So those that escaped relative poverty in Africa are finding themselves in absolute poverty as they realize that they exchanged their life of normal hardship for a life of degrading serfdom where even the poor call them poor and look down on them .
A poll done recently in Kenya indicated that over fifty percent of Kenyans would rather be in the USA and we believe this is replicated across Africa . The tragic part is that the Europeans are trying to come to this paradise that Africans are trying to escape .
Our fractious and inward looking nation states have contributed to our being kept out of the comity of nations and it is what is at the very core of our lack of a voice and the reason why we sit at the global round table as observers . This is the choking reality that the Kigali declaration was addressing and the reason why those with a vision realized that history was in the making . The truth is that this is not the first time that someone has tried to unify Africa .
Nkrumah did not only seek the freedom of Ghana but envisaged a pan African unity that he believed was necessary to drive the African agenda . Emperor Haile Selassie saw Africa as one and dreamt of a political block that would give us a voice .
In the recent past , that Libyan strong man Muammar Gaddafi tried to sponsor a pet dream of a United States of Africa to achieve what he believed was the only way Africa would be taken seriously . Whatever your views are of that dictator – he was so right on this one ! Past failure must not be used as condemnation of the current effort which needs to succeed for the continent to prosper . We need to foster intra Africa trade to create the critical mass needed to support a vibrant industrial base that would support enhanced employment .
In spite of all the development aid that is channeled to Africa , the western economies are not trying to develop Africa . They never have and they never will and to await western philanthropy is to engage in a dangerous dream that we must wake up from .
The creation of an African free trade zone , where goods and services and eventually labor moves freely across borders is a prerequisite to economic take off . To collapse intra Africa trade barriers and adopt common tariffs against outs1iders will strengthen our bargaining chips .
The ultimate goal for Africa would be to create a political federation and to eventually adopt a common currency to be able to flex our global muscle otherwise we shall be consigned to forever be political flower girls in global negotiations .
The fact that one of Africa ’ s economic power houses , Nigeria demurred from signing the pact does not in anyway take away from the proceedings but goes to prove that thought leadership is not a majority vote but a quality vote .
The African renaissance that Thabo Mbeki had started to sing about and was killed by a borrowed democratic process that created a disaster that was Zuma is an indicator that progress is not necessarily the purview of the majority but a vision of the few .
For the sake of the future generation and the African pride , it is our fervent prayer and hope that the seed of Africa ’ s ascent to global leadership , sown in Kigali , will find a champion and a visionary who will rise above the usual petty national politics and see what Africa is capable of becoming !
To all those that stand at the footsteps of history we proclaim a huge ‘ Viva Africa !’