Africa needs single electoral body - Oquaye

Mike Ocquaye, Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya has added his voice to calls for the resolution of the ongoing political turbulence in the southern African country of Zimbabwe.

In an exclusive interview with The Statesman after delivering a statement on the floor of Parliament, Professor Ocquaye recommended that sub regional Electoral Commissions, representing West, East, North, South Africa, should be set up to work with an African Union Electoral Commission he has proposed with full control over all elections in Africa.

He recommended further that nations that have no good governance credentials or refuse to subscribe to Africa Union rules be expelled from the union.

"African leaders, cannot sit quiet anymore, let us act now and defend our innocent continent. After all, what happens to one country today may happen to another tomorrow. We must act to save Zimbabwe from human degradation, poverty, misery and disease."

Prof Ocquaye indicated that the dignity of Africa, as regards the happenings in Zimbabwe was at stake and the "atrocities" being committed there could not continue since that could set back the growth of democracy and good governance thereby, promoting political instability.

"As Robert Mugabe has tragically bemoaned that only God can remove him from power, it should be a cardinal principle of our consolidation of democracy that when the people speak with their thumbs, God has spoken. After all Vox populi vox dei, the voice of the people is the voice of the Lord", he added.

According to Prof Ocquaye, the globe has gone beyond the era when state sovereignty and non- interference in the internal affairs of a country were employed to abuse human rights in any given nation.

"The Universalistic principle of today expounded long ago by Cicero, mandates a global order of peace and security observing the God-given rights of all human beings," he stated.

He also called for a full-fledged Africa court on Human Rights and Electoral Matters. This, he believes, will have full adjudication authority on electoral affairs within nations and human rights abuses.

His statement coincided with the recent remark by former South African President Nelson Mandela calling for violence and atrocities in places such as Darfur, South Africa and Zimbabwe to stop.

In a related development, Prof Ocquaye requested the AU to stop the Zimbabwe government from deliberately using food as a political weapon since the lives of expectant women, their breast feeding counter parts as well as scores of innocent children could not be ignored.