Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 80 response to the felt needs of the leadership, but rather from a feeling of belonging to a'club' by the leadership. In Ghana, except for the period of the First Republic under Kwame Nkrumah, knowledge of and participation in integration schemes has always been the preserve of the elite. Generally, integration schemes in Africa have been led not by the private sector(in which case it would be easier to incorporate the socio-economic partners in development – the ordinary people-) but mostly by politicians. Integration is effective and rigorous when the people being integrated in the various economies understand the ramifications. For ordinary Ghanaians to be made part of the integrative process there is first and foremost, the need to mainstream the integration process. To this end, there is the need to • incorporate into the curricula of schools, issues about integration. Schools are the breeding grounds for the making of future leaders. They are also the repository of enlightenment. If integration schemes are part of the school curricula, the tendency is that the whole of society would be made aware of the building of a community. • make public, agreements and protocols signed and/or ratified. It is intriguing that governments either fail to incorporate agreements and/or protocols signed into national plans, or deny the general public knowledge about their existence. Public debate about integrative arrangements enhances understanding of efforts at the creation of supra-national institutions, policy harmonisation, and the undertaking of collective community projects. Generally, it creates awareness about an integration scheme. • create public awareness of the integration process through the media and other fora. The media is a powerful tool for educating the public about government programmes. It is also an effective conduit for disseminating information to the public. A vibrant media exposure of the public to integration schemes and plans would always enhance public awareness. • give the Ministry responsible for integration the necessary visibility. It is unfortunate that the Ministry for Regional Integration and NEPAD had a very short spell. It was dissolved and placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a wing of the latter ministry, visibility was lost of anything on integration. • engineer and spearhead intra-sub-regional interactions through channels such as sports, cultural festivals, trade fairs and tourism. Even though such interactions are ongoing, none is done under the aegis or on the platform of integration. Such interactions would need special themes that create awareness for integration. • give visibility and meaning to the integration process by giving community names to projects, streets, highways, institutions etc.(For example, Trans-West African Highway, ECOWAS Street, Trans-ECOWAS Railway etc.). Continuous use of such names would help to create awareness.