African Union is taking continent for a costly ride

Honourable Raila Odinga at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa for the African Union Chairmanship Debate.

Photo credit: Pool

The African Union’s (AU) theme at its summit in February is ‘Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations’.

If Africans were asked what the theme should be, they would scream: ‘Justice for Africans through democratic governance’. Another theme they would want is: ‘Holding African governments accountable for extra-judicial killing of critics and plunder of public resources.’

Of course, these two alternative themes, though desperately urgent, will never see the light of day. The AU is an organisation of, by and for African heads of state. African people are mere props in the organisation’s edifice of false nationalism. The AU, like the OAU before it, is dishonest, hypocritical, morally and financially corrupt, and a blight on our collective conscience.

Since its inception, the continental body has chosen an African president to serve as chairperson for a year. At various times, Idi Amin, Mobutu Sese Seko, Paul Biya, Robert Mugabe, Teodoro Obiang, Daniel Arap Moi and Yoweri Museveni, among others, have served in that capacity.

Some of these men were mass murderers. Others built torture chambers. Most left countries that were such only by name. Many were incorrigible megalomaniacs.

Others amassed, and still amass, multibillion-dollar estates in Europe. Some, like Roman Emperor Nero Claudius, played the African version of a harp as their countries burned in the fire of grinding poverty and violence.

All of them presided, or still preside, over desperately poor countries whose citizens risk everything to escape to Europe. These are the gentlemen the continental body deemed fit to represent, advocate for and drive Africa’s aspirations for freedom and prosperity.

As part of the transition from the OAU to the AU in 2002, the AU commission, to be headed by a chairman, was established. The AUC chairman is, of course, elected by the heads of state.

Last year, I watched a debate among three men aspiring to head the commission. History could not have concocted a more Kafkaesque absurdity.

The candidates talked about various transformative initiatives they would undertake if “elected” by their masters. But where, for instance, will the money for intra-Africa infrastructure come from when almost half of national budgets are stolen?

How will they end violence when it is a consequence of poor governance? How will they improve conditions at home so that Africans do not die while trying to escape to Europe when many African regimes take power to steal?

How will they address extrajudicial killings and torture of critics, crimes perpetrated by their electors? Listening to the debate, one felt a little schizophrenic because one heard things one knew, and the speakers knew, they would not be able to do, and yet the guests in the audience, the moderators, and those watching on TV suspended their senses to give the fraud a semblance of truth.

We all, including the debaters, allowed ourselves to be hypnotised by the fraud for us to believe it corresponded to reality. A Kafkaesque absurdity.