African leaders' failure to speak in one voice concerning

President William Ruto with other African Heads of State during the closure of the Africa Climate Summit Ceremony at KICC. [Silas Otieno Standard]

For a very long time, Africa's political leadership has failed to read from the same script at the expense of the continent's unity. And it is worrying.

For instance, when the fresh spate of war broke out between Palestine and Israel last year, some African presidents, notably Kenya's William Ruto, took to social media to express their solidarity with Israel in complete disregard of the historical facts, including the more than seven decades of illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel that has caused untold human suffering.

While Dr Ruto was busy siding with Israel on Twitter, the African Union leadership issued a statement that indeed acknowledged the historical injustice that Palestine has suffered at the hands of Israel. This was another clear indication that Africa's political leadership is ideologically broken right down the middle.

When the military toppled a documented dictator in Gabon, African political leadership led by the African Union was quick to call for the restoration of civilian rule in total disregard of the legitimate reasons for the coup in the face of the failed promises of the concept of democracy.

Similarly, when the United Nations Security Council called for a vote to sanction Russia for unlawfully invading Ukraine, again in total disregard of international law of basic human decency, African countries failed to take a common position with some siding with Ukraine - like the West - while the rest like Tanzania were among the 58 countries that abstained from the vote.

But the big question is: Why cannot Africa's political leadership speak the same language, that is, uphold the lofty pan-African ideologies that they often rant about? The answer is simple: They cannot because it makes the big boys at the IMF and World Bank uncomfortable, and doing so directly exposes the imperial interests of the West, which mostly don't have the continent's true interests at heart.

Africa may be burdened by the deadweight of seeking unity with no serious coherence of developmental paradigm, as some experts have put it. However, that doesn't mean Africa shouldn't be pursuing ways through which to unite and drive the continent's agenda forward.

This inability of Africa's political leadership to confront the imperial system that works directly against Africa's true development is the root cause of the trouble with Africa. Noted Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe once said that there is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character or land or climate or water.

The trouble with Nigeria, Achebe argued, is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. It's not difficult to see that Achebe may have actually given a diagnosis of the trouble with Africa as a whole. There is nothing wrong with the African character, land, climate, or water. The trouble with Africa is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.

Mr Ouma is a freelance writer