On 25th
May, 2013, I entered into the world of the founding African leaders. I also came face to face with the leaders of the next 50
years. I relished in the emotions of the day with nothing but the hope in the melody of Teddy Afro’s o
Africaye.
I was however not convinced that the young people
in the UNECA inter-generational Hall on the morning of 24th May 2013,
understood just how much hope and power they held for this continent. They
started off by fighting for their space and their right to occupy the seats
that had been reserved for them but suddenly taken up by ministers, ambassadors
and Government envoys attending the event with the attending Heads of State.
They struggled to fit their interventions to the 42 seconds allowed by the
moderator, Zeinab Badawi.
I sat there, hoping that the media,
which was well represented, would bring the continent to the reality of the
power distances between the young people represented and the Heads of
States they were supposed to engage in dialogue. But maybe, I did not understand the
meaning of the word dialogue so I looked it up. The English Oxford dictionary defines “dialogue” as a “discussion
between two or more people or groups, especially one directed towards
exploration of a particular subject or resolution of a problem”. The meeting did not serve the purpose
envisaged by its conceivers. It however was not a waste of time. It was a
reminder of the struggles faced by the fading generation of
Africans. The painful struggle of the generation at independence to give this
continent an identity. It also brought to bloom the reality of the conceited efforts of selfish beneficiaries of
that struggle to subject future generations to internal sabotage.
The youth echoed their
frustrations: the impossible attempts to freely move within the continent,
dependence on aid, the sale of our sovereignty to the highest bidder, the conflicts,
and the negative narratives. They expressed their hope: of a United Africa, of a
single African passport, of internal dependence and economic liberation, of the freedom
to one day roam the corners of Africa without hindrance. They suffered their
lows, soft censorship, and outright disagreement among themselves,
intolerance and the LGBTI debate. More so, they represented the present
(not the future) of this continent; of that they were crystal clear.
The Africa 2.0 team, bringing together young Africans to shape the dialogue and fate of their
continent and a voice that was strongly felt at the inter-generational dialogue
is a hope that we are heading in the right direction. Despite the shortfalls of
the meeting, its organization was a step in the right direction. The admirable
effort by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Michael Sata of Zambia, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Macky Sall of Senegal, Prime Minister- Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, and Botswana’s Vice President, Ponatshego
Kedikilwe not forgetting former President and a founding father, Kenneth Kaunda
of Zambia should not go unnoticed. Some of these Heads of State
may have had different expectations, a different, perhaps even ignorant understanding of dialogue, but we need more leaders with their
motivation to dialogue or attempt to dialogue with younger generations. The
meeting managed to shun the ‘tomorrow identity’. Young Africans stepped into
their elements and engaged the Heads of State, however little time they were
given. They realized that their time to lead was not in the future. It is in the
present.
The spiritual promise
Psalms 38: 8 (KJV): Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia (Kush)
shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
The vision of Kwame Nkrumah
Ethiopia shall stretch her hands unto God, Africa shall
unite.
Kwame Nkrumah’s utterances founded the
political kingdom, otherwise known as “Africa’s political capital”-the
Seat of the African Union in the land of Empress Titu, Tirunesh Dibaba, Yonas and
Dr. Wayne-Adrian Davis, I might add.
Speak
up! Lessons from North Africa
It was President Ben
Bella of Algeria who walked up to the podium at the OAU founding Summit, after
three days of verbose and boring speeches from the Heads of State who went
before him and declared that the most important issue for discussion had to be the
total liberation of Africa. He called for total solidarity
with countries that were still fighting for their liberty. A vision shared by
Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.
Kenya was one such State
and on 1st June 1963, Jomo Kenyatta and others like him, women and
men, led Kenya to the grant of internal self-rule. It was however a Head of State from
the North African region that slapped awake a Summit that would have carried on
in endless verbosity with zero concrete action. A president from a region that
has ceased, in our speeches and narrative, to be African and
become countries in the Arab region instead of primarily African countries! A region whose young people speak their mind even when they are
not expected to. Young people who question the audacity of Heads of States to
walk into a dialogue meeting late and try to rush the process.
The North were the radical
leaders. The Casablanca group consisting of Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Mali,
Morocco and Ghana wanted an open Africa; a united Africa. Free of control on
movement of goods, capital and labour. They were however defeated in their push
for an “African personality, a united African foreign policy”.
The Monrovia group on the
other hand chose to abandon the African personality and remain sheltered under the
French backed currency zone (most were from francophone Africa). Ben Bella made
self-sacrificing remarks. He stated that it was no time to think about money
and talk about development while their colleagues in Angola, Mozambique and
South Africa were dying. Julius Nyerere got the cue and applauded his
colleague. He spoke the language of ‘Muungano’ (unity) of ‘utu’
(humanity) that would years later pick on the South African expression of ‘ubuntu’
to form a universal language of sacrifice.
The OAU started with the right
visionaries. We however missed the mark on the leaders we placed to
head our independent States. Most of them turned out to be the greatest abusers of the very freedom obtained at independence. The men made the pact for
this continent. The women watched, they listened, they prayed and they kept
notes. In October 2012, backed by other women leaders and activists around the continent, they lobbied and had Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected as the chairperson of the
AU Commission. Women were finally visible at the helm of this continental body
with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Joyce Hilda Banda as Heads of State. I however believe the omission of founding mothers, alongside founding fathers is inexcusable. While history may have ignored the efforts of African women to liberate the continent, we, of the next 50 years, cannot make the same mistake. We must petition the AU for the inclusion of notable African women to be recognised for the role they played in the liberation of their countries, one such example is Sarah Sarai of Kenya.
The
African Leadership Index, 2012 reflects the performance of African leaders
in leadership, democracy, corruption and freedom of the media. Only two
countries, Mauritius and Botswana scored an A. Cape Verde
scored B+, Seychelles, Namibia, Ghana and South Africa scored B. 15 countries
were placed in the ICU while others were said to lie in the morgue. Yet all these
countries, the super achievers and those awaiting burial were all represented
at the African Union Summit, marking 50 years since the establishment of the
OAU in Addis Ababa in the month of May. This provides a challenge for Africa.
The success and progression of a few States while applauded and appreciated, does not liberate the image of the Continent. Integration is key.
The African Identity
To-date, we are still
trying to define that African identity. The same one that was sought by the founding
fathers, and consciously I add, mothers in 1963. The youth in this continent
are fighting for space to express themselves. They are in search of livelihood.
They are hungry for a good education. Most of all, they need respect and the ability
to interconnect and inter-breed. How is it that true inter-African relations, capable of producing the intra-African generation are hindered by acrimonious travel hindrances? The interaction of governments is vital for development but the interaction of people within the continent is critical for the progression and realisation of the shared vision of complete unity.The youth will stop at nothing to ensure that this dream becomes a reality. Indeed, it has to be the single most important focus of the next 50 years. This is our present day Pan-Africanism. The free interaction of all Africans from Cairo to Cape Town, Libreville to Mogadishu, Praia to Antananarivo. Its realisation will bring with it peace, regional integration, fair trade practices, pride and a positive shift of the African narrative. It will raise a crop of leaders who are amiable to criticism and who will primarily focus on the well-being of their people as opposed to their own personal interests. This must be our agenda for action. It will give us cause for the next 50 years.
