Originally published in Panafrican Visions magazine
The idea of a United States of Africa has been floating around for over fifty years today. When the great visionary Kwame Nkrumah militated so strongly for it, some of his peers rated him over ambitious with an unbridled appetite to exert control on the entire continent. That the idea is still a subject of strong debate today is a sign that Nkrumah was just a man out of the ordinary with a vision far above the comprehension of many in his generation and even subsequent ones. The last African Union Summit in Accra Ghana ignited the debate in full force although?? to many the out come fell short of expectations.
In the interview below, frontline Pan Africanist and, Executive Director of AFRICAphonie Mwalimu George Ngwane says the United States of Africa is a matter of urgency . The last African Union Summit, leadership in Africa, and a lot more are addressed by ??Mwalimu Ngwane, one of the most ardent disciples of Nkrumah ?in this interview he had with Ajong Mbapndah L for Pan African Visions.
Pan African Visions (PAV):The African Union Summit in Ghana emerged with camps dubbed gradualists and radicalists. Did the debate on continental unity make any progress?
Mwalimu Ngwane: Yes it did, first the debate on the United States of Africa had never featured on the agenda of the continental organization since it was defended by Nkrumah at the OAU summit in 1965. Second the attendance by Heads of State and Governments recorded an all time high since the African Union was created and lastly the consensus towards the ultimate creation of a United States of Africa was much larger than it was the case during the O.A.U. So even though there was an unnecessary polarization between the gradualists and the fast track proponents, there was a desire to stamp this continent with the identity of a common citizenship. What I think was lacking in the African Union summit was a clear picture of what the United States of Africa is or will be
PAV: Do you think the views expressed by the leaders are in accordance with those of the people, we have so far heard little about opportunities given to the African people, especially the masses to get their say.
Mwalimu Ngwane: Since there was no referendum conducted in individual countries or national parliaments consulted, one can only conjecture that the views expressed by the various Heads of states were either their personal convictions or their countries' official diplomatic stance. And this is where the controversy arises.
The United States of Africa project is first and foremost about establishing a common geographical, economic and political space for the African people. In this vein the debate on Union Government carried a lot of position posturing to the detriment of the very essence of a united people's bottom-up approach. If any referendum is conducted today among the African people about the United Africa, I can bet you that it will be a 99.99 percent for the immediate establishment.
Before the July summit, our Organisation, AFRICAphonie conducted a Referendum among University students and there was an overwhelming YES for the immediate creation of the United States of Africa. The truth is that this group of gradualists has graduated into skeptics since the very leaders who are supposed to use regional economic communities as building blocks are themselves stumbling blocks. We have buried our heads for too long in the gradualist sand that we fail to asses how underdeveloped Africa remains far behind other regional groups in the world. It is time the various country parliaments, civil society associations, the pan African parliament are given opportunities to lend a voice to the ordinary masses.
PAV: What in concrete terms do you think the people stand to benefit with the advent of ?a continental government
Mwalimu Ngwane: Africa remains the most vulnerable continent because it lacks a concerted diplomacy through a strong united political voice. This has been grossly exploited by the International community. Our continent still believes in a hand-out instead of a hands-on approach and so lacks both the ownership and control of its huge human and natural resources. The result is that we keep adjusting our political and economic models according to the dictates of Eurocentric desiderata Indeed even though the world talks of a global village; Africa in its present dispersed ranks is a victim of global pillage.
Because of a lack of endogenous or Africacentric developmental paradigm, we have become strangulated by the draconian and inhuman economic policies imposed on a divided Africa by the unholy trinity of IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation. A united Africa will therefore provide a common market based on intra-African trade, it will provide a common identity that will erase the prospects of conflicts, it will provide a common citizenship hinged on the free movement of people and like I mentioned before it will provide a strong political bargaining power necessary to reclaim our authority as a free and independent people.
PAV: Some five years since the African Union was formed has it in your view lived up to expectations and what difference do you see between it and the OAU.
Mwalimu Ngwane: I wish to inform you that just as the OAU was born out of two schools of thought so was the African Union. Let me explain. What came out as the OAU charter was more of a concession made by the Casablanca group towards the Monrovia bloc. What also came out as the African Union Treaty was more of a concession made by the Sirte group towards the Durban bloc. The Sirte group of 1999 led by Gaddafi militated in favour of rapid acceleration of the African Economic Community, powers were supposed to reside in what was called the African Congress etc but all of these were watered down by the Durban bloc of 2002 led by Thabo Mbeki and Obasanjo. The result was that the African Union became radical in intention but moderate in action.
However the structures like Peace and Security Council, pan African parliament, Court of Justice etc within the African Union are benchmarks that make the AU different from its predecessor. The bone of contention still remains the power base of the AU Chairman vis-a-vis Heads of States and the functional workability of these structures towards the goals they have set for themselves. Be it as it may, the OAU continues to serve as the carcass that will manure the growth of the AU and the United States of Africa.
PAV: Kwame Nkrumah harped on the need for a United Africa before talks about the Europe Union and its predecessor the European Economic Commission, what in your opinion is holding Africa back from something many think will be of great benefit to all?
Mwalimu Ngwane: One may be in a rush to accuse our leaders of being egocentric, of holding tenaciously to their banana republics and coconut empires, of serving Western interest more than African interest, of failing to rise up to the aspirations of their citizens which citizens may also be accused of suffering from a pathological spirit of docility and impotence. But to me the larger problem lies on the lack of a clear architecture called Union Government or United States of Africa. By Union Government do we mean a continental federation that will see one Head of State for the continent with the present heads of states assuming the roles of Governors with a rotatory proviso? Do we mean a continental confederation with regions being coordinated by a supra-national central organ? Will that supra-national central organ be the African Union with more powers given to the African Union Chairperson who should now become the continent?s spokesperson with Commissioners that will be appointed by and responsible to him than to their respective countries? Or would it be a reinforcement of the functional cooperation model especially in the areas of foreign policy, defence, infrastructure, trade and commerce and with the pan African parliament enjoying full legislative powers and a pan African media organ created?
