Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 35 In addition, the ECOWAS Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution and Peace-Keeping and Security provides special roles for the armed forces of member States. Article 18 makes the Chiefs of Defence Staff(CDS) of member states automatic members of the Defence and Security Commission. Article 21 provides that stand-by units of the armed forces be held in readiness for peace support operations within the sub-region. Challenges Despite the frontline role the Government of Ghana plays within ECOWAS, there is an apparent low recognition of regional integration as a priority in the scheme of things. This manifests itself in the manner in which regional integration has been affected in virtually every ministerial reshuffle in the last decade or so. The regional integration sector has always been an'orphan'. The infant ministry under the NDC came too late to make any impact. As part of the MEPRC, the focus was on economic planning which concentrated on poverty reduction, as MRCN, the focus was on NEPAD particularly peer reviewing Ghana, and now as a sub-ministerial sector at foreign affairs its role as the inter-ministerial coordinator of regional integration has been subsumed under the broad objectives of foreign affairs. From MEPRC to MRCN, it lost its cabinet status but at least had a minister as head, and now as a sub­sector of FA it is headed by a deputy minister. Currently, with a single deputy minister in the MFA, the activities of regional integration are largely confined to the Director of the ECOWAS Bureau. This clearly has affected the consistency in implementing regional integration policies. In Ghana, as elsewhere in the sub-region, ECOWAS has thus far remained an elitist project designed and carried out by government leaders and top bureaucrats without much consultation with the mass of the population. Regional integration has literally been imposed from above with little or no participation. Governments assume that the objectives of ECOWAS are noble and are in the national interest without making the population part of the decision making process. Regional integration can operate effectively at the inter-ministerial level since it demands the collaboration of several ministries. This has largely been ineffective. For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which must be the lead ministry, regional integration, is only an adjunct to its activities and is not given the needed attention and resources. On the other hand, other relevant sector ministries like Trade, Interior and Defence, prefer to conduct their respective integration policies on their own. There are also problems of inter-agency coordination. First, the agencies fall under different ministries. Whilst GPS, GIS and other para-military agencies belong to the Interior Ministry, CEPS belongs to the Ministry of Finance and GAF to the Ministry of