Time To Right Wrongs

On July 9, 2022 African leaders gathered in Addis Ababa to celebrate the institution’s 20th anniversary in pomp and fanfare. Reports say, after the noisy police escorts and roads barricade on the streets, there was a lot to eat and drink, but very little to propose as the way forward to solving African problems by Africans themselves.  It is twenty years that many Africans thought the era of long-winded speeches detailing lofty ideals of pan-Africanism was over. They dreamt of moving from theory to the implementation phase of the organisation’s goals.
This has not happened because cynicism has englobed the continent. Many Africans around the continent and in the diaspora have choosen to see the gains and purpose of the institution fraught with division, economic and political constraints, and 55 conflicting opinions each time they meet to chat the way forward.
Even though the world’s fastest-growing economies over the past decade are in Africa, its leaders as well as the population have failed to seize the opportunities offered. Development interest in Africa has skyrocketed with many world economic powers yearning for the opportunities available. This situation would have been far better if the rising political instability as well as numerous conflicts and civil wars that seem to have taken hold of a large part of Africa were brought under control. It is true that the last two years have not been very kind to Africa. It is not just the Covid-19 pandemic, which of course hit the continent hard. Though it claimed thousands of lives across Africa, its real impact was felt economically as it led to millions of job losses and a spike in several health-related challenges such as malnutrition and hunger which the continent has been struggling with for decades.
But despite these challenges, the AU must go back to the fundamentals. The set goals by the founding fathers should be respected. At twenty, the i...