Both the civil society and state actors need to ponder over this seriously before the January AU summit in Addis Ababa come 2008 .Let us get the political arm of United States of Africa clear before the end of 2007 so that both the economic and cultural unions should align with the political union in 2008. This may probably jumpstart the United States of Africa edifice
PAV: With crises in Ivory Coast, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Darfur etc are you satisfied with the response of the present generation of leaderships in the continent?
Mwalimu Ngwane: Africa is a continent that spends so many resources in peace initiatives unlike other countries that vote heavy budgets to fund conflicts and wars. It is certain that we shall not have a conflict-proof continent even in the birth of a United States of Africa but no one can deny that there have been fewer frequencies in conflicts than they were when we just had Independence. Most of the wars today arise from dismal governance, constitutional tinkering, election masquerade, poor resource allocation and the perpetration of a minority of rent-seeking political class lording it over the majority of emasculated masses. The realistic response to these conflicts should rather be eradicating the conditions that create them than the fire-fighting pranks that mellow them
PAV: Mwalimu, As a seasoned Pan Africanist, what do you make first of the judicial proceedings in France against Presidents Sassou Nguesso of Congo and Omar Bongo of Gabon on questionable sources of their investments and on the other hand the recent public declaration of his assets by current Nigerian leader Yar'Adua?
Mwalimu Ngwane: How do you feel when you hear that Abacha's billions are stashed in foreign banks? How do you react to the fact that Mobutu's assets are all out of his country? How do you wink knowing that the assets of some of our present leaders are ten times more than their countries' budgets? If that is not economic genocide; if that is not a crime against humanity then tell me what it is? So who will raise any objection against judicial proceedings meted out to African leaders? My only regret is that these proceedings are carried out in foreign countries whose leaders are also in collusion with this economic carnage. And that is why I support the move for our guilty leaders to be tried in own gacacas. As for the current Nigerian leader's public declaration of his assets, it is a step in the right direction especially as he needs the support of his country people to erase the election blemish that brought him to power.
PAV: What prospects do you see in relations between Africa and Europe with the emergence of Nicholas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown as leaders in France and Britain respectively?
Mwalimu Ngwane: Africa?s destiny should not be conditioned by the leadership change in Europe or America. Infact we should stop looking at the political gimmicks and diplomatic tokenisms that characterize Europe-Africa relations. The relations have been one of patronage not partnership and one of condescending sympathy not fraternal solidarity. This is normal. The British, French and Americans did not elect their Presidents to take care of African interest but we elect our own leaders only for them to turn their backs on us.
This is not to suggest an isolated Africa. I advocate a renegotiated deal based on Africa speaking to China, Africa speaking to Asia, Africa speaking to the Europe, Africa speaking to America, etc. And this will not happen until Africa is united, it will not happen as long as our leaders continue looking eastward and westward for development, it will not happen with the present democratic dispensation in Africa that focuses on routine and manipulated electoral democracy instead of the dividends of social democracy
PAV: At the threshold of the first decade of the new millennium what does Africa need to do to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of development?
Mwalimu Ngwane: Africa knows what it needs to do; the problem is the lack of political courage by its leaders. It was the Cameroonian President Paul Biya who asked the rhetorical question of why countries like Malaysia, Singapore and other South Asian countries which were behind most African countries have suddenly made giant strides in economic development. Like Nkrumah once declared the fault is in us not in our stars.
While other countries possess leaders with vision and conviction, our African soil is replete with leaders whose future is behind them and who refuse to pass the buck constitutionally. The answer is for young people to start organizing themselves like the Nkrumahs, Nyereres, and Keitas did in their days. The youths must collectively dream their own dreams and chart their own agendas for their countries and this continent. Rather than retreating into their ethnic shells or venturing into migratory blues, young people should connect across the artificial and psychological barriers created by the Berlin conference. They should engage their political party leaders and independent candidates into a pan African vision in tandem with a national development trajectory.
I look forward to an All African Peoples' Congress that will bring together young pan Africanists within the civil society; journalists, socio-professional bodies, students, farmers, business persons, trade unionists, economic operators in the Diaspora. For indeed, Africa is in dire need of comptemporary patriots who are inspired by the faith of yesterday's martyrs.
PAV: Any comments on the idea of countries which are ready coming together to start the United States of Africa as mooted by the Senegalese?
Mwalimu Ngwane: Abdoulaye Wade's option which is one of voluntary instead of holistic integration should be taken seriously especially against the historical background that gradualists have always hijacked the debate on a United Africa, History also informs us that in 1961, three countries, Ghana, Mali and Guinea began a Union of African States with the desire to form the nucleus of a United States of Africa. Let us not forget that those countries which postulated for an immediate United Africa during the Accra July summit are drawn from four important geographical sub regions of Africa. This means that once other citizens see the benefits accruing from this transnational integration they shall stampede their leadership into opting in. Again did the present European Union not begin by a mere wedding of economic interest of coal and steel between France and Germany?
I really hope we can all see the need to be more involved in a continental fast track integration process rather than an optional piecemeal approach. For as far as I am concerned Africa?s Revolution has begun and no one can stop it now. The United States of Africa is not a matter of time; it is a matter of urgency.
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