Madam Chair and you Madam Speaker sitting over there, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, I'd like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the hon members for taking this time to engage in this important debate on the African Union government.
A few weeks ago, during our Budget Vote debate, we did indicate that it would be good for the House to debate this matter. But let me hasten to add that the debate is not new, but what is new is the level of participation by civil society, parliamentarians and different socioeconomic formations on the continent.
At Ghana's independence 50 years ago, the President of Ghana at the time, Kwame Nkrumah said, and I quote: "Our independence is meaningless if it is not linked to the total independence of the African continent."
After that speech there were many discussions and many meetings, from 1958, to generate consensus around this issue. These important meetings took place in Brazzaville, Casablanca, Monrovia and Lagos, and would culminate in the founding of the OAU.
Maybe the questions we should ask are: Why the integration? Why was the OAU established besides its task to decolonise Africa? Again, I think the answer lies with what Kwame Nkrumah said in 1963, the year in which the OAU was formed, and I quote:
Our continent gives the second largest stretch of land in the world. The natural wealth of Africa is estimated to be greater than that of almost any other continent. To draw the most from our existing and potential means for the achievement of abundance and a fine social order, we need to unify our efforts, our resources, our skills and intentions. We need unity to secure total African liberation. We need to carry forward our construction of a socioeconomic system that will support the greater mass of our steadily rising population at a level of life that will compare with those of the most advanced countries.
He further argued that:
The forces that unite us are intrinsic are greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart, and our goal must be the establishment of Africa's dignity, progress and prosperity. 0 Here is a challenge, which destiny has thrown out to the leaders of Africa. It is for us to grasp what is a golden opportunity to prove that the genius of the African people can surmount the separatist tendencies in sovereign nationhood by coming together steadily for the sake of Africa's greater glory and infinite wellbeing into a union of African states.
The golden opportunity of which Kwame Nkrumah spoke with such urgency was not fully realised during his lifetime. "We must act now," he said, "tomorrow may be too late". It is therefore obvious that while the collective political will was strong, the right conditions had not yet been attained.
The integration process started in earnest with the OAU, even though it was not through the "union of African states" that Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and others had pressed for. The question is: Are those conditions now met? Maybe we should remind ourselves of what President Mandela said at his first meeting of the OAU as a head of state in Tunis in 1994. He said, and I quote:
Finally, at this meeting in Tunis, we shall remove from our agenda the consideration of the question of apartheid in South Africa.
Where South Africa appears on the agenda again, let it be because we want to discuss what its contribution shall be to the making of the new African Renaissance. Let it be because we want to discuss what materials it will supply for the rebuilding of the African city of Carthage.
More importantly, he went on to say:
One epoch with its historic task has come to an end. Surely, another must commence with its own challenges. Africa cries out for a new birth, Carthage awaits the restoration of its dignity. If freedom was the crown, which the fighters of liberation sought to place on the head of Mother Africa, let the upliftment, the happiness, prosperity and comfort of her children be the jewel of the crown.
The current leadership of the continent, realising that the OAU belonged to the epoch with its historic task that had ended and that another had commenced, with its own challenges, launched the African Union, the AU, with clear objectives that included: one, the acceleration of the political and socioeconomic integration of the continent; two, the promotion of peace, security and stability on the continent; three, the promotion of sustainable development at the economic and cultural levels; four, the integration of Africa's economies; and five, embracing gender equality.
The question, therefore, is: What model of integration is best suited for us to realise these objectives? Maybe we need to look at what the EU did. The EU came together with the objective of making sure that there would never be another war and ending conflict within the region using iron and steel. Furthermore, they wanted to create free economic space where there would be movement of people and eventually a common currency. They are on course.
They also had their own vehicles that drove that process, and those were initially France and Germany. Therefore, we may need to look at Africa and ask: What is it that we want to achieve eventually?
Having seen some of the objectives of the OAU again, the African leadership decided to develop Nepad. Nepad was to accelerate Africa's social and economic transformation, and it had the following objectives: one, eradication of poverty; two, placing African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development; three, halting the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process; and four, accelerating the empowerment of women.
Madam Speaker, I must say that we must also understand that the integration of Africa started in earnest with the OAU. It is a continuous process. As we speak, we have our own Peace and Security Council and we are in the process of establishing a stand-by force for peacekeeping, in order to deal with the conflicts on the continent. This is part of integration.
The Pan-African Parliament is located in this country. Again, that shows that integration is proceeding. The establishment of the Human Rights Court is further evidence of this. Indeed we need to integrate. The question is: What model do we need to use to accelerate this integration, which is already taking place as we speak?
The questions that we must ask, Madam Speaker, are: Are we ready for the African Union government? Has the time come to form the united states of Africa or the union of African states?
Some people say, "Yes, it has come". Amongst those who say it has come, there are some slight differences in emphasis. Some say that we must start with just a few areas, such as trade, finance, transport, foreign affairs, amongst other things. However, others feel that we should just go on a fully-fledged union government.
The questions are: Are we ready? Do the conditions exist for a union government? Or should we do more in rationalising and strengthening the regional economic communities as building blocks? Should we strengthen the AU commission's capacity, both human and financial? Should we give it stronger mandates? Should we do more to mobilise financial resources for the implementation of infrastructure, human resource development, agriculture, and so on, which are the priorities of Nepad?
If we agree to form a government, which areas will be covered in the union government? Of course if we do agree to form a government, it will mean that we have to harmonise all the policies so that we can have continental policies in the areas we choose. There would have to be proper funding of this government and all that a government entails.
Madam Speaker, it would not be desirable for me to pre-empt this important debate, so I have just posed questions and given options to allow the House to have proper deliberations. The forthcoming Ghana summit will consider nothing but this question of the African Union.
Should it be established now? And if "yes", then all the attendant questions will need to be considered. If not, what then needs to be done to accelerate integration?
All governments across the continent are consulting their respective citizenry on this matter, because as yet there is no consensus on how to accelerate the integration; hence the grand debate that will take place in Ghana. Maybe I should just conclude my opening remarks by reminding us of what President Mbeki, then Deputy President, said in his famous speech when we adopted our own Constitution, "I am an African". He said, and I quote:
I am an African I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa. The pain of the violent conflict of the peoples of Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, Burundi and Algeria is a pain I also bear. The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share. The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair. This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned. This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity, says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes. Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now! Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace! However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper! Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say - nothing can stop us now!
So how best can we achieve this peaceful and prosperous Africa that President Mbeki spoke about? I look forward to a fruitful debate. Thank you. [Applause.]