SPECIAL ISSUE ON UNION GOVERNMENT

This week, to coincide with civil society meetings being launched in Accra, Ghana, in the run up to the African Union (AU) Summit on Continental Government, we have published a special issue of Pambazuka News. In this special issue, Dr. Tim Murithi provides a historic framework for the institutionalisation of Pan-Africanism and assesses the role civil society will play in contributing to the Union Government debate. Dr. Kwame Akonor questions whether the African Union and its processes regional integration are not merely the same re-hashed endeavors tried and failed at the Organisation of African Unity and proposes means of constructively overcoming these challenges.

Demba Moussa Dembele examines the external and internal challenges faced by Africa in the global context and questions whether the current African leadership is up to building the United States of Africa. Further, Muthoni Wanyeki highlights the reasons for the current impetus toward a union among Africa’s leadership and explores the implications of the union on the AU, outlining the challenges to the union project while setting out conditions for its success. While Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem reflects on the common citizenship anticipated within a federation and underscores the importance of the potential for realised freedom of movement on the Continent, Faiza Mohamed explains why a gender perspective is important in analysing the perceived groundbreaking benefits of a federation which ignores the realities faced by African women. She raises the importance of placing women’s economic empowerment at the forefront of the actualization of Africa’s growth and development.

Addressing some of the questions raised by Dr. Abdul-Raheem about “who is African”, Selome Araya talks about the inclusion of the Diaspora in the framing of regional integration and defines Africa as a history rather than a geography. Dr. Issa Shivji, Kisira Kokelo and Gichinga Ndirangu address the economic and developmental implications of a Union Government. As Dr. Shivji draws on the experiences of regional cooperation in East Africa to address some of the potential pitfalls of regional economic and political integration, Eyob Balcha underscores the critical social aspect of integration focusing on youth as the potential catalysts for a united Africa. Finally, in an important contribution to the debate, Sanou Mbaye presents a concrete plan of action for federal government and calls for self-determined action toward a unified Africa. The article by Sanou Mbaye is printed in this special issue in French while the articles by Dr. Issa Shivji and Demba Moussa Dembele are available in both French and English.

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