United African government "now"

Tamale, June 16, GNA- Majority of participants at a forum on the "Grand debate" on the formation of a United States of Africa in Tamale on Thursday advocated for the formation of a United States of Africa now.

They contented that since the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in the early Sixties, the African continent had continued to face a lot of challenges, politically, economically and militarily and were therefore of the opinion only a continental government would be able to salvage Africa from its misery.


The participants, made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and the general public noted that the formation of a continental government was fraught with several challenges but stressed that decisive action needed to be taken since further procrastination could led to the marginalisation of Africa in this era of globalisation.


The forum on "Informing Ghana's position on the AU Grand Debate" was organised by the Ghana AU Civil Society Coalition and sponsored by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).


The participants were of the view that the "gradualist approach" to allow for stronger regional economic blocks as advocated in certain quarters were arguments and excuses that had been used to thwart the progress of Africa.

They said the United States of Africa (USA) could be formed now with only a few countries, which had the political will and courage and allow the others to follow when they saw the benefits to be derived from such a Union.


Others also felt that the "gradualist approach" was a policy been used by some Western countries to influence some African leaders to go against the formation of a continental government since it was not in their interest.


The participants therefore urged CSOs to exert pressure on their governments to immediately form the continental government. They also stressed the need for civil society groups and governments to get the people actively involved in the formation of the African government.