President Robert Mugabe As AU Chairman 

NEWS COMMENTARY ON THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE AS THE AFRICAN UNION CHAIRMAN AND ITS IMPLICATIONS. 

On Friday January 30, 2015, the media landscape was buzzing with the news of the election of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as the new President of the African Union at the 24th Ordinary Session of the AU assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He succeeds Mauritanian President, Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz in the rotational position for one year. There are mixed reactions to Mugabe’s election as the AU Chairperson. Some are of the view that his election will not change the continent’s economic or political fortunes while others think it is the right time for him to take over chairmanship due to his vast experience and the idea that he is the man to stand up to western influence and dictatorship. Those siding with him want Mugabe to push further his anti- imperialism and anti-colonialism agenda as some countries on the continent are still being oppressed by colonialism. Many people across the African Continent see Robert Mugabe as an African hero who will continue to lead the Pan-African revolution started by the likes of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