A Creation of the United States of Africa - is It People-Driven?
- By News Hound
- Published 07/3/2007
- Politics
- Unrated
News Hound
Your servent relentlessly hunting for interesting news stories around the world.
View all articles by News HoundA Creation of the United States of Africa - is It People-Driven?
by Hicks Sikazwe
"LADIES and gentlemen welcome to Libya. Kindly adjust your seat belts we are about to land at Tripoli International airport", announces an airhostess on a KLM 14.50 flight from Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
"Taking pictures is not allowed at the airport. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted either in this country," she cautions further.
Passengers disembark from the aircraft which has since ceased hissing.
On board are delegates to an activists' meeting on the setting up of an African Union (AU) government. Eighteen Zambians out of the 22 invited to the gathering are among the people now streaming from the plane into the airport lobby for formalities.
Almost every body mumbles something about the sweltering heat. Libya can be hot and in the cold season it is another extreme, the locals confess. Suddenly, officials (presumably from the Libyan Foreign Affairs), swam the Zambian team, asking for passports and later ushering the group to a posh lounge at the airport.
One official specifically asks for passports from journalists. I surrender mine so do my colleagues from Zambia Daily Mail and The Post.
Well, this is Libya, the country whose leader Muammar Gadaffi is currently championing the establishment of a continental government that should transform Africa into the United States of Africa.
Colonel Gadaffi, who came to power through a coup in 1969, is clearly in a hurry to fulfil what he says is a dream for the initiators of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU), the forerunner to the AU.
"We have wasted more than 40 years (since the OAU was born), talking and talking without achieving results. Time has now come to set up one government for the all of Africa so that the continent can move forward," he told 800 delegaates from 48 countries, who converged in the People's Revolutionary Hall in the heart of the capital, Tripoli.
The Libyan leader took a swipe at some of the African states (he could not name) accusing them of resisting change, and labelling the countries as agents of the West, but quickly appealing to the meeting to help reverse the attitude of such leaders.
A communiqué released at the end of the two-day gathering with traces of Gadaffi's line of thinking endorsed that there should be no delays in the establishment of an AU government; that a sustained campaign by civil society groups in the continent be launched to sensitise people on the need for such a central administration for Africa.
The gathering, which included academics, political party representatives, parliamentarians, journalists and trade unionists, felt that there was need for unity of purpose among leaders if the AU goal was to be achieved.
Former Information Minister, Vernon Mwaanga, who was in the Zambian delegation described the meeting as an eye opener. He praised the Libyan leader for consistently championing the idea of a continental government.
Mr Mwaanga noted that the idea of an AU government was also consistent with the OAU charter of 1963, in which founding leaders such as Ghana's Kwameh Nkruma, Guinea's Sekoure Toure, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere espoused the dream of a United Africa.
Within a few weeks, there will be a heads of meeting in Accra, Ghana to discuss the issue further.
To the leaders, Mr Mwaanga was confident that the heads of state would articulate the matter well and come out with a collective decision.
However, whichever way one looks at the subject, Libya - or is it Gadaffi - despite the good intentions has a mountain to climb in the quest to establish one African government.
Many observers believe that Libya, which is just coming out of the anvil of western-imposed economic sanctions, has to do a lot to usher in a myriad of reforms at home before the country can firmly drive the seat to champion the establishment of an African Union government.
What is being advocated is a continental administration which demands democracy, a government that thrives on transparency, openness and tolerance.
Admittedly, the effect of the sanctions on Libya is picturesque. So is the previous relationship between Libya, and the West, particularly America.
Hearing Gadaffi talk on the need to establish the United States of Africa, one gets an impression that one of the driving factors for this is to challenge the United States of America.
One time during the address to delegates, the Libyan leader said, "We need to know our commissioners of the African Union. Condoleezza Rice (American secretary) of state is more famous than our commissioners; who does not know Condoleezza Rice?"
At another occasion he made reference to the need for Africa coming together to meet the political and economic might of the USA.
If the campaign for an AU government has to bear fruit such ideas must be watered down and the issue tackled on its merit. Libya is indeed a great country, but a lot more effort should be applied to open up further. Almost everything is covered in a veil of secrecy.
