The African Diaspora Congress (ADC) on Monday expressed mixed feelings on the re-election of Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat, as African Union Commission Chairperson.
Prof. Apollos Nwauwa, Secretary-General of ADC and Chairman of Nigerian Diaspora Movement (NDM), made this known in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
ADC is a coalition of the various groups and concerned citizens from Africa and Africa Diaspora.
Nwauwa said although Mahamat’s election was based on equitable regional representation, gender- parity, predictable rotation, attracting and retaining Africa’s top talent, accountable leadership and transparent and merit-based selection, ADC saw things differently.
“The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC’s) President, Félix Tshisekedi, now takes over helm of the African Union, to serve as the Chairman for one year.
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“Tshisekedi officially assumed the chairmanship of the AU for 2021, by succeeding Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, at the 34th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU).
“The change of guard is less consequential than election of Chairperson of AU Commission, founded on rotational arrangement among African Heads of States on regional basis.
“ADC views with mixed feeling the Feb. 6, re-election of Mahamat, as the AU Commission Chairperson for another four-year term.
“As chairperson, Mahamat oversees day-to-day administration of AU Secretariat and implementation of policies, by re-election African Heads of States implicitly passed vote of confidence on his performance, in the last four years,” he said.
He recalled that in 2019 and 2020, Mahamat’s style of leadership provoked major international protest among African Diaspora in his approach to sacking of Amb. Chihombori-Quao, as AU’s Representative to the U.S.
He said that over 100,000 African Diasporas signed a petition in protest over whatever infractions she might have committed, saying ADC viewed the way she was terminated was quite worrisome.
“His approach did not portray him in good light m as a seasoned diplomat and administrator, perhaps African Heads of State who re-hired him for a second term of four-year know better.
“We do hope that Mahamat would have learnt from his mistakes, just as we wish him a successful action-oriented tenure,” he said.
He, however, said that ADC expected Mahamat and the AU’s leadership to focus on tackling issues on community border, trade conflict and quest for single currency.
He identified such area to be the organisation’s priority in the building the Africa that is desired.
“So far, the AU has been ineffective in addressing these challenges; the marginal response of the AU to the COVID-19 pandemic remains rather disappointing.
“Indeed, the COVID-19 lock-downs revealed African countries need to build and strengthen national, and regional supply chains, African Diasporas hope that the AU should be solution-oriented in the next four years.
“As Africa grapples with implementation of Free Trade Agreement, peace and security challenges, AU’s principle of national sovereignty continue to diminish its effectiveness and ability to prevent or respond to crises.
“Unless these principles are revisited, to allow more room for AU’s Article (4h) of the Constitutive Act, the ability to address myriad of challenges in 2021 and beyond will be fleeting,” he added.
He described AfCFTA as a vehicle that could fast-track Africa’s economic transformation through the movement of persons and labor, competition, investment and intellectual property, saying AU should do more to achieve targets.
“As the pandemic flattens, we hope that immediate implementation of the AfCFTA should be a top priority for Mahamat and the AU Secretariat, as they begin a new term in office.
“We believe implementing the AfCFTA could boost Africa’s income by 450 billion dollars, bring 30 million people out of extreme poverty and raise income of 68 million others, who live on less than 5.50 dollars a day.
“It would enhance industrialisation, increased foreign direct investment flows, reduce dumping and unfair trade practices, export diversification, structural transformation, and sustained growth, thus, a speedy implementation of the AfCFTA is imperative,” Nwauwa said.
The NDM has nearly 20 million Nigerians in the diaspora as members working together to build a progressive nation where every citizen is empowered to become and give the best.