Stand up to be counted: Is the AU’s vision in jeopardy?

Civil_society_release_on_AU_reform.pdf

Note: You can download complete or summary versions of the book Towards a People-driven African Union: Current obstacles and New Opportunitiesin English, french or portuguese from http://www.afrimap.org/index.php

A report on the African Union commissioned by three civil society organisations—AfriMAP, AFRODAD and Oxfam—and endorsed by nineteen others, will be launched this evening (January 24) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The report titled Towards a People-driven African Union: Current obstacles and New Opportunities interrogates the key challenges facing the African Union in realising its vision and mandate.

The 72-page report is the first independent, substantive and public assessment of the progress of the African Union towards the goal of greater accountability and accessibility since it was founded in 2002. It reviews and makes extensive recommendations on the interaction between the African Union and various sectors, including civil society, in articulating its vision for the continent.

The report offers a useful and sober commentary on the AU because it borrows heavily on the first hand experiences of those engaged in lobbying and influencing the AU. This provides useful insights into areas where the AU has performed well and offers fresh perspective and critique on those where the institution needs to rededicate its commitment.

The writers have acknowledged the various institutional capacity constraints, including policies and procedures, which most impact on the AU’s interphase with various stakeholders. Recommendations made in this regard, if taken into consideration and implemented, could enhance the AU’s effectiveness, profile and mandate.

The report considers both the internal workings of the AU and its key organs which are central to the work of civil society such as the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOC). It notes that while every Member state is supposed to have a national ECOSOC chapter, this is more the exception rather than the reality. In addition, continental election processes to ECOSOC’s interim structures have been problematic and undemocratic. Consequently, the report calls for greater urgency and capacity on the part of the ECOSOC to effectively marshall and harness the voices of civil society.
“If ECOSOC is to play the role intended for it”, says Irungu Houghton of Oxfam GB, “ it must become a much more genuinely representative and autonomous body, self organised rather than supervised by governments”.

While welcoming the greater openness of the AU to civil society participation in comparision to its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, the report notes that many institutional obstacles still block the realisation of the AU’s vision. Key among these are the sheer number of AU Ministerial meetings, orginary and extraordinary summits each year, commission budget shortfalls and multiplicity of national legal frameworks, incoherent institutional arrangements and unclear policies and procedures. Further, most African governments have not reformed their national institutions and processes to respond to the new continental architecture.
“Unless checked, this vacuum threatens to undermine the entire purpose of the African Union. It will also leave the legacy of the first Commission under the leadership of former President Konare unconsolidated when he steps down in September 2007”, says Charles Mutasa, AFRODAD Executive Director.

In the main, the report affirms the hopes and expectations of Africa’s people and examines how the AU can support their realisation in consonance with its vision and mandate. Its recommendations are a sobering reflection on the AU’s vision, a useful analysis on a more effective civil society and the prerequisites in moving the AU to the next frontier in fulfilling the expectations of Africa’s people.

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