[AU-Monitor] Peoples’ Voices in the Grand Debate: Interviews with Cardinal Uwishaka and Traore Wodjo Fini

[Hakima Abbas]

Peoples’ Voices in the Grand Debate: CSO and Citizen Interviews on  
the Proposal for a Union Government

Saloman Kebede interviewed several African civil society leaders and  
citizens about the “Grand Debate on the Union Government” to be held  
at the June 2007 summit of the African Union.  The following  
interviews of Cardinal Uwishaka, of CIVICUS, and Traore Wodjo Fini,  
of the Africa Union Club of Ivory Coast, are part of a series of  
interviews, to be published in AU-Monitor, of African citizens and  
civil society leaders on the AU proposal for Continental Government.  
The interviews were conducted by the Pan Africa Programme of Oxfam in  
the corridors of a civil society meeting organized by UN-CONGO and  
FEMNET in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the week of the 13 March 2007.  
Emily Mghanga of Oxfam’s Pan Africa Programme edited this interview.  
These interviews are also available at www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor.
Please send comments to aumonitor.editor at gmail.com.



Interview with Cardinal Uwishaka, a Rwandan national based in  
Pretoria, South Africa, and working for CIVICUS: World Alliance for  
Citizen Participation.

Saloman Kebede: What form of Continental government does Africa need?

Cardinal Uwishaka: Africa needs a union that creates a real platform  
for continental collaboration beyond governments. This collaboration  
should involve civil society organisations, businesses, and all sorts  
and forms of grassroots movements and associations. The collaboration  
should advance Africa’s sense of mutual interest and provide a  
platform for all Africans to contribute to their dream of a peaceful  
and prosperous continent. The AU must move beyond the framework of  
representative democracy towards mechanisms to ensure that  
participatory forms of democracy inform all its decision-making  
processes and influence its ways of working. We need an AU government  
structure where the voice of the African citizen is heard and acted  
upon. The union government should address needs of its people and not  
only those of its leaders as was the case with the old structures of  
the OAU that was primarily a club that served African leaders  
sometimes to the detriment of its people. The AU must master the will  
to act on issues of interest of all African citizens. We hope for a  
new momentum in realizing the vision of a continental government that  
can act, achieve and develop clear priorities that all Africans can  
identify with and support their realisation.



Saloman Kebede: Why is the Continental Union important to African  
citizens especially the poor and the marginalized?

Cardinal Uwishaka: With the movement towards globalization, it’s  
about time that African leaders realized the need for unity. Africa  
cannot achieve sustainable development, peace and security unless it  
is united in its development agenda. Africa must recognize its  
diversity and the treasure of its resources; our past history of  
slavery, colonialism, war, corruption and bad leadership demands a  
new sense of responsibility from our leaders. Africa has been  
exploited for long and must now get together and create meaningful  
and just opportunities for trade and exploitation of its resources. A  
united Africa will establish a strong platform to address common  
challenges such as international trade, other forms and mechanisms  
that influence international redistribution of resources and demand  
everyone’s equitable level of responsibility in addressing common  
challenges such as the effects of the changing environment, good  
governance within multilateral institutions and maintaining global  
peace.



Saloman Kebede: What strategic areas of focus do you propose for the  
integration to be successful?

Cardinal Uwishaka: Our focus should be on respect for human rights,  
good governance as well as peace and security across the continent.  
These are absolute prerequisites for sustainable development. We  
should also have a clear road map to address challenges of economic  
integration, fight all forms of oppression and exploitation and bring  
sanity in the way power is accessed and exercised by our leaders at  
all levels.



Saloman Kebede: What obstacles must the AU overcome for the  
continental body to be successful?

Cardinal Uwishaka: The AU has to remember that Africa has a colonial  
history. We are divided in terms of race, language and political  
ideologies of our leaderships. The challenge to our leaders is to  
ensure that we overcome these differences and find a common  
denominator that unites us and helps us to achieve prosperity using  
resources that Africa has been abundantly endowed with.

The views expressed here are the perspectives of the interviewee.  
Cardinal Uwishaka can be reached at Email: cardinal.uwishaka at  
civicus.org



Interview with Traore Wodjo Fini, Chair Person of the Club Union  
Africaine de Côte D’Ivoire, is based in Ivory Coast and working on  
issues of democracy, human rights, peace culture, electoral process,  
youth, women’s rights and African unity.


Saloman Kebede: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current  
proposal?
Traore Wodjo Fini: We had already decided to build Africa and bring  
African Unity far back in the 1960s. The future of Africa is our  
business. We are here to build a stronger civil society and political  
party that will respect human rights and promote democracy.



Saloman Kebede: Should it be adopted in Accra in July 2007, what  
would you like to see the African Union Commission achieve within the  
first phase (2007-2009)?

Traore Wodjo Fini: Africa as a whole suffers from economic, social  
and political crisis. Heads of state should ensure that democracy  
continues in each country. They must also finish establishing ECOSOCC  
in order to give a good voice for civil society in the process of  
building a strong African Union. We request the president of the  
Commission to include leaders of civil society organisations  in  
Africa in the international observation of elections in the countries  
of Africa.


Saloman Kebede: And why would this form of continental union be  
important to African citizens & particular the poor and marginalized?

Traore Wodjo Fini: It will not be a unity of heads of state only but  
for all citizens, because the civil society has the power to  
facilitate a continental union. United, we can fight against poverty  
and against abuse of human rights and resources of our continent.  
Professor Cheikh Anta Diop, leader of Pan-Africanism and Africa  
culture said "only the African Federal State is viable”. In addition,  
Doctor Kwameh N’krumah affirmed that Africa must link itself or  
perish. The African citizens want to be free from poverty and have  
leaders who will be accountable to this popular decision.


Saloman Kebede: How could states and non-states ensure that  
continental union efforts are transparent, participatory and driven  
by an appreciation of political and economic rights?

Traore Wodjo Fini: Governments are obligated to be democratic and  
transparent in utilizing resources for development and respect for  
human rights. Civil society organisations, on the other hand, should  
be at the forefront in educating citizens on their rights and  
advocating for the right policies for Africa.


Saloman Kebede: What obstacles must the AU overcome for the  
continental union to be successful?

Traore Wodjo Fini: The heads of states have been unable to address  
challenges in education, poverty and human rights. This should be  
their business.  Civil society must advocate for change of policies  
in the AU and democratization. The African Union must overcome the  
challenge of transparent and credible elections on the continent. The  
AU must have respect for human rights, courageously fight against  
poverty to avoid the escape of intellectual Africans to other  
continents and promote leadership for the African women. Besides all  
this, the AU should facilitate provision of education programmes/ 
curriculum on Panafricanism and African culture in schools, colleges  
and universities to safeguard the history of the continent.


Saloman Kebede: In what policy area, would you like to see greater  
convergence and unity across Africa and why?

Traore Wodjo Fini: Democratization. We call for a visionary  
leadership that is not corrupt but is obligated to protect its  
citizens. In addition, we need to have a stronger civil society,  
stronger women leaders and journalists who can speak freely and  
inform our society. We need a young generation of people who are well  
educated to help move Africa forward. The agricultural and economic  
policy of the continent must be re-examined to go towards a single  
currency and a real mechanization of our means of production that is  
still a challenge in this continent.

The views expressed here are the perspectives of the interviewee.  
Traore W. Fini can be reached at Email: traorewodjom at yahoo.com


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--------------------------------------------------------

Hakima Abbas
Policy Analyst, AU-Monitor
Fahamu - Networks for Social Justice
Email: hakima at fahamu.org
Skype: hakima_abbas
www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor
www.fahamu.org





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