This perhaps is easy to understand because of the background of where the country is coming from, but the earlier the nation adjusts on some basics the better for everybody.
For instance the just-ended activists' conference in Tripoli, there was no information on the meeting, no background material, no nothing.
Participants did not even know where the conference (venue) would take place until just ten minutes before the meeting began.
At the conference there appeared to be a format which suggested that most of the speakers selected were for the idea and the majority came from North African countries.
There were weaker alternative voices. Most delegates from Southern African countries felt some kind of sidelined as not many of them were given chance to speak. Even the communiqué was written long before the meeting ended.
These are lapses that need to be improved on to avoid affecting this important debate.
The cardinal point remains that there is no need to rush the establishment of an African Union government. The issue must be discussed critically and debated extensively. Ultimately the people must have a final say in this matter.
For example there are still serious missing links in the crusade. The matter has had no public input so the process is not people-driven. All the work done so far has been between governments, or is it leaders and not the people?
For the idea to work it needs to go the back to the drawing board, and the most fair way is before even such gatherings are held (like the last conference in Tripoli and the next Accra summit) individual countries must take positions.
That simply means there should be a national debate in every country which should be followed up by a referendum where the common man and woman should agree to set up such one government at continental level.
That way it will be helpful for leaders to go to a conference with a country position. There is a lot at stake now.
Africa has embarked on a very important path of democratisation, in the same vein the campaign for setting up an AU government must be subjected to the full democratic process.
Many people appreciate the role founding fathers or freedom fighters played in the struggle to free the continent from colonial rule but to rely on their style of doing things more than fifty years later may clash with modern and democratic tenets.
Another school of thought is that leaders should work towards strengthening the existing economic groups such as COMESA, SADCC and others before jumping to a dream of a continental government.
At the conference the only speaker who made reference to this fact and articulated it well was FDD President Edith Nowakwi.
One delegate from Malawi said if SADC and COMESA are still facing problems, how will one continental government succeed?
"LADIES and gentlemen welcome to Libya. Kindly adjust your seat belts we are about to land at Tripoli International airport", announces an airhostess on a KLM 14.50 flight from Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
"Taking pictures is not allowed at the airport. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted either in this country," she cautions further.
Passengers disembark from the aircraft which has since ceased hissing.
On board are delegates to an activists' meeting on the setting up of an African Union (AU) government. Eighteen Zambians out of the 22 invited to the gathering are among the people now streaming from the plane into the airport lobby for formalities.
Almost every body mumbles something about the sweltering heat. Libya can be hot and in the cold season it is another extreme, the locals confess. Suddenly, officials (presumably from the Libyan Foreign Affairs), swam the Zambian team, asking for passports and later ushering the group to a posh lounge at the airport.
One official specifically asks for passports from journalists. I surrender mine so do my colleagues from Zambia Daily Mail and The Post.
Well, this is Libya, the country whose leader Muammar Gadaffi is currently championing the establishment of a continental government that should transform Africa into the United States of Africa.
Colonel Gadaffi, who came to power through a coup in 1969, is clearly in a hurry to fulfil what he says is a dream for the initiators of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU), the forerunner to the AU.
"We have wasted more than 40 years (since the OAU was born), talking and talking without achieving results. Time has now come to set up one government for the all of Africa so that the continent can move forward," he told 800 delegaates from 48 countries, who converged in the People's Revolutionary Hall in the heart of the capital, Tripoli.
The Libyan leader took a swipe at some of the African states (he could not name) accusing them of resisting change, and labelling the countries as agents of the West, but quickly appealing to the meeting to help reverse the attitude of such leaders.
A communiqué released at the end of the two-day gathering with traces of Gadaffi's line of thinking endorsed that there should be no delays in the establishment of an AU government; that a sustained campaign by civil society groups in the continent be launched to sensitise people on the need for such a central administration for Africa.
The gathering, which included academics, political party representatives, parliamentarians, journalists and trade unionists, felt that there was need for unity of purpose among leaders if the AU goal was to be achieved.
Former Information Minister, Vernon Mwaanga, who was in the Zambian delegation described the meeting as an eye opener. He praised the Libyan leader for consistently championing the idea of a continental government.
