Truth number one, to my mind, is that in the name of celebrating African Unity many of the continent’s countries took the decisive step toward recklessness with their economies as megalomaniacs craving the title Chairman of Africa spared no costs to host the OAU/AU Annual Summits.

Another unfortunate truth: celebrating African Unity has largely been done at the people’s expense and has only really been there to ensure the leaders stood beside and behind each other no matter how grave, embarrassing or idiotic the situation.

Thirdly, the continent’s leaders have egotistically and embarrassingly reached beyond national and continental capabilities with laudable but unattainable pronouncements like “African Solutions for African Problems” which have in some cases done nothing more than protect perpetrators of crimes.

So, on this Africa Day, a day to celebrate African Unity, what are the sobering realities?

As it happens, for Sierra Leone, the day also marks the 15th anniversary of the last military coup d’etat and students of the country’s history know how disastrous that was for the people, the prosecution of the civil war, and the cohesion of the nation.  Alas, military take-overs are still (apparently) hailed by some as the only way to get rid of bad government which makes me wonder about the many other places where the people led and the military followed – Philippines, Eastern Europe…  Today, I observe with despair Mali getting thrust into uncertainty and probably looking to emerge more disunited than before Captain Amadou Sanogo decided to give an illustration of how a country’s affairs should be conducted.  In the process, the toothlessness of the AU and the sub-regional ECOWAS are further exposed.

In Nigeria, without doubt one of the continent’s super powers, religious tensions escalate without any significant eyelid batting from the AU or its member states.  It would seem there is scant consideration/realisation of the dangers created by this power house, which is increasingly acting as regional policeman, getting overburdened by internal difficulties.

More specifically on Sierra Leone again, the people will in November of this year decide who should steer the ship through the subsequent five years.  For me, who wins the plebiscite is looking less of an issue than how (some of) the people will get to live with each other after November. This forum and others show evidence of deliberate decisions to disrespect each other to potentially unforgiveable degrees for the sake of making the case for whoever the favoured candidate is. Some have even gone for the least common denominator and resorted to tribalistic slurs while other are engaged in history revision.  There is also the concerning blatant and unnecessary abuse of persons who might well be their next head of state.  The desire for a united Sierra Leone seems the least of their concerns as they seek to score points using methods that are nothing but crass and mostly say more about they who employ them than the people they employ them against.  I am left wondering if no one out there sees that, whoever the victor in November, the President of Sierra Leone will need as a baseline a united people if there is to be a realistic chance of making it all work for all Sierra Leoneans.

Maybe I am just a dreamer when I think of Africa and the unity of its people.  But dreaming never hurt Dr Martin Luther King Jnr and the cause he championed.  As my status page already states, I see being African as not a choice.  Being Sierra Leonean is not a choice either.  Unity on the other hand comes out of the conscious and subconscious decisions people make… Enough said!!!

Happy Africa Day to you all…