Outrage as Faki and Ramaphosa muscle out competition for AU Chair’s position
At a time when the African continent is fully embracing democratic form of governance; at a time when coup leaders in Mali have been treated with zero tolerance by ECOWAS; and at a time when Africa needs it most, political competition for the person who leads the executive arm of the African Union has been stifled to leave one person running unopposed as the AU Commission Chairperson.
In an interview with DNT’s Diaspora Weekly, Yohannes Mezgebe, Leader of Ubuntu Leadership Institute, the organizers of the first every debate for the AU Commission Chairmanship contestants in 2016 laid the blame at the doorstep of the current Chairman of the African Union President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. “In his capacity as the Chairperson of the African Union,” Mezgebe said, “I would have expected him to follow President Kagame in demonstrating leadership to transform the organization.”
Rather, many observers are unanimous in their view that under Ramaphosa, the African Union has taken alarming steps backward and is becoming increasingly vulnerable to takeover from the highest foreign bidder. They believe Mossa Mahamat Faki is too inept and compromised to even be a candidate for AU Commission Chairperson let alone an unopposed candidate.
Advocate Sarfo Abebreseh was blunt in his assessment of Faki. “If he was just competent, I could understand it. But from the 17th floor on down to the ground floor of the AU Building in Addis Ababa, all the staff thinks he must go,” said Abebreseh also in an interview on DNT. Even some of the heads of state have reportedly referred to Faki as a ‘Dead Horse”.
Indeed the African Union Commission Staff Association in March accused their boss of “corruption, cronyism and a total collapse of leadership.” They said that the “AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat is involved in a “mafia-style” cartel that operates with impunity at the highest levels of the institution.”
Yet the other four regions in Africa – Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Africa do not have candidates to compete with Central Africa’s Moussa Faki thanks to what observers call “Mafia dealings” behind the scenes led by current AU Chairman President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
To his credit, Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo nominated former ECOWAS Chairman Ibn Chambas to represent the west only for the latter to withdraw his nomination under strange circumstances just 48 hours after his nomination.
An attempt by Zimabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa to nominate outspoken critic of France Dr. Arikana Chihombori Quao to represent the southern region was stopped in its tracks by Ramaphosa who made it clear to Mnangagwa that he would not have his support as Chairman of AU.
dntghana.com