African leaders will discuss the formation of a continental government when they meet for the next regional summit set for Ghana in July.

One of the major outcomes of the 8th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) held in Ethiopia was that the next AU summit will be devoted primarily to the setting up of a United States of Africa.

It is expected that the African leaders will use the Accra summit to discuss the roadmap for setting up the continental government.

The 9th Ordinary Session of the Assembly will be held from 1-3 July under the theme “Grand Debate on the Union Government”.

The United States of Africa is the name given to a proposed future unification of Africa as a national and sovereign federation of states.

The phrase “United States of Africa” was first used by Jamaican civil rights activist, Marcus Garvey, in his poem “Hail, United States of Africa” in 1924.

Ghana’s first post-independence president, Kwame Nkrumah, Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, and President Julius Nyerere of the then Tanganyika, took the idea forward in 1963 to form the Organisation of African Unity, the forerunner to the AU.

The idea has recently been advanced by Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, at a summit of African heads of state and government in 2000 in Togo, and Alpha Oumar Konare, chairperson of the AU Commission, on the occasion of the commemoration of Africa Day on 25 May 2006.

There is, however, a lot to be done before the dream of a United States of Africa can become a reality.

A unified African government would, among other things, ensure the creation of a continental central bank, a common currency, a unified military and parliament.

The Pan-African Parliament is so far the only crucial building block of the envisaged Union government already in place.

In existence since 2004, the continental parliament is an advisory body for the first five years - not legislative – and thus faces the challenge of being taken seriously in its deliberations and interventions.

The ideal of a unified army will be another challenge because of the recurrent conflicts within and among countries.

The continent is hoping to use economic integration as an entry point into the creation of the Union government although differences in levels of development among countries and between regions could slow down progress.

Motivated by a desire to transform its vast economic potential into reality, Africa has over the past decade aimed to unleash its economic might through a coordinated development approach modelled around Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

The RECs are the essential building blocks of the African Economic Community (AEC) envisaged to be in place by 2028.

The overall objective of the AEC is to promote economic development and integration, social and cultural development as well as to increase self-sufficiency.

The AEC further aims to promote cooperation and development in all aspects of human activity, with a view to raising the standard of life of African people, maintaining economic stability and establishing a close and peaceful relationship among member states.

The AEC Treaty, also known as the Abuja Treaty, came into force after the requisite number of ratifications in May 1994.

Implementation of the Abuja Treaty was planned to take place in six stages spanning a period of 34 years from 1994 to 2028.

The African leaders are expected to take into account the milestones set under the Abuja Treaty as they map the way forward on the creation of the United States of Africa.

(sardc.net)

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