Mr Mwaanga noted that the idea of an AU government was also consistent with the OAU charter of 1963, in which founding leaders such as Ghana's Kwameh Nkruma, Guinea's Sekoure Toure, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere espoused the dream of a United Africa.
Within a few weeks, there will be a heads of meeting in Accra, Ghana to discuss the issue further.
To the leaders, Mr Mwaanga was confident that the heads of state would articulate the matter well and come out with a collective decision.
However, whichever way one looks at the subject, Libya - or is it Gadaffi - despite the good intentions has a mountain to climb in the quest to establish one African government.
Many observers believe that Libya, which is just coming out of the anvil of western-imposed economic sanctions, has to do a lot to usher in a myriad of reforms at home before the country can firmly drive the seat to champion the establishment of an African Union government.
What is being advocated is a continental administration which demands democracy, a government that thrives on transparency, openness and tolerance.
Admittedly, the effect of the sanctions on Libya is picturesque. So is the previous relationship between Libya, and the West, particularly America.
Hearing Gadaffi talk on the need to establish the United States of Africa, one gets an impression that one of the driving factors for this is to challenge the United States of America.
One time during the address to delegates, the Libyan leader said, "We need to know our commissioners of the African Union. Condoleezza Rice (American secretary) of state is more famous than our commissioners; who does not know Condoleezza Rice?"
At another occasion he made reference to the need for Africa coming together to meet the political and economic might of the USA.
If the campaign for an AU government has to bear fruit such ideas must be watered down and the issue tackled on its merit. Libya is indeed a great country, but a lot more effort should be applied to open up further. Almost everything is covered in a veil of secrecy.
This perhaps is easy to understand because of the background of where the country is coming from, but the earlier the nation adjusts on some basics the better for everybody.
For instance the just-ended activists' conference in Tripoli, there was no information on the meeting, no background material, no nothing.
Participants did not even know where the conference (venue) would take place until just ten minutes before the meeting began.
At the conference there appeared to be a format which suggested that most of the speakers selected were for the idea and the majority came from North African countries.
There were weaker alternative voices. Most delegates from Southern African countries felt some kind of sidelined as not many of them were given chance to speak. Even the communiqué was written long before the meeting ended.
These are lapses that need to be improved on to avoid affecting this important debate.
The cardinal point remains that there is no need to rush the establishment of an African Union government. The issue must be discussed critically and debated extensively. Ultimately the people must have a final say in this matter.
For example there are still serious missing links in the crusade. The matter has had no public input so the process is not people-driven. All the work done so far has been between governments, or is it leaders and not the people?
For the idea to work it needs to go the back to the drawing board, and the most fair way is before even such gatherings are held (like the last conference in Tripoli and the next Accra summit) individual countries must take positions.
That simply means there should be a national debate in every country which should be followed up by a referendum where the common man and woman should agree to set up such one government at continental level.
That way it will be helpful for leaders to go to a conference with a country position. There is a lot at stake now.
Africa has embarked on a very important path of democratisation, in the same vein the campaign for setting up an AU government must be subjected to the full democratic process.
Many people appreciate the role founding fathers or freedom fighters played in the struggle to free the continent from colonial rule but to rely on their style of doing things more than fifty years later may clash with modern and democratic tenets.
Another school of thought is that leaders should work towards strengthening the existing economic groups such as COMESA, SADCC and others before jumping to a dream of a continental government.
At the conference the only speaker who made reference to this fact and articulated it well was FDD President Edith Nowakwi.
One delegate from Malawi said if SADC and COMESA are still facing problems, how will one continental government succeed?
There are more questions than answers over the matter. But what is clear is that the issue has had no public input, hence the lack of consensus. There is need, therefore, for further dialogue both at local level (individual countries) and at continental level.
Africa has a mountain to climb and if any one wants to run in setting up an AU government it may just be another dream.
But after all is said it is important to recognise and appreciate the contribution Libya is making towards the goal and it is just fair that Gadaffi and his country be commended, but it is critical and imperative too that what ever happens in this matter let us allow the people of Africa to decide.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200706300181.html
