AU and other major Pan-African bodies have failed the continent

Why have autocracy, electoral malpractice, economic decline, military rule and constitutional abuse reached a crescendo when Africa has shields like AU, SADC, ECOWAS, EAC, COMESA and IGAD? Created to address these problems, they now thrive on rhetoric or retreat into silence. They equivocate before repression, hesitate during war and normalise decline. Trust at home has eroded, Africa's voice abroad thinned.

Africa continues to be bedevilled by conflicts. When war erupted in Tigray six years ago, AU baulked at confronting Ethiopia despite atrocities and displacement. A body representing over a billion people that fails to speak truth to Addis Ababa cannot speak credibly elsewhere.

After Sudan's coup in October 2021, rival generals plunged the country into war. Mediation produced communiqués without results. Statements yielding nothing are mere rituals. The Sahel then exposed its soft underbelly. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fell to coups and ECOWAS deterrents wobbled. Even as Burkina Faso's Traore earns praise for reformist rhetoric, gun rule undermines democracy. How long will Traore carry a pistol?

Before flying to Washington to chase America's medication effort, did Presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi exhaust African peace mechanisms through Addis Ababa first? Washington craves DRC minerals. Nothing else. Kagame MUST know better, even from the 1994 genocide in his country when Bill Clinton did nothing to quell the genocide. For Donald Trump, it is all about deals.

At the helm of AU, there's a leadership deficit. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti became chairperson last year, defeating late Raila Odinga. Hopes rose, then faded. On Gaza, Ukraine and Iran, Africa has no common position - stone silent or ambiguous. Should African states paddle their own canoe instead of sticking to toothless integration bodies?

With 1.5 billion people, Africa should command a voice at the UN, WTO and climate talks. Beyond Kenya's Ruto, South Africa's Ramaphosa, and Barbados PM Mottley, few speak for Africa in New York. Outside African executive governance, it's high time the continent began listening to Pan-African minds like South Africa's Julius Malema and PLO Lumumba's perspectives on where Africa is and where it should be in the modern 21st century.

The AU muted following recent xenophobic attacks in Johannesburg and Durban. When South Africa condemns genocide in Gaza but stays ambivalent about butchery at home, it is not principle. This double standard dilutes moral authority. Selective outrage is not a desire for universal justice but a show-off. The pain Israel inflicts in Gaza mirrors pain inflicted through xenophobia on Africans in the rainbow nation.

President Samia Suluhu of Tanzania's handling of last year's election showed a credibility gap. As a mother, Africa and the world expected her to embody justice and compassion. Instead, she barred opposition candidates like Tundu Lisu, now detained, from participating. She also authorised police to use lethal force on demonstrating citizens.

The same pattern was repeated in Uganda early this year. The chairperson commended the election and congratulated Museveni despite Bobi Wine, whose home was raided, alleging rigging. Uganda remains constricted by prolonged incumbency and suppression of dissent. Veteran Kizza Besigye, like Lissu, suffers skewed justice in solitary confinement, with little protest beyond Kenya's Martha Karua.

Electoral decay continues to bedevil Africa. In Kenya, since multiparty returned in the 1990s, only the 2002 election is widely accepted as free and fair. The rest brought court battles, untold misery through violence and political handshakes sold as healing.

Pan-African institutions meant to advance Africa have failed. Take the Pan-African Parliament in South Africa. What does it do? Why not have a full parliament like EALA in Arusha? European Parliament offers a lesson. It is powerful, directly elected, legislating for 450 million. Why leave the Pan-African Parliament as a consultative talking shop? Its resolutions are not binding.

AU must allow direct election of parliamentarians. That would make it accountable and alive to crises bedevilling the continent. As it stands, it is a council without teeth. African Court of Justice and Human Rights in Arusha must be empowered to try high-calibre cases. The spectacle of Kenya's presidents hauled before the ICC should push Africa to strengthen its own court.

Leaders who jeopardise their citizens' lives through torture should be tried in Arusha, not The Hague. On security, Africa should strengthen early warning by deploying a standby force with rapid response to Sudan, DRC and northern Nigeria. This will mitigate escalation.

Diplomatically, present unified positions on climate finance, debt, trade and technology, and demand a permanent UN Security Council seat and financial reform. On democracy, enforce the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. Suspend and sanction regimes that abuse constitutions.

Africa does not lack charters. It lacks consequence. Citizens see bodies applaud flawed elections, excuse strongmen and outsource mediation. That erodes legitimacy. The promise of African solutions will remain a slogan unless bodies find the courage to act.

Regional bodies were meant to be shields. Today they are mirrors reflecting divisions. To restore faith, they must move from rhetoric to resolve, silence to sanction, communiqués to action. If the European Parliament serves 450 million, why can't the Pan-African Parliament serve 1.5 billion?

Nyaringo is a Kenyan public affairs commentator based in Washington, US