Gaddafi had no Musk, Kagame has no peers, Traore has no cash. Sad!
We may disapprove of Muammar Gaddafi’s methods, but can’t deny him as the philosophical and physical father of the AU, who began by advocating for a unified Africa.
The recent poll of African Union (AU)’s new commission brings these three men to mind.
We may disapprove of Muammar Gaddafi’s methods, but can’t deny him as the philosophical and physical father of the AU, who began by advocating for a unified Africa, inspired by his vision of a borderless continent with a single government, defense force, and foreign policy.
Our independence fathers were content to keep the colonial borders under the OAU. Gaddafi also injected hard cash in sluggish African state leaderships to ensure they attended sessions and endorsed the great new idea.
But his presentation of ideas was neither articulate nor well-researched for he was not as lucky as Donald Trump to have someone like Elon Musk with technological expertise and innovative thinking.
In recent years, a few leaders have demonstrated that Africans can take charge of their destiny and achieve remarkable results. Ibrahim Traore’s bold initiatives to restore stability and promote economic development in Burkina Faso are remarkable, but his ability to inspire Africa is limited by deep rooted cultures that respect age more than ability, and also hampered by unmentored swagger that saw him storm another country’s sacred function displaying pistol, obscuring the smart message he bore.
Paul Kagame’s clearheaded leadership in transforming Rwanda into a beacon of innovation and efficiency in a continent dogged by ineptitude, is also testament to the potential within Africa. But it is hard to find his peers on the continent, as he recently discovered when used clothing was being imposed on Africans.
While Kagame sounded a clear No, many other presidents remain content for their male and female citizens wearing (under)clothes discarded by others—and paying for them, even as their countries have enormous cotton production capacity.
Riding on its fresh mandate, the new AU commission can spearhead initiatives to remind Africans of our shared destiny, and convince us with results that we are not a mass of 1.5 billion invalids that we can do something about our challenges ourselves.
Here are a few, low hanging ‘vast’ initiatives. First, the vast Sahara Desert, spanning several North African countries, presents an opportunity for cooperation on climate change, desertification, and land degradation.
African nations can unite to develop sustainable solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change and protect the fragile ecosystem.
Second, Africa’s vast marine resources along its coastline require coordinated cooperation on issues like pollution and sustainable fishing practices, ensuring their long-term health to benefit local communities and the whole continent.
Third is the vast Congo Basin—the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest—that needs collaboration on sustainable forest management, conservation, and eco-tourism. By protecting the “earth second lung”, Africa can preserve biodiversity, regulate the climate, and support livelihoods.
Fourth is the vast Great Lakes region, which needs cooperation on water resources management, fisheries, and environmental protection, to ensure sustainable use of the resources for promoting stability and development in the heart of the continent.
Fifth is the vast River Nile watercourse shared by 11 African countries, demanding cooperative management to ensure equitable access to this precious resource.
A joint mechanism can facilitate dialogue, resolve conflicts, and promote sustainable development in the river’s basin.
And finally, the climate change phenomenon on its own, which requires African nations to work together to develop and implement climate-resilience strategies. By sharing knowledge, expertise, and resources, Africa can reduce its vulnerability to climate change and promote sustainable development.
See? There is no ‘politics’ in these initiatives, yet their potential to give a unified purpose to our fifty-something states is unfathomable.
To achieve these goals, the AU’s new commission leadership should establish a mechanism for jointly coordinating development and management in these six areas. And most critically, this effort can and should be powered by Africa’s resources without overreliance on aid and loans, by harnessing natural capital in minerals, forests, and water resources.
The AU should also harness Africa’s growing youth population for supply of skilled and unskilled labour to execute its development projects without relying on expensive external consultants.
For in this age of open-source knowledge, Africans can tap into global expertise without incurring extortionate consultancy fees, and break free from the cycle of aid dependency and chart its development trajectory. But for now, Kagame, Traore and a few others remain lonely men in a crowd of 54.
