In Search of Greater Unity: African States and the Quest for an African Union Government

The paper examines the notion of an African union government.It argues that the proposal for a ‘union government’ has often divided African leaders into different ideological groups. That not withstanding, Africa leaders have had to bury their differences and embrace African unity in the fight against colonialism and racist rule. Under the OAU, these constituted the rallying point for African leaders until the last vestiges of colonialism and racist rule were crushed in South Africa in 1994. More than 40 years after the idea of unification of Africa was first suggested by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana; the Libyan leader, President Muammar Ghaddafi re-tabled the proposal. However, the machinations being employed by the Libyan leader to actualise his vision of a union government in Africa under a single president necessitate a deeper exploration of the idea. The paper observed that the challenges to achieving a union government are numerous at this time. In addition toproblem of lack of integration at national levels and poor funding of the AU; Africa is presently faced with several problems bordering on violent conflicts, poverty and underdevelopment, economic development, diseases such as HIV-AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and bad governance amongst others. The paper concludes that these challenges should serve as the rallying point for African leaders at this time and not the political machinations of some leaders on the continent.