File photo
Last Saturday was African Union Day (AU Day).
In 2002, the AU was born to replace the Organization of African Unity (OAU), formed on May 25, 1963, by African states, but the May 25 date was not changed.
Thus, every year, May 25 is celebrated across Africa as AU Day.
As usual, the day is celebrated by events, some even preceding it.
Therefore, on Friday, Ghana held a flag-raising ceremony in Accra before Saturday to commemorate the 61st African Union (AU) Day.
Then on Saturday, the African Group of Ambassadors and High Commissioners observed AU Day in Accra to showcase Africa’s diversity in unity.
Such events are important as they keep reminding Africans, particularly African leaders, of the objectives of the AU.
In fact, it can be argued that the strongest defence for re-placing the OAU was that it was formed at a time when some African countries were still under colonial rule and so had among its objectives the efforts to rid the continent of colonisation and apartheid.
However, OAU’s other main objectives could not be discounted as they are relevant now as they were at the time of setting out the OAU Charter, the guide to the organisation’s activities.
Today, it is still relevant to promote the unity and solidarity of African states; coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for their peoples; safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States; promote international cooperation within the United Nations framework; and harmonise members’ political, diplomatic, economic, educational, cultural, health, welfare, scientific, technological, and defence policies.
That is to say that the AU is continuing with the major work of the OAU in spite of some changes.
The changes include replacing the Commission of Mediation, Conciliation, and Arbitration with the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution in 1993, and the AU Constitutive Act and protocols establishing a significant number of new structures, both at the level of major organs and through a range of new technical and subsidiary committees.
In fact, the AU was established as a body that could accelerate the process of integration in Africa, support the empowerment of African states in the global economy, and address the multifaceted social, economic, and political problems facing the continent.
Since we cannot decouple the OAU's work from that of the AU, there are questions to be asked and comments to be made.
“Can the AU account that it has made significant inroads into its objectives 61 years after African countries agreed to cooperate in certain areas as a united continent and one people?”
Some of us think the AU has a lot more to do in all aspects of life on the continent.
The truth is that its objectives can be achieved with good leadership, but it is common knowledge that current African leaders have failed their people as they seek their own interests rather than those of their people.
Today, in Africa, politics pays more than industry, making even young talents want to do politics rather than honing their talents for their best benefit.
The AU must, therefore, position itself well to check African leaders to work towards its objectives as expected in each African country to make the benefits or importance of the union tangible to all Africans.
