Institutions before union government

One day in the future, you may monitor the following news flash :
The USAs embroiled in trade war!

The United States of America has protested to the United Nations and Continents Organization UNCO (formerly the U.N.), claiming that the United States of Africa is unfairly benefiting from its overwhelming advantage in science and technology by denying other nations and continents to produce under license. Africa’s president, who is touring Europe to assess the amount of food aid Africa is to provide for this struggling continent this year, refused to comment on….

The timing of when we can expect such news items hitting the airwaves depends on which of two positions wins out when the A.U. 10th Ordinary Session deliberates on the proposal to form the union government of Africa. If the maximalists (Libya, Senegal, etc…) have their way it is needed like yesterday, while the gradualists (S.A., Nigeria and Ethiopia etc…) are content to wait as long as it takes.
One government for all Africa is an ephemeral agenda item for the summit of Heads of State and Government which opened on January 31st 2008 in this fated and feted city of ours. The proposal is ambitious many observers could and do say, given the perceived inability of most if not all African nations to rule their own subjects in democratic good governance.
Given the many crisis on the continent, the assembled Excellencies may indeed have chosen an awkward moment to deliberate on a subject that has been the Holy Grail of African politics since midnight of May 25, 1963 when 30 African leaders signed the Charter of African Unity, the document that launched the aspiration.
While not denigrating the Libyan initiative, for a union government which by the way has been warmly accepted by all A.U. member states, the formation of any sort of government, to avoid irrelevancy, must be based on the institutions of governance.
No system of perceived authority be it at the level of the family unit, local government or indeed, continental scale, can be effective without the tools of administration. In this regard, the A.U. has been taking bold strides to pave the way for the emergence of pan-African institutions. These include an introspective analysis by the vanguard (A.U.) organization of itself. The A.U. Audit Report, submitted by the highly respected former Executive Secretary Professor Adebayo Adedeje, despite its alarming contents, is a milestone exercise in transparency that amply demonstrates the A.U.'s commitment to first strengthen itself if continental agenda are to be realized.
Another indication of the new spirit in the AU is the designation of the summit theme: Industrial development of Africa. This theme underscores the urgent need for Africa not only to industrialize but to do so on a foundation based on intra-Africa investment and trade.
Currently the reality of African trade and industry is that not a single AU member state can count another as a major trading partner. African countries, constrained by the continent's over reliance on non-African trading partners, have neglected cross border trade to the point where this interaction is almost irrelevant to their respective economies.
Strengthening intra-Africa trade, bolstering industrial development and formulating legal frameworks and monitoring mechanisms to smoothen such Africa-Africa contacts is the bedrock on which a union government can be build in measured cautious steps. It is the hope of Africa's children that the newly appointed AU Commission Chair Jean Ping of Gabon and the AU Chair Person Jakaya Kikweti, will find a more conducive working atmosphere at the commission and also be availed the complete cooperation of Africa's leaders as they embark on the monumental tasks ahead.
We wish them and the heads of state and government a productive 2008 in which Africa's nettlesome problems - Darfur, Somalia, DRC, and of course Kenya have stabilized and joined the collective undertaking of building one strong prosperous Africa.