A Trivial change At African Union

The African Union (AU) will need more than a change of flag to solve the perennial problems that have hindered the progression of Africa economically and politically.Cosmetic touchups such as changing a name or a flag will not get to root of the reemerging problems that have and will derail the hopes of many Africans. Myriad problems that have continued to embroil and sidetrack the African Union on an annual-basis are due in part to the article in its own charter that has prohibited the interfering with integrity and sovereignty of member  countri es in Africa. Such laws have only empowered self-serving leaders that it shed from scrutiny, while inadvertently adding to the declining advancement of ordinary Africans, akin to the people of Somaliland. To solve these problems facing Africa, the proponents of change within the AU must obtain broader directives that will enable them to amend these contentious laws in its charter. It will be a paramount undertaking that will command an array of persistent  le aders with the political aptitude to finding solutions to bad governance that has lead to the institutional and economical decline in Africa, instead of settling for a flag change.

In its 14th Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa at end of January this year, the African Union  ma de the right choice by not allowing to be further diverted by the incumbent chairman  Muam mar Gaddafi of Libya, who unlawfully campaigned to extend his tenure on the rotating  chairm anship. That would have been a direct violation of the AU’s policy of rotating the chairmanship seat annually between the five regions of Africa. This was a needed bold statement by the AU to the oil rich Libyan leader and the other African leaders that resemble him that the AU was not returning to the old ways it operated as it did under the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Furthermore, the AU was wise in respecting its laws and respectfully parting ways with the leader of Libya, by putting and end to him running amuck on the continents most important political organization. The AU summit which sees its fair share of egos and the Big-Man  synd rome charades on an annual basis could not even accommodate the Bedouin tent for another year, which has only enough ego space for proclaimed King of Kings. The Colonel grabbed  mo re news headlines with his sideshows, of female bodyguards, and the long-drawn-out  speec hes than on the quintessence of the diverse issues facing the continent. More damaging to Africa in his first year at the helm of AU, Colonel Gaddafi condoned the Mauritania junta that ceased power and was indifferent to coup d’état that occurred in Madagascar and Guinea.
There are ardent leaders and statesmen in African that can tackle the myriad problems that have for too long undermined the progression of Africa. These leaders have the political  acu men and are keen to ensuring that accountability, peer reviews, and democratic reforms  co me to fruition. These advocates of progress have gradually been reforming this important institution of Africa, and more recently, the momentum has been on their side, with more African countries beginning to sow the seeds of genuine democracy. However, growth of  the se infant democracies have been dwarfed by the article in AU’s charter that does not permit the interfering with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member countries, and therein lies the problem to these reoccurring conflicts in Africa. These problems have rendered the AU a spectator on the sidelines, since the majority of Africa’s problems occur within the  bor ders of member countries.

The people of Africa are the ones suffering from the consequence of AU’s ineffectiveness. That ineffectiveness of the AU, which is based on an illogical perversion of its laws, is what has condemned the people of Somaliland to the fail state of Somali. Somaliland, a young nation that has a legitimate claim to regaining its sovereignty, has been hindered and shunned by the AU. As there have not been enough African leaders that are able to see beyond the issue of sovereignty.

The A U’s ineffectiveness is only benefitting and abetting the African leaders that have in most part created the fertile environment for which, civil wars, nepotism, corruption, disease, and famine flourishes. The AU has been unable to transcend the status quo, and keeps  upho lding the same pro-forma that had abased the Organization of African Unity (OAU)  bureaucr atic system.

The reason that the OAU was mediocre and nothing more than a gathering of dictators, was it settled for sophistry notion that it was only a reflection of its member states, and it would only be as good or as bad as them. The laws of OAU were callously used by vested dictators that had perverted it for their own use. Leaders that have been oblivious to suffering of their own people trumpet popular fallacies that have equated the meddling in affairs of sovereign country as to a taboo and the legit self-determination to opening a Pandora-box.
The AU does not have the luxury of blowing out reoccurring fires like the current coup in Niger, as there are more daunting problems on hand. The reasons given at the time of the name change from OAU to the AU was to implement better ways of operating and that would question the prevailing customary notions that had justified its laws.

Without drastic change, the AU and its summits will only continue to be upstaged by problems that it does not have the mandate to tackle like in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where Mugabe and the Zimbabwe power sharing was the center stage and prior to that was the Kenyan  preside ntial turmoil. The AU seldom asked if the policies it relentlessly propped-up where helping or hindering the people it serving. The AU’s name change or a flag change will not remit anything tangible; worse, the AU will lose its credibility and further erode its legitimacy. These  super ficial touchups and political hyperbole will not get to root of the reemerging problems that  ha ve derailed African hopes. If the sovereignty issue is unchallenged it will be the fertile source for further troubles for all Africans.