Africa Union must rid itself of Corrupt Dictators and their Sons

At the inauguration in 2002, the Africa Union sets itself a 10-year grace period, dubbed the 'period of stabilization,' within which it would turn things around and set Africa on the path to sustainable development. The Union has set as its primary target the acceleration of economic, political and social integration of Africa, with the establishment of a United States of Africa as its ultimate goal. It also places premium on the promotion of human rights, as well as the entrenchment of democracy and good governance on the African continent” Ghana News Agency, 15 September 2009.

A closer look at the above goals of AU and the people who constitute its leadership shows how the body is unlikely to achieve any of the goals it has set itself. For example the current Chairman of AU in the person of Gaddafi has been a dictator since 1969. For forty years he has ruled his country with iron hand jailing opposition members, restricting freedom of speech, assembly and limiting political activities in attempt to stay in power. He frowns on any idea about democracy and has consistently argued that democracy is foreign and unAfrican.

Museveni of Uganda came to power in 1986 and has since ruled his country as his personal estate. In 2003 he had the presidential term limit set by the constitution abrogated so he could be president for life. There is no sign that he is ready to leave the scene. Obiang Nguema came to power in 1979 after overthrowing his own uncle and executing him. In that same year Dos Santos of Angola took over power and is still president today. In Burkina Faso Blaise Campore has been in power since 1987 and is still adamant about leaving office. Congo Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso has used every means just to stay in power for 30 years now. Since 1982 Paul Biya of Cameroon has won every election in his oil rich but economically impoverished country and likewise Hosni Mubarak of Egypt who since 1981 has been president of the North African country. Ben Ali of Tunisia has resisted every attempt to leave office changing the constitution just to stay in power.

Gaddafi has never been elected in his forty year reign as the head of state of Libya. Omar Al Bashir has not been elected. There are no words to describe Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Yahyah Jammeh of the Gambia. Paul Biya of Cameroon in his almost three decades in office has won every election and the same is true of Dos Santos of Angola, Nguesso of Congo, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Iddris Derby of Chad and Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea.

The last time I checked more than half of the over fifty countries that make up the AU have leaders who are unelected and deeply corrupt. Even the rest who claim to have been elected more than half have had their elections questioned by both local and international election observers. Yar'Dua of Nigeria, Ali Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and Mugabe and the elections that brought them into power have all been questioned. The resignation of the head of the electoral commission in Mauritania just immediately after election confirmed what everyone was saying privately at the time.

Thus from Libya where Gaddafi has managed to misrule his country for forty years, to Zimbabwe where the old man still thinks of himself as one that Zimbabwe cannot do without, to Uganda where Museveni and his family are anything but thieves, to Gambia where Jammeh continue to ridicule himself and that of his country with his treatment of HIV/AIDS sufferers, to Kenya where Mwai Kibaki has refused to leave office after a humiliating defeat, to Nigeria where corruption and embezzlement have produced a failed state, to Niger where Mamadou Tandja has staged a coup against his own government in an effort to rule for life, to Angola and Congo where a cabal of corrupt leaders preside over the looting of their countries' oil revenues, and to Gabon, Togo and DRC where children of former corrupt dictators have assumed the mantle of leadership apparently to continue where their parents left off (including the systematic looting and mismanagement of their countries' economies) there is no sign that continent is going to make any progress so far as these dictators continue to hold onto power. None of the leaders seem to have any good political, economic or social record. One needs not look far to see how their incompetence and monumental failures have contributed to the demise of the continent, the countries swimming in rich natural resources yet lacking the basic necessities of life.

Where is the AU heading with these dictators still in office? Can any progress be made towards African Unity can the United States of Africa be realised with all these tyrants in power? The answer is a big no. The challenge is that if the AU is ever going to transform itself into a respected democratic institution then it must as a necessity purge itself of these tyrants and children. The AU must rid itself of these corrupt dictators and their sons who are holding the organisation in chains. There are a number of things the AU should do.

It must first and foremost abrogate the automatic membership. Throughout the world all serious bodies have constitutions and charters that set out the benchmarks that would-be members must attain before they are admitted. This contrasts the AU where membership is automatic no matter the record of a government or the means by which it came to power. This system is not only wrong but it is also self defeating. It is one of the reasons why AU is full of dictators. It is this automatic membership that has ensured that Mugabe could wrought violence against his people and still has the audacity to attend AU meetings. It is this automatic membership that has ensured that Nguema, Museveni, Nguesso, Santos, Afewerki, Tandja, Kibaki, al-Bashir, Mubarak, Gaddafi, Campore, Biya, Jammeh can do whatever they like in their respective countries and still attend AU meetings. The automatic membership must be abolished and benchmarks set for would-be members to attain before being accepted. That is AU must be made up of serious minded countries committed to democracy, rule of law, protection of human rights, peace, stability and fight against crime, povert. Members must demonstrate their commitment to democracy, rule of law, and fight against corruption, poverty as is seen in the EU. This must change if the AU is ever going to be a United States of Africa. In the European Union where membership is earned all the 27 members have democratic governments that respect human rights. We know how hard Turkey has tried to become a member without success despite the huge internal reforms it has carried out over the last couple of years.

AU should push for genuine democracy in its member countries and rid herself of dictators and their sons who masquerade as leaders and representatives but who are nothing more than thieves in suit whose only political, economic and social agenda is to perpetuate their rule, loot and mismanage what remains of their loot.

