The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) has appointed Ghanaian musician Kwame Nsiah Appau also known as Okyeame Kwame as the main ambassador to champion “My African Union, My Voice” campaign.
His appointment coincided with the launch of the campaign on March 13, 2015 at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra. The “My African Union, My Voice” campaign forms part of the activities of the “State of the Union” (SoTU), a Pan African Civil Society Organizations project currently being implemented in ten African countries including Ghana.
The aim of the campaign is to raise public awareness of the objectives of the African Union and promote active citizen participation in the implementation of its protocols, conventions and policy decisions at the level of the 54 Member States of the Union.
Okyeame Kwame, the newly appointed ambassador of the campaign said: “I accept my responsibility to use my music, my persona, my social media platforms, my performances, my interviews, my utterances and even my clothes to remind my leaders of their duties to the people”.
“I was called into a meeting with young intelligent workers of IDEG who told me that Africa has a responsibility for me and Africa wanted me to be her voice and also needed me to remind her children of the promises that her leaders have made to them to fight poverty, gender inequality, economic instability, balancing orientation, creating enough love to fight enmity and conflicts and eventually war and so I said Yes again,” he added.
Okyeame Kwame explained that a good leader taps into the aspirations of his people to find the perfect balance between where he wants to take his people and where his people really want to go and how far, adding, “this is not a job one man can carry so I am carrying this responsibility with Uncle Gyedu-blay Ambolley ‘heeybaaa’, Amandzeba ‘the illustrious son of Africa’, the ever talented Efya, the enigmatic Wiyaala Noella, the unbeatable Sherifa Gunu, the young Tejani, our screen goddess Nana Ama McBrown and Patrick Okai who also triples as a consultant, a co-writer and a vocalist”.
Amandzeba, Okyeame Kwame, Efya together with other supporting ambassadors performed a yet to be released song for the campaign which they tasked the media and all stakeholders to share to champion the cause.
Present at the launch were some members of the African Diplomatic Corps, representatives from different organizations and students from various second cycle schools.
