What ails African countries is failed leadership bereft of vision

By Timothy Bosire

Last week, African heads of state and governments were once more congregating in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and as usual, despite being an all-important conference: to celebrate its Jubilee, they produced an infectious, boredom yawn across the continent.

Meeting under the aegis of the African Union (AU), the successor of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the leaders lived up to their now infamous reputation of being masters of platitudes, self-praise, grand standing and living in denial while protecting dictators, génocidaires, economic vampires and murderers amongst their lot. It did not surprise; only that it hurt us more.

The continental body was founded on hope for African renaissance from the heavy yolk of colonial rule and European exploitation. Thus OAU emerged as Africa’s ideal hope out of despair.

But a conspiracy of faulty diplomacy, ill-conceived designs for self-preservation and infiltration by doom driven Western planted stooges of Presidents, Prime Ministers and Monarchs plus a sprinkling of local tin pot dictators of free Africa’s first three decades (60s,70s and 80s) cannibalised the organisation’s good intentions and caused an abortion of Africa’s collective hope.

By the mid 1970s, it was common knowledge that the OAU had lost meaning and only existed as a political recreational facility for Africa’s lucky big men in office.

The organisation had effectively degenerated into an elite members club and talking shop for the World’s most ideal case studies in bad governance and failed leadership.

Reports from the jubilee fete that cost the impoverished continent an estimated US$1 million make for disturbing news. They paint an image of a continental leadership stuck in a betrayal mindset.

Here were Africa’s top leaders and diplomats making merry and patting each others backs alongside tainted colleagues who are breaking basic human rights, torturing their citizens, hurting their neighbours and presiding over grand corruption; yet not even a reprimand was forth coming.

They only thought it wise to disparage the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the two crimes against humanity cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto and surprisingly resolved to form a standing continental army for quick intervention in armed conflicts.

It is obvious that the Standing Army idea will be stillborn like all other earlier grand projects of the AU. It will be sabotaged and starved of funds by the same leaders. It is doubtful whether it is actually a priority.

Thanks to the AU goof and misguided barrage of attacks on the ICC, for once the world court, which had in recent days began to disappoint Kenyans for its slow pace and apparent shoddy work, recovered a bit of its lost face by telling the AU summit off on the Kenyan cases.

It is ironical that the AU top brass failed to confront Sudan President Omar Al Bashir over his threats to destroy his neighbour South Sudan by disconnecting oil flow to the Red Sea port and constant military raids; they could afford Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni a star role as the key broker of the anti-ICC charade while openly violating freedom of the press back home in Kampala where he has clamped down on The Monitor newspaper.

They couldn’t grill Robert Mugabe over his wild standoff with Western countries just because he does not want democracy and human rights to prevail in Zimbabwe; just to mention but a few glaring cases that indicate AU’s myopia.

Indeed, the more things change, the more they remain the same. First we had the Pan Africanist Movement with hope but today the Africa Union (AU) with despair.

It is regrettable but we must concur that the AU summit in Addis Ababa only acted to remind Africans of our biggest failure as a continent: Failed Leadership. We have a long journey to travel before talking of real leadership and development in Africa.

The writer is MP for Kitutu-Masaba