The United States Of Africa?

After seeing a toothless organisation that stomached several military coups and civil wars, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had a dream to have the organisation changed to a more serious one, the AU.

Many can confirm from deeds that the AU is far much better than its predecessor OAU. It is from a spirit of togetherness that Tripoli aided the burial of OAU and the birth of a little stronger AU and is still active in nursing the AU to make it strong enough to compete with the likes of EU and The United States of America. Since this has not yet been achieved, the dream from Tripoli, in my view, is still valid.

Our very own scholars have argued out that we are far from getting there, citing strong and genuine reasons like the difficulties that we face in our countries and regional blocks such as EAC, SADC and ECOWAS.

Africa has lots of scholars scattered in every corner of the world who can help her succeed in achieving the Kwame Nkurumah Dream of the US of Africa. It pains when most of this scholars say no to the idea of a true union when in fact they are enjoying life under unions such as EU and USA; flying from Washington DC to Alaska without visas or from Paris to Berlin without the same while they deny a common African citizen in Africa a chance to move freely from Mogadishu to Lagos or Cairo to Pretoria.
Our very own leaders, those who go to Addis Ababa to vote against the idea of a strong Union, have got resources, if not powers, to move them freely to any corner of the world, even without Africa having to unite. They have powers and opportunity to create strong cohesions among the citizens in their own countries and regional blocks in preparation for a continental union. They also have powers to divide their citizens on tribal, religious or ethnic lines and make the Nkrumah dream an impossible one. Should they choose the latter, it will be a common African who will be disadvantaged.

In 2010, some of our politicians will be flying to South Africa for the FIFA world cup, while the youthful and more energetic Africans are planning to make it by road. The weak union in Africa simply means not everyone willing and able to move to the South for the FIFA world cup will make it, especially those common citizens planning to go by road.
Our leaders and scholars have on several occasions talked of sovereignty as a scapegoat thus denying us this wonderful idea of a United States Of Africa.
Well, with the exception of Ethiopia, didn't we lose our sovereignty after the Berlin treaty of 1885? When the existing forms of African anatomy and self-governance was eliminated and the continent was divided between the European powers, division that still exist.
When our micro-nations were reduced to tribes and our mother tongues and fully fledged lingua- francas baptised as dialects? Isn't this the reason why it is almost illegal to speak African languages in our public institutions in some African countries?

Apart from mighty powers of some African despots, is there any sovereignty to lose? If there's any, do we need it? Allowing genocides, religious/ethnic violence, xenophobia, shocking police brutality and unjustifiable military coups to go on without outside interference just because we are a sovereign state?

If we sincerely have something to call sovereignty then, of course, we can still unite and make our union as strong as the European Union, at least.
When Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won a literature prize in 2003, the news in the Nigerian Guardian was "Nigerian wins literature Prize in the USA" she was a Nigerian not Igbo, Yoruba, Christian or Muslim. Similarly, when Justice Joyce Aluoch from Kenya was elected to the benches of the ICC in the Hague, the headline news posted online was "Kenya judge joins ICC"
Kenyans of all ethnic groups, religion and colour were seen tossing champagne, singing and dancing at a Nairobi Hotel. They had united to celebrate the appointment of one of their own, not one of their tribe. Moreover, Africa as a continent- from Egypt to South Africa and from Somalia to Senegal united in celebrating the victory of President Barack Obama- Yes! The most famous African in the Diaspora.

The point here is that we tend to unite on matters international and divide on internal issues. It simply means that the US of Africa will help us achieve unity in our countries especially those countries with ethnic tensions. We will be competing against another country or state rather than another tribe, clan or religion. To prove this right, you will need to wait until the Kenyan parliament amends their constitution to provide for a devolved government or federal government. Should a Federal government be allowed in Kenya, tribal politics will also descend to clan level in each federal state.

This could explain why, in the African Diaspora, there are several organisations for citizens from every African country; The Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA) or Ghana Union in Southern Germany and several others. However, from a country like Nigeria with federal system of government, there are unions such as Igbo union as it is in Freiburg Germany or Kwara State Association, KSANG in North America. It tells something here, but we should be proud of our own ethnic groups or our own culture, to be precise.

This is why we may disagree with Libya's strong man, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on issues such as Somali piracy, but on matters of US of Africa, we should give him the thumbs.

by Dominic O. Otiang'a