President Kufuor returns home from Zambia

President John Agyekum Kufuor said the just-ended 37th OAU Summit sent a clear message to the world that Africa was ready to join the mainstream of globalisation.

He said leaders agreed that the proposed African Union should be people-centred and that all should popularise the ideas among their people.

President Kufuor told Airport journalists on his return home from the summit in Lusaka, Zambia that unlike previous summits which were regarded only as an assembly of African leaders, the historic meeting resolved to bring the idea of an African Union to the doorsteps of the people and to be made "the property of the people."

President Kufuor said the 38 African leaders that attended the summit outlined a number of protocols to be part of the Constitutive Authority of the Union, which included the Assembly of Heads of State at the apex, Council of Ministers, a Commission which will serve the Secretariat, a Court of Justice, an African Parliament as well as an Africa Monetary Fund and an African Union Bank.

President Kufuor said leaders agreed to set up centres for the promotion of herbal medicine on the continent.

"This summit sends out the seriousness that has been lacking over the past 37 years since the inception of the organisation," he said, adding that this is the driving force behind the approaching Union.

President Kufuor said the new Secretary-General, Mr Amara Essy of Cote d'Ivoire, was elected after a prolonged balloting.

He said the Union was yet to come into being and that the act stipulated a one-year transition period.

The President was accompanied by Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, MP for Bimbilla who the government has nominated for the post of Executive Secretary of ECOWAS.

At the airport to welcome the President were the Vice President Aliu Mahama, Ministers of State, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr Ibrahim Omar and the Chief of the Defence Staff, Major-General Seth Obeng.