A GNA feature by Samuel Osei-Frempong
Accra, May 25, GNA– In one of his most memorable speeches that echoes through space and time, Dr Kwame Nkrumah made a passionate appeal for African unity.
Ghana’s founding leader said, “We unite or we perish.” This rallying cry was long ignored by his peers, who later compromised on the formation of a political body and a bureaucracy called the Organization of African Unity, now called the African Union (AU).
Although his laudable ideas, including a strong African government, an African monetary policy, an African High Command (continental armed forces), and one market area, did not see the light of day, he preached them until his final days.
Why the African Union Still Matters to Africa
The African Union, as it exists today, does not look impressive on paper. It moves slowly, depends on donors, and cannot force leaders to obey its rules because it lacks the tools and resources to do so. Yet for a continent of 1.4 billion people and 55 borders, it remains the only institution that can act at a continental scale.
In spite of its limited scope of power and reach, it gives Africa a voice. That means no single African country can sit at the table with China, the European Union, or the United States of America and negotiate as an equal.
The AU can. Its admission to the G20 in 2023 matters because debt relief, climate finance, and trade rules are decided there. Without the AU, Africa’s 55 states get played off against each other. With it, they can push a common position on things like vaccine access and mineral beneficiation.
It is abundantly clear that the AU is the only path to real economic integration.
Intra-African trade is stuck at 15% of total trade. The reason is simple: crossing one border in Africa can involve 20 documents and many weeks of delays. The African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, which is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, tries to solve that by harmonizing tariffs, rules of origin, and payments.
No single country can do that alone.
The AU provides the legal framework and dispute mechanism to make it work. If AfCFTA functions, it could lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty. That is the difference between a continental body and 55 separate markets.
It handles conflicts Africans cannot ignore
When war breaks out in Sudan or the Sahel, the fallout does not stop at the border. Refugees move, weapons flow, and neighbouring economies stall. The AU’s Peace and Security Council is Africa’s first response mechanism. It suspended Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Gabon after coups, mediated in Ethiopia and South Sudan, and deployed forces to Somalia. Regional bodies like ECOWAS and SADC do the heavy lifting, but they operate under the AU’s legitimacy. Without it, responses would be ad hoc and externally driven.
The real challenges
The challenges are real.
Money: 65% of the AU’s programme budget comes from external partners. That creates leverage. When the EU funds peace operations, it also influences the agenda.
One of the toughest challenges for the AU is that it can suspend members and issue sanctions, but it has no independent army or tax base.
Coup leaders know the worst that happens is that a seat at the AU gets empty for a while. AU also ignores undemocratic actions of democratically elected leaders like amending constitutions to suit their personal desires and staying in office in perpetuity. It only steps in when there is a rebellion.
Leaders sign up for integration in speeches, but resist ceding real power to Addis Ababa. Consensus-based decisions move slowly and get watered down.
How to make it work
With the emotional attachment of African leaders to their little political areas of control, it will be difficult for Africa to become a United States of Africa. However, it needs to do fewer things well.
Fund itself: The 0.2% import levy agreed in Kigali, Rwanda, would give the AU predictable, African-owned money. If member states paid it, donor dependence would drop fast.
Use regional bodies: Let ECOWAS handle West Africa, SADC handle Southern Africa. The AU’s job is coordination and backing them with continental legitimacy.
Deliver on trade: AfCFTA is the one project citizens can feel. Cutting non-tariff barriers and getting the Pan-African Payment System working would make integration tangible.
Open up: The AU looks like a club for presidents. Giving the Pan-African Parliament and civil society real oversight would build public trust.
Bottom line
The alternative to the AU is fragmentation. Fifty-five separate foreign policies, 55 small markets, 55 targets for external pressure. That is how Africa lost out in the 20th century.
The AU is slow and imperfect, but it is the only platform that can turn Africa’s size into leverage.
If it delivers on trade, peace, and financing, its relevance stops being a debate and becomes obvious in daily life.
Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the AU, and ceremonies are planned all over Africa to commemorate that event, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Most Africans have not given up on the dream of a united continent.
In fact, recent conflicts on the continent, attacks by white supremacists on Africans abroad and the emerging powerhouses like China and India reinforce the idea of a strong, united Africa that will show the world that Africans are capable of managing their own affairs.
GNA
Samuel Osei-Frempong
[email protected]