Roadmap To African Union. Kufuor Receives Audit Report

A 13-MEMBER high-level Panel Audit of the African Union (AU) has completed its work and presented a report to President John Agyekum Kufuor, Chairman of the AU.

The committee, which was established by the AU chairman in line with the Accra declaration after the 9th African Union Summit was tasked with the responsibility of auditing policy and programme implementation of the Union.

It was also assigned to create a roadmap and timetable for the unification of African governments.

At the three-day AU summit, while some of the African leaders present called for the immediate federation of the continent of 53 countries with one government, its own army and an agreed foreign policy, others who did not oppose the unity of the continent felt it should be done gradually.

Professor Adebayo Adedeji, chairman of the committee who called on President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, to present the report, observed that “this is the first time ever that a Pan-African organisation is being audited” and that the panel completed its work in two months though it was projected to take between six and nine months. “We had to get the report ready before the next summit.”

He stated that to come out with a good report, the committee, apart from interacting with members of regional economic committees, Africans in the Diaspora among others, studied and analysed over 3000 documents.

He mentioned that a special website was also created where memorandums were received from the public.

According to him, the over 200-page report which is divided into three parts looks at the background of the AU, the accelerators and identifies roadmap offering alternatives.

“The report offers all the alternatives. We plead with you to take the fastest route,” he told the AU chairman after handing over the report.

President Kufuor, receiving the document, commended the members of the committee for the good work done. “Africa is lucky to have its own children of caliber working to define the continent.

“At long last we are getting there with determination to define the continent.”

The document, he pointed out, “would be a document owned by Africans all over”.

He however re-tasked the committee to connect with the AU committee of five and as well distribute the report to the members of the AU council of ministers and all African heads of state to ensure that they study the report concurrently.

This, he said, would help identify the way forward before the next summit, so that “when heads of state decide, it would be on firm grounds”. The next AU summit would be held in January 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
By Emelia Ennin