meet to discuss global issues and take decisions to be binding on all nations. So since the modern world is driven by the forces of political markets and industrial interdependencies, the G20 forum provide the atmosphere for serious groups to advance their political interest. This therefore mean any political group attending the G20 Summit is there to seriously push in its political agenda and no intentional mechanism is in place to marginalise anyone.

The reality is, the manner by which the nation's of the African continent go about their business make them vulnerable and therefore the victims of global organizations. According to the Express www.co.uk, the G20 is nineteen officially listed countries plus the European Union. This definition of the G20 then allowed the representations of the 19 plus the EU, the official opportunity of representing their people while such people in turn clearly identify with those representing them.

It however unfortunate the representation of the ECOWAS (ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES) and the AU (AFRICA UNION) are clearly discriminated against by the G20 system and any other human organizations of the world. The right of the West African and the citizen of the AU, to be represented and his duty to know who is representing him, as political animals of Ghana, ECOWAS and the AU, are technically denied.

I am a Ghanaian, a citizen of ECOWAS and an Africa Union citizen. It is therefore my right to be represented as a Ghanaian, an ECOWAS citizen and as an AU citizen in a decision that will be politically binding on me. It is equally my duty to be able to identify with anyone representing me from Ghana, ECOWAS and the AU. Like the EU, the AU and the ECOWAS were all formed to allow their representatives to be key actors in any gathering of powerful nations, where binding decisions on citizens are made for the world.

The fact is, how were the AU and ECOWAS represented at the G20 Summit, and why is the EU representation of 27 political nations different from the AU representation of 54 political nations and the ECOWAS representation of the 15 different political nation? Were the AU and ECOWAS effectively represented as key stakeholders in the decision making of the world enough for the citizens of these bodies to clearly identify their representatives among the lot?

The only way to make sense to this question is to take a look at the capacity in which the EU was representing it's 27 member states at the Humburg G20 Summit, in comparison to how the AU and ECOWAS were representing their people and states.

In going by the list of nations that were officially invited to participate at the G20 Summit, South African President Jacob Zuma was there representing South Africa like the British, Indian, USA and Russian leaders represented their countries. Makie Sur of Senegal was there to represent NEPAD (New ECONOMIC Partnership for Africa Development) and Alpha Conde who is the Chairman of the AU as well as the president of Guinea, was also invited. The only way an average person will identify with Zumah, Conde and Surr is, they are all blacks from the African continent representing black people.

What cause some of us to raise our eye brow is, if the gathering is about countries, why is Jean Claude Jounka officially invited to represent the EU as the President of the EU Authority of 27 member states? Is the EU now a country? Could that not have justify why Moussa Faki of the AU authority of 54 member states or President Marcel de Suezie of the ECOWAS Authority be invited for the 15 ECOWAS member states? How helpful is it for the Africans to attend a meeting of decision making that will be binding on their people and only go to such meeting as mere on lookers?

The next question is, why are the Africans incapable of commanding the respect of their fellow humans in the global affairs while the Europeans are easily able to do this? The simplest answer to this is, the Europeans are proving to the rest of the world that they democratically believe in their citizens enough to trust each person enough to be electing his or her regional parliamentarian directly, empowering 90% of their people into those responsible for determining their course of their future.

The African on continent are poorly informed on the representations within the continent, for any meaningful direct representations outside their respective countries. This lact of connectivity between the political actor representing the individual Ghanaian in ECOWAS or the AU, makes it impossible for identification between the represented and the representer to be effectively establish.

So unlike Jean Claude Jeaunka who is connected to the EU citizen through the EU Parliament whose members are elected directly by the EU citizens, the ECOWAS and the AU indirect parliamentary representations technically exclude the citizens from those representing them beyond their local borders.

It is without doubt that the Ghanaian, like his European counterparts, is politically sensitive to any socio economic issue to be represented and interest in his representation at the G20 Summit, if given the chance. The answer to this then lie in awakening the Ghanaian by empowering him to be participating in electing his representations beyond the Ghana president and members of parliament within the colonially defined national borders of Ghana, to have Ghanaians directly electing members of their ECOWAS parliament to Abuja.

This in turn is the key to having the attention of more Ghanaians to forums like G20 Summit. The act of having the Ghanaian to directly elect his or her ECOWAS MP is therefore the key to creating the condition in West Africa to make the world take ECOWAS serious as a respectable regional body which could be extended to the AU in due course.

So far, we are yet to win this tough battle. The G20 Summit Humburg 2017 is over now and decisions have been taken that will be binding on West Africans. In fact the EU 27 actively took part in the decision making with the interest of their common citizens of 580 million people, high on the agenda.

We are well aware individuals from the ECOWAS were present at the G20 Summit but not in an official capacity enough to participate in defending the interest of the 377 million citizens of ECOWAS.

This is not the last of such Summit where human fate are determine as we look on. Probably we shall be changing the way we go about doing things by the time the next G20 Summit is held, so we shall be officially invited to take our rightful place to defend the interest of our citizens.

Kofi Ali Abdul-Yekin
Chairman ECRA.