AU must insist that leaders who are not democratically elected by their citizens cannot become a Chair of the body. If a leader of country wants to be the Chair of the august body then he/she must subject himself/herself to rigours of elections. Such simple demands will make these tyrants consider their position carefully. They will be ashamed to request for a chairmanship position when they know they are unelected. The current situation in which Gaddafi a lifelong dictator chairs the body is not only unacceptable but is also an insult to people of Africa.

The AU must lobby the democratically elected leaders like Senegal's Wade, Ian Khama of Botswana, Ghana's Atta Mills, Zuma of South Africa, Benin's Yayi Boni, and Paul Kegame to insist that all those tyrants who continue to hold their citizens in bondage set them free by standing down and allowing free and fair elections to be held. Any tyrant who refuses to stand down should be suspended until free and fair elections are held. The AU is not going to make any progress if the leaders are pampered to do what they want. AU leaders must recognise that Africa cannot harness her strategic importance in this new global order unless there are democratic and institutional reform that will rid the continent of absolute dictators and their corrupt machinery which for so long a time has been responsible for the misery and high levels of poverty seen throughout Africa. AU leaders must also acknowledge that it is in their own interest to ensure that the continent gives no room to dictators and their children who are milking their countries at the expense of the ordinary people.

AU should not allow these vampires to continue to misgovern their countries, loot and mismanage what remains of their loot. Standards must be set, sanctions must be used Therefore the AU should work closely with the elected political leaders to push for reform that will make leaders of AU member countries more accountable to their citizens. It will be proper for all undemocratic regimes to be suspended and readmitted when they have shown beyond all reasonable doubt that they are prepared to allow democracy, rule of law to work in their countries.

The AU should not suspend only countries where coup take place but must also suspend all countries whose leaders engage in human rights abuses and corrupt practices that push their citizens into chronic poverty. If a country is suspended because a coup has taken place, is it also not morally right to suspend a country when its loot their resources, and engage in human rights abuses? If citizens of a country like Libya are denied a say on how their leaders are elected or how their country is governed is it not enough to suspend that country until the citizens are given the opportunity to determine who should lead them?

Again the AU must make sure its institutions are headquartered in countries that respect human rights, rule of law, fight corruption and is a democracy. I cannot imagine Gambia being made the headquarters of the AU's Human Right Commission when Jammeh is busy killing journalists in cold blood and has threatened to annihilate people who express their views in that country. It is very shocking that the AU seems to be pampering these leaders. I can hardly comprehend why and how a nation whose leader is known to be abusing the rights of its citizens is made the headquarters of a human right commission. Is the AU there to appease these leaders or it has serious about something? AU has got to be really serious if it wants the rest of the world to take it serious.

Moreover, AU must compile annual reports about human rights, corruption, and abuse of power in all member countries and sanction those countries found to be in breach of AU Charter.

AU should engage the people of Africa in its programmes. Universities and other institutions of higher learning must be involved in AU's activities to sensitise the people and to build grassroot support in member countries. AU Chapters must be established across Africa: in universities, colleges and high schools to make the people aware of what AU is doing. The advantage is that since the students are going to be future leaders and policy makers in Africa their involvement will help inculcate a positive image about AU and will help strengthen AU position.

Additionally, the AU must insist that children of former dictators cannot automatically replace them when they leave office. The current situation where children of former dictators have been installed as presidents in sham elections is not only an insult to people of these countries but is an indictment on the credibility of AU as a body. It is unacceptable for Faure Eyadema of Togo, Joseph Kabila of DR Congo and Gabon Ali Bongo of Gabon to replace their fathers as presidents. These precedents and developments seem to have encouraged Gaddafi, Museveni and Hosni Mubarak who are busy grooming their children to replace them. This trend is not only dangerous but it is also a recipe for conflict and instability and the earlier the AU sends a clear message to these leaders the better. These dictators and their children must be prevented from establishing dynasties in Africa.

The effort by some leaders to transform the AU into a Commission with more powers to conduct business on behalf of the continent has met fierce resistance and continues to be thwarted by these old corrupt guards who see every reform as a threat to their power and corrupt lifestyle. These tyrants continue to torpedo every effort of AU to move from its current position as a talking shop into serious solution solving body. Mugabe and his cohorts and their sons are holding the AU in bondage through their hold on power. They continue to resist every attempt to transform the AU into a useful body. These corrupt dictators have and still continue to frustrate the good intentions of the body such as improving human rights, empowering women, fighting corruption, harmonised migration, fighting crime and alleviating poverty and promoting democracy and they must be prevented.

This is what Obama had to say about the many undemocratic and dictatorial regimes across Africa when he visited Ghana on the 11 of July 2009:

"But history offers a clear verdict: governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable and more successful than governments that do not. Democracy is about more than holding elections - it's also about what happens between them. Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end". He added: "Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans and not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions". People everywhere should have the right to start a business or get an education without paying bribe. We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't" Source: http://www.ghana.gov.gh.

The AU will not be able to reverse decades of low per capita income, low productivity, slow pace of social and economic development, poor state of infrastructures and weak economies if steps are not taken to ensure that democracy is established on the continent, and that all leaders subject themselves to the rigours of election, fight corruption and poverty and promote peace, stability and development. AU must adopt resolutions that insist these tyrants step down, improve their human right record, and fight corruption and embezzlement that have turned their countries into slave camps.

If the AU is ever going to realise any of the goals it has set itself then it must as a matter of necessity purge itself of the dictators and their sons.

By Lord Aikins Adusei
Activist and Anti-Corruption Campaigner.

Development / Accra / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com