Nairobi — The pace towards a united Africa came under focus on Thursday at a forum addressed by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. At the same forum, former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa revealed that during his time in office, he was known to prefer interviews with foreign rather than local journalists.
And Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai warned that lack of visionary leadership was Africa's bane. The four were speaking during a unique Eminent Persons Round Table on the opening day of the Pan Africa Media Conference in Nairobi.
They discussed "Expanding political participation: What political leaders, the media and civil society can collaborate in to solve the big issues confronting Africa in the 21st Century".
When moderator John Sibi Okumu asked a question about Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi's push for immediate African unification, President Kagame urged caution. He pointed out that even the building blocs towards African unity, regional groups such as the East African Community, were still works in progress.
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But in his response, Mr Odinga referred to the departed founding fathers of African freedom -- such as presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, and Gamal Nasser -- and their unfulfilled dream. Those genuinely wishing to unite the continent should move ahead without delay, he said, and the "conservatives will come on board later".
President Kagame, who termed his own views as radical compared to other members of the panel, warned African governments to stop dreaming and move to practical implementation of their strategies for development. "Leaders need to move away from drawing board rhetoric and do things that give us results. You can have a vision and remain on paper as a vision," he said.
"It is illogical to always refer to the vision of the continent's forefathers and talk about integration without implementing plans," he told an audience that included President Kibaki and The Aga Khan, Nation Media Group's founder. His tiny country which is still recovering from the 1994 genocide, President Kagame said, is implementing a vision which hopes to transform it into a middle income country by 2020 with a per capita income of $1,000 (Sh77,000).
Already, President Kagame said, they had achieved a per capita of $500, up from $190, adding that his government had invested a huge amount of resources in infrastructure, education, health, and agriculture despite its limitations.
Shifting goals
Mr Odinga and Mr Mkapa attributed problems facing the continent to lack of visionary leadership. Mr Odinga regretted that Kenya had been shifting its development goals since the 1960s, for instance to be a middle income nation by 2000, then 2010 and now 2030, thus wasting time and resources.
"We have now come up with a clear vision where we want to go," he said of Vision 2030, when Kenya hopes to be a modern, industrialised middle income country with high standards of living for its people. Mr Odinga also blamed corruption, which resulted in diversion of public resources to individuals' pockets, as one of the reasons for Kenya's underdevelopment.
He said Kenya, which was at the same development level with the Asian tigers at independence, had learnt its lessons and was keen on achieving Vision 2030. "I have confidence this vision is achievable through an open society, empowering of civil society to hold the government accountable, and the media exercising its freedom," said the PM.
Mr Mkapa said that until Africa really thinks about its position in the world, realises that it can only develop through its own strength, its leadership becomes courageous and thoughtful, and the media does not only criticise but advocate, and civil society hold rulers to account, it will be difficult for the continent to integrate.
Responding to Mr Okumu's query on whether Africa should wait another 100 years to develop on the pretext that it is still young, Prof Maathai said she had been advocating environmental awareness as an entry point. "Unless we take care of the environment, the rest will go down the drain," she said, adding that it is not easy for Africa to overcome all its problems.
She said visionary leadership was required for the continent to get out of poverty. She also pitched for selfless leadership that does not condone corruption. "What we have now is a society eating as if there is no tomorrow. Unless we have visionary leaders, we will continue to go round in circles," said Prof Maathai.
Another lively topic was why Kenyan leaders have been politicking, yet elections were still three years away. Mr Odinga said that politics and development go hand in hand. He also blamed the media for giving priority to political stories for commercial purposes, saying although some politicians have been talking about development, the issues were ignored.
"The mistake is partly with politicians but largely the media is to blame. The media likes seeing politicians on the front page at all times. Politicians are not in newsrooms to decide what is on the front page," said the Prime Minister.
President Kagame said there was not "much noise" in Rwanda despite the nearing elections set for August "because we have made our noise so much in the past but had to cool down". After years of too much politicking that resulted in killings in Rwanda, he said, his country was now down to serious business.
"This means we have learnt our lessons from the tragedies of our history and have moved on to ensure the people of Rwanda, leaders, civil society and other members discuss and understand what went wrong."
Outlive individuals
President Kagame said Rwanda had spent the past 16 years building institutions that would outlive individuals who caused serious problems in its history. He called on African politicians, the civil society and media to make Pan Africanism and regional integration work.
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Continent-Wide Unification can be achieve within three years.
(1) All current African leaders must form a new body with lifetime tenure and relinquish control of their country-states to their deputies. This new body will be a Symbolic head of the new political structure with assign powers by the new constitution.
(2) A new Tri-Level Government must be created with a General President, a Domestic President and a Foriegn President. This system will be based on democratic principles and must be ratified by the general public.
(3) There must be established, CURRENCY DUALITY. This is when all present currencies become equivalent in value, which is then pegged to a Continental currency with a 5:1 ratio, until the Continental currency remains as the sole currency in all continental transactions. Currency Duality increases the value of African labour and invariably reduce Brian-Drain to a crawl.
(4) There must be a single Continental Philosophy which embraces: A Continental Religion - unique to the continent. A cultural doctrine ; A Unity Language(Swahili) and other institution with their origins in Africa.
Africa can be united within three years, but certainly within the next decade. This new United Africa must be base on democratic ideals with an African twist. Freedom for all! The right to live in peace and the right to have access to opportunities. Africa's foundation must be based on Human Rights. It is very necessary for the Continent to be united.
WORLD AFRICAN FEDERATION, WAFED is excited to read this article that highlights the URGENT need for African unity. Africans must wake up and stop allowing non-Africans from continuing to deceive, brainwash and exploit them. Africa is the richest continent and yet the least developed. This is exactly why WAFED was created. Its mission is to unify African countries and Africans globally so that they will begin to work together for technological, economic, commercial, financial and political development, empowerment, success and happiness. We highly recommend this article. Africans are very strong and intelligent people but lack technological prowess. This is what is keeping them down and what they must focus on and work to succeed in so as to become developed like Europe, America Asia and by so doing they will begin to get respect. Consequently, all discrimination, deception and exploitation by non-African developed countries will stop. CHAIRMAN BENNEY IKOKWU, WAFED AMERICA