Avoid TINA approach in selection of the new AU Commission chairman

Three key issues stand out of my last week reflection on pan-Africanism in this column. They are sovereignty, continental unity and Africanity.

These issues are critical in framing the qualifications a new Chair of the African Union Commission ought to have in order to deal with contemporary challenges facing ordinary Africans and for which the African Union must address itself to if it wants to be relevant across the continent.

Sovereignty and the necessity of continental unity remain crucial largely because of the persistence of neo-colonialism but also because of the potential that unity holds for advancing the lives of people.

Since the early 1960s, the continent has been unable to frame development policies based on priorities and needs internal to the continent. Rather, the continent has remained a house without walls, one where locking the doors makes but little sense because there are no walls.

Frantz Fanon characterised the instance of independence merely as flag independence and blamed the challenges on a rising African political class who remain steeped in conspicuous consumption. This class was key to sustaining neo-colonialism and undermining real independence partly because they were tethered to global capital and were beholden to it.

Not only did this class undermine the capacity for ordinary Africans to enjoy political and economic freedoms, they also undermined the potential of continental unity.

They became the engine of neo-colonial balkanisation of the continent, particularly presiding over a regime of restrictions on movement that has made Africa open to non-Africans but a territorial prison and nightmare for ordinary Africans, many of whom had previously enjoyed decades of movement across territories to satisfy simple livelihood needs.

The African Union Commission needs a Chair who, first, understands the nature of the challenge ahead and, second, has previously demonstrated the capacity to respect continental leadership while also firmly guiding their thinking and action towards finding the solutions to these challenges and, third, can be relied on to be consistent and committed to a cause without prevarication.

ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

This has been done before. After all, it was the joint work of OAU/UNECA that led to the adoption of the Lagos Plan of Action and the Final Act in 1980.

The Plan was a complex analysis of the economic challenges affecting the continent at the time. It marshalled the commitment of African leaders to address the issues and it came full with milestones to be accomplished.

Soon after, the World Bank issued an alternative report titled ‘Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Plan for Action’ written by Elliot Berg in 1981 that countered the Lagos Plan.

This report focused on internal causes of Africa’s economic challenges, emphasised only domestic policy failures and recommended a series of austerity measures. These measures did not only fail in Africa, they have been resisted vehemently in Europe in recent times when they were applied to Greece, for instance.

The African Union is a state-centric institution. It works through the member states and member states will elect the AUC Chair. Many have, therefore, concluded that the candidate with progressive credentials, one with an independent mind and capacity to go against the grain cannot be elected.

As such, we are counselled to accept a lesser candidate, one who will comply with orders from African leaders and implement them uncritically.

In other words, as Africans, we have adopted the neo-liberal TINA approach where we capitulate even before the first salvo is fired.

The guiding TINA principle that There Is No Alternative is not only defeatist, it is the reason why we have not made serious progress as a continent in radically altering the future of our people.

How is it possible to address the mounting challenge of the continent if our framework of engagement is defeatist, lackluster and willing to go for reactionary candidates when better options exist?

Godwin R. Murunga is a senior research fellow in the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi. [email protected]