Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 78 The dis-equalising effect of integration is yet another difficulty. Even though this is a known difficulty in every integrative scheme, it is very well pronounced in Africa. This is due to some factors that arise, in particular, from the tendency of investment to concentrate on the relatively more advanced countries. In fact, the cumulative causation, resulting from this, tends to increase divergence between the relatively more advanced and less advanced economies. There are also problems of operational and institutional nature, which make intra­African cooperation difficult. These relate to information, banking, language, costs of promotion, prices of research, and poor management of the Secretariats. III Ghana and Integration. Ghana has since independence been at the forefront of the schemes to have one form or another of integration in Africa. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first President had called for the political union of Africa. He indeed formed the Organisation of African States(OAS), comprising Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. Ghana was instrumental in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity(OAU) in 1963. 103 Ghana was also at the forefront in the formative years of the ECOWAS and has played a leading role in getting the ECOWAS agenda always on course. Indeed, the desire to create a second monetary zone in West Africa has been the result of efforts by Ghana and Nigeria. In this regard, Ghana has succeeded in getting the West Africa Monetary Institute(WAMI) established and headquartered in Ghana. The current President of the ECOWAS Commission is a Ghanaian(Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas) underscoring the fact that Ghana is very active in West African integration. It is not just enough to be seen to be spearheading the call for integration. Integration is about building a community of people, creating a market and the generation of the necessary structures for interaction. Integration is about fostering a sense of community, without endangering national integrity. Above all, integration is about the free movement of factors for community development. It is against this background that the involvement of the socio-economic partners in development is essential. These are the ordinary people who have no role(actively) in policy formulation, but who are the tools for the realisation of policy ends. Making the Ordinary Ghanaian Part of the Integration Process. One paramount hurdle to African integration has been the lack of full commitment in the sense of the failure to incorporate agreements reached by different integration schemes in national plans. By this, the value of collective agreements to 103 For details of the role Ghana played towards the formation of the OAU, see C.O.C Amatey, op.cit.