THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA - IS IT VIABLE?

THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA.... IS IT VIABLE?

The United States of Africa remains a continuous premise, a grand reverie esteemed from earliest days of Pan-Africanism. The rhyme entitled ‘Hail United States of Africa’ by Marcus Garvey in 1924 instigated ideas which latter on profoundly predisposed the outset of Pan- African Movement. Later, Kwame Nkrumah the then President of Ghana and Haile Sellassie took the initiative further to form the Organization of African Unity the precursor of the African Union. The Libyan leader Muamar al-Gaddafi made an ardent plea for the immediate establishment of the United States of Africa at regional Summits in June 2007, Guinea and February 2009 in Addis- Ababa, Ethiopia. A number of African Leaders gave a blank cheque to al-Gaddafi’s proposal believing it could end the blight of conflicts in Africa.  One queries if the continent has the aptitude and single exceptionality to implement a centralized government.

In my scrutiny it is not possible to come up with a union government. The issue of culture and communication can be a serious impediment to the formation of the union government. Africa houses Islamic states, there Christian nations and some who believe African Traditional Religion. Amalgamating people with diverse cultural and religious beliefs will be a solemn risk to the solidity of the United States of Africa. In such coregent conditions, I wonder whether it is really viable to forge any form of unity apart from conjectural African solidarity that has typified the activities of the African Union.

There are some countries which are tyrannical in nature and some are military regimes while others are hatchling democracies which would not want to be associated with totalitarianism and authoritarianism. Some countries in Africa have never experienced any form of democracy since the demise of colonial rule and these would prefer to continue with their undemocratic, militaristic and atavistic regimes. Such countries if incorporated in the unity arrangement they would certainly destabilize its value. In any case, who would want to bond with people who have no esteem for human rights and sanctity for human life? In Africa, respecting the sanctity for human life is a aphorism that has since been thrown into the dustbins of stupor.

I will use my beloved country Zimbabwe as an example. The southern African country almost brought down to its lowest ebb by a dilemma of economic comatose as a result of corruption and prowling by the ZANU PF led government. The country’s attempt to recover from the crisis is being halted by the big brother attitude of Robert Mugabe in the Unity Government. If such characters are included in the unity government it would not endure. With the waves of unity governments sweeping across Africa as a result of autocrats who refuse to relinquish power after losing an election. Ii all started with Kenya, then Zimbabwe, Madagascar and very soon Ivory Coast will join the list. Kenya set a bad precedent and this drivel has to stop! With such brand of leaders in Africa, proposing for a union government is a wild goose chase. It is an intricate task to merge the liberal democracy in South Africa with the autocracy in Guinea. It might be difficult to fuse relatively stable countries like Botswana and Namibia with the bedlam in Somalia, Uganda and Sudan. It would be complex for the Union Government to wholly blow the level of civil wars; the situation might merely be transferred to the United States of Africa, such that instead of talking about the civil war in Somalia we will talk about civil war in the eastern part of the United States of Africa. It would be intricate for the ordinary Ndebele people in Zimbabwe who stomach the brunt of the Gukurahundi genocide to be calmed by the new geographical spot.

The African Union and the highly fancied United Nations have botched to resolve conflicts in Africa. The founding fathers of the African Union keen to shield their newly found powers and privileges laded the continent with problems that will always militate against the Union Government. The organization’s reluctance to interfere in the internal affairs of the member states is at the root of much of the civil rivalry in Africa. The political and social instability in the horn of Africa provide the starkest example of how this ‘self serving’ clause in the African Union’s founding charter has been a curse to the continent. Somalia has provided scientist with the perfect data to theorize about a ‘modern government-less state’.

While conflicts are tearing the continent apart, yours truly is aggrieved by the fact that the African union wrings its hands in impotence and at times sublets liability to the United Nations. In fact the African Union behaves like a sweet mama pacifying its aberrant and delinquent children. The African Union has sat in the terraces while African leaders have made politics a lifetime profession. It is sat to note that the African Union do not sympathize with besieged, browbeaten and oppressed general populace of Africa but instead support dictators. The winds of unity governments which are sweeping across Africa for instance in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar and soon it will be Ivory Coast is a sad episode for Africa. A fellow comrade in the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe, Farai Nhende, has this to say about the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe, ““The GPA epitomizes a classic case of democracy being taken to the negotiation table. This pact is the very antithesis of everything that democracy represents and how easily the will of the people can be sacrificed in the name of political expediency”. The aim of the Unity governments is to make everyone a winner instead of having winner and losers. This is not consistent with the unity proposal. The African union should be disturbed by about millions of people who have been forced into a glide life as refugees and internally displaced people, dispossessed of their means of living, human self-respect and hope. Before we start talking about the United States Africa, there is a need to see an African Union that issue ultimatums, barn arms supplies and stamp its clout in the continent.

The wide spread corruption in Africa is a cause for concern. For example in Zimbabwe corruption mostly involves people in positions of public trust such as the police, government officials and high ranking politicians. The elite seek to gain and keep economic fortification at the expense of the general populace. The culture of non-accountability that parades sectors of the economies of most African states will always militate against any form of Unity. Robert I Rothberg, President of the World Peace Forum posits that, “… during the past three decades roughly ninety percent of the Sub-Saharan African leaders have behaved despotically, governed poorly, eliminated their people’s civic and human rights, initially and exacerbated existing civil conflicts, decelerated per-capita economic growth and proved corrupt…” it is therefore crocked thinking to argue that a United States of Africa can emerge when African leaders still have such demonic depiction.

Taking regional assimilation towards continental government as projected by Gaddafi would lead to a scantily negotiated marriage of convenience which would put the union government in a serious risk in the long term. Amalgamation developed economies such as those of Botswana and South Africa with some of the least developed countries in the world. Would Botswana, Namibia and South Africa feel that they have to soldier the financial burden of uniting just as West German did when it united with East German? It would be difficult to come up with a political system of such a government. The high-status post of the President of the United States of Africa will create solemn troubles for the Union Government. Would Robert Mugabe for example acquiesce to say Jacob Zuma and become a measly governor of a province? If we can have disputed presidential election in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast how then would we accept results of a continental wide presidential ballot? For Africa to come up with the Union government, it must endow with leadership in search for answers to its tribulations. African leaders should comprehend that leadership is about serving to secure and uphold people’s welfare, their collective ethos and protect facets of their socio-cultural norms. It is imperative to underline that, Leaders in the mould of Sir Seretse Khama. René, Ramgoolam, and Nelson Mandela understood their rationale and devoted their vigor to achieve their cause. Africa’s disfigured examples miss the point.

Parting shot: if the United States of Africa is to be attained, the idea has to be shared by all stake holders; these comprise the governments, the private sector (s), the civil society, academia, among others. one the same note African leaders should desist from viewing leadership as a money spinning business venture – a rare opportunity to further one’s nest and bequeath material security to one’s offspring. This is gibberish comrades and will not take Africa anywhere! 

(BY SHEUNESU MPOFU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR -  PROGRESSIVE YOUTH ALLIANCE ZIMBABWE)