Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino, Zimpapers Politics Hub
IN hypothetical terms, if Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Sellasie or Guinea’s Sékou Touré were alive today, what would their reactions be to the progress the continent has made so far, in shaping their vision of a strong and united African vision?
Their proposals to a united Africa envisioned a continent that would aim to promote unity and solidarity among states in a variety of ways, including co-operation for development, trade, cultural heritage preservation, political unity and the defence of sovereignty.
Africa this year commemorates the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), later transformed to African Union (AU) in 2002, at a time when there are lots of future promises, but also at the back of unfulfilled past commitments.
Although conversations about the missed past commitments can be revived, the existence of new ways and mechanisms to implement them need to be done within the context of upholding unity.
As Nkrumah puts it: “An African union can resolve wars, conflicts and aggressions. Africa’s total independence and unity is necessary for world peace today.”
In simple terms, the continued wars and conflicts on the continent today are a reflection of the absence of unity.
Some of the key areas that have been missed include the 1988 Yamoussoukro Declaration in Ivory Coast, when nations committed to having an African air transport policy that ensured a free airspace for civil aviation across the entire continent.
In 2013, there was a pledge made in Abuja, Nigeria, to silence the guns by 2020, yet intra-state conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan continue to this day and in other regions.
Additionally, in 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda, there was a resolution by African leaders on the elimination of visas in the continent, yet today the resolution remains a dream.
Unity is not only key in stopping wars, but also remarkable to promote trade and the full implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Because there are barriers to African unity, even continental trade is low.
The share of intra-African trade last year stood at 13 percent.
The elimination of barriers to trade is a step towards continental unison.
In the case of trade, besides the elimination of physical barriers, the currency used for intra-continental transactions also determine whether the prospects of unity are there or not.
In Africa today, there are at least 42 separate currencies.
Each country is determined to have its financial and economic sovereignty, though no single African currency has ever been used to conclude an international transaction.
It is of sovereign value if there is also an African currency that can be used alongside sovereign currencies.
The case for a single currency across a broad market like Africa is compelling enough to persuade the continental leaders to embrace one single currency, but also trade in their historically separate currencies for the African one.
None but ourselves
There are a lot more conversations around Agenda 2063.
The strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent was promulgated in 2013 with the goal to deliver sustainable development that pulls people out of poverty and places Africa at the centre of global influence and become a superpower.
It therefore cannot be contested that the Africa 2063 agenda is a critical strategy embraced by African leaders to build a better Africa for its people and if executed effectively and efficiently, it has the potential to alter the African continent.
But issues that include poverty, malnutrition, health care systems, living standards, infrastructure, electricity, political instability and weak economic performances of member states, need to be addressed.
There is none but ourselves who should be able to take responsibility for financing the continent’s development initiatives and Agenda 2063’s aspirations.
However, the way African countries are indebted also threatens the well-being of the continent’s citizens as many people rely on state provisions.
Africans need to rethink how they look into the future so that the continent’s aspirations are not overshadowed by discourses of poverty, disunity, war and conflict.
Of importance is building on the Pan-African foundation that was set up by the forebears.
Without uniformity in the political, social, economic and cultural policy formulations, the basis of unity will crumble.
The best that can be done is to speak more of neo-Pan-African renaissance as an avenue of ideological reorientation.
Heirs of revolutionaries
Africans are heirs of revolutionaries.
They are children born into a lineage of fighters and revolutionary fighters like Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Algeria’s Ben Bella, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Guinea Bissau’s Amilcar Cabral and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, among many others.
It is also important to highlight that the impact that each revolutionary had, extended beyond a single country to various regions, across the continent and into the world.
Their creative engagement not only localised and indigenised their ideas, but also globalised their resolve.
The fighting spirit of these revolutionaries should reincarnate in present and future generations, to complete the collective struggles they led and inspired.
Having, for instance, African soil hosting foreign military forces is not an ideal expression of how Pan-African defence systems will be made or forged.
Africa is for Africans and African solutions should be used to address African challenges.
This means that African unity is a de-colonial project that seeks to circumvent present governance, political and economic structures as a direct challenge against imperialism, colonialism and coloniality, which are repackaged as a constituency of modernist politics.
