Ensuring the African Union makes a positive impact

The OAU after its formation worked tirelessly to ensure that Africa was liberated. It led the intensifying of the struggle for independence in yet-to-be independent countries. However it has not done well to protect Africans from Africans.
The OAU after its formation worked tirelessly to ensure that Africa was liberated. It led the intensifying of the struggle for independence in yet-to-be independent countries. However it has not done well to protect Africans from Africans.
Image: 123rf

On May 25 1963, 32 African states gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to find African solutions to African problems. The gathering was hugely motivated by the Pan-Africanism movement which was quickly and deeply finding its feet as the ideology of preference in African politics. Africa at the time had only eight independent states with the rest struggling to breathe under the brutal knee of colonialism and imperialism.

At the centre of the agenda was a plot to realise total economic, political and social independence. The gathering was led by Ghana’s Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie. The delegates to the gathering are arguably Africa’s best-ever crop of leadership. Leadership that, at the time, was found with the people, inspired by the problems of their society and driven by the mandate of the masses.

Columnist Tinashe Mutema
Columnist Tinashe Mutema
Image: SUPPLIED

The discussion of the gathering was split into two: Nkrumah wanted a United States of Africa forthwith, while Selassie preferred gradualism. Eventually the main product of the gathering was the Organisation of African Unity. The OAU worked tirelessly to ensure that Africa was liberated. It led the intensifying of the struggle for independence in yet-to-be independent countries.

The organisation did a splendid job in the fight against colonialism but has an awful record in protecting Africa from Africans. Some of the newly liberated African countries were quickly swallowed by African-on-African violence, for example the Gukurahundi massacre in Zimbabwe, the Chad Civil War and the Congo crisis. Thousands of African lives were lost under the nose  of the OAU. The OAU failed in its mandate to ensure peace and stability in Africa.

The OAU was embarrassingly silent on democratic values, rule-of-law and constitutionalism. This led African revolutionaries to dangerously flirt with Marxism and Leninism. They defined their mission as the dismantling of the capitalist society brought by European imperialism. However,  many of these socialist revolutionaries perpetuated colonial economies when they assumed power. For example the South African economy today remains a largely capitalist economy despite being governed by a Marxist-Leninist party for  over two decades.

The OAU was heavily compromised by the very same people who formed it. It reserved its comment as Nkrumah amended Ghana’s constitution, made Ghana a one-party state and made himself life president for both party and state.The OAU looked on as Jomo Kenyatta ran Kenya like a family business. To no surprise some called it a “dictator’s club.”

Strong governance principles and standards are still  deficient in the administration of Africa's regional communities

Nkrumah’s urgent ambition for a United States of Africa was inherited by Colonel Muammar  Gaddafi. Charismatic and fearless, Gaddafi was well-resourced with billions from Libyan oil. He went around lobbying poor African states to support his efforts for a United States of Africa and gave them financial aid in return. A closer look at the leaders who desperately wanted a united Africa is very disturbing as most of them have terrible human rights records and are dictators of note.

Finally, in 1999 a gathering of the OAU decided to disband it and pave way for the African Union (AU). The AU was meant to follow the model of a modest continental body in the form of the EU.

The EU was born in the aftermath of World War 2 and it has not been an easy road to where it is. It started off as a bloc of coal and steel producers after the collapse of the Council of Europe. Massive effort allowed it to grow gradually and strongly.

If the AU is to better the dismal record of the OAU, it will have to take a bottom-up approach.

The African continent has eight Economic Regional Communities; Arab Maghreb Union, Community of Sahel–Saharan States, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, East African Community, Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of West African States, Intergovernmental Authority on Development and Southern African Development Community. These bodies have a variety of mandates but fast-tracking regional economic development and promotion of peace and stability are common aims.

The AU should work tirelessly towards ensuring that all regional communities are functional and consistent on their mandate. Strong governance principles and standards are still deficient in the administration of these regional communities. Partiality and lack of independence has compromised these bodies’ ability to resolve conflicts amicably within and between member states. Strong oversight is needed over these regional communities to turn them around.

Once regional communities are functioning properly, their strength will feed the continent and the emergence of a modest union will be realised without much effort.

The AU was set up in a desperate, and necessary, attempt to revive Pan-Africanism and forge an Africa renaissance. This is a body with huge potential to ensure political, social and economic accountability across Africa. But instead of it being filled by Africa’s best crop of leadership, it is currently occupied by dead wood. Its existence is hardly known by many Africans.

A capable AU remains a dream. The main stumbling blocks are African leaders who will lose impunity to a strong union. The emergence of a new crop of leadership provides hope — Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed  and Madagascar’s Andry Rajoelina hold promise. Africa might fail to reap enormous economic benefits from a strong AU but will definitely be a better continent politically and socially.

Tinashe Mutema is an economics graduate and an accounting student at the University of Fort Hare. He writes in his personal capacity  



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