dictatorships, tyranny and the fledgling fate of pan-africanism

The ideals of pan-Africanism in its infancy were sound, but its trajectory was soon co-opted and undermined. We can still get back on track, though.

 We diverted from our course immediately after independence. This was partly due to the formation of the Organisation of African Unity. Not only was its membership composed of not-so pan-Africanist leaders, but it also…. The OAU had been formed and was the first congress to take place in Motherland Africa, hosted by Tanzania. The focus was on the apparent struggle against neo-colonialism. Nkrumah had been overthrown, Lumumba ruthlessly murdered, and Obote overthrown. Imperialist agents in the form of Mobutu Sese Seko and Idi Amin were now on the scene.

 There was urgency to pay attention to anti-imperialism, embrace consciousness around class struggle, social transformation, and emancipation, and center the fight for national democratic liberation.

Support was galvanized for the struggles in southern Africa, alternative economic models were developed to ensure non-exploitation by global capitalist interests, and the dream for total independence of nations in the Motherland and the Caribbean seemed tenable. But in 1994, the Pan-African Congress resurrected in Kampala. Driven by city guys seeking national legitimacy and a global base for relevance, this 7th Pan-African Congress was held with the backing of the increasingly neoliberal Uganda government and Libyan dictator Muamar Gaddafi.

 This congress was mixed in attendance. A number of would-be delegates boycotted and protested, including in London where the first congress had been held in 1900. The protesters argued, quite rightly, that with the invasion and occupation of Rwanda and Burundi — largely backed by Anglo-American interests — Gen. Museveni and Col. Gaddafi were both unfit to be associated with an organization designed to liberate Africa from the yokes of those they were now serving. Not surprisingly, the organization went into ‘hibernation’ for more than 21 years, and to near-death due to lack of coherent leadership. In 2015 it was rescued by the 8th PAC held in Accra.

 A few months later in July that year, Africa’s son Barack Obama (his children are the epitome of global Africa) told the AU in Addis that Africa needs strong institutions, not strong men. How else would one explain the pathetic failure of this continent to transform the concept and organization that helped train, guide, and support leadership for continental independence into a global-body-of-identity-and-direction?

 Shamefully, like the tragedy that befell Gen. Katumba Wamala, institutions and peoples of African descent continue to merely scrape for survival. Africans need to wake up and stop agonizing.