Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 90 will to establish efficient and dynamic supra –national institutions to monitor the implementation of agreed protocols. This lack of political will apparently stems from competing domestic considerations and/or overlapping membership of other regional organisations. Thus, West African countries have not necessarily looked beyond their national interest to the achievement of sub-regional goals but have rather engaged in a cost-benefit analysis ending with the convenient selection of the course that brought immediate benefits to the country in question. Beyond the lack of political will, a cursory glance of the nature of policymaking and public administration in most West African countries as well as informal interviews of citizens of countries within West Africa strongly suggests that the presence of an elitist canker among the major policy-makers has also acted against the success of regional integration in West Africa. Such an elitist attitude arguably emanates from the top-down approach of policy making at the sub-regional level and the general ignorance/passiveness of the populace on issues of regional integration in West Africa. Consequently, stakeholders at the grassroots, such as border officials who are expected to implement sub-regional protocols as well as cross-border traders who are expected to take advantage of sub-regional protocols have, to a very large extent, not demonstrated a sense of ownership of sub-regional protocols and programmes. Corrupt practices by some border officials who refuse to respect the provisions of the ECOWAS protocols have for instance been cited as one of the main challenges frustrating the implementation of decisions on free movement of persons and goods. The challenges posed by such border officials have been further compounded by the general lack of monitoring mechanisms to tackle complaints of ill treatment and denial of privileges under the protocols. 114 The overall result is the noticeable gap between decisions made at the sub-regional level and the extent of their implementation. Closely related to the above, there has been very little private sector and civil society participation in the integration process. This has been most pronounced at the level of decision-making where the institutional structure demands that all decisions are taken at the level of the Heads of State or Government or the Council of Ministers. The result is that a number of key stakeholders are cut off from the policy making process. Thus, for instance, the private sector and other interest groups often show signs of partial or complete lack of awareness of key provisions of the ECOWAS Treaty as well as specific protocols relating to the strengthening of regional integration in West Africa. While there has been an improvement over the last two to three years, the situation is still quite disheartening. Consequently, a lot of advocacy has been devoted to the need for efforts at regional integration to be a bit more people centred, to adequately involve all stakeholders as well as to ensure the development and sustenance of a keen sense of ownership among all. 114 West African Monetary Institute Op. Cit. p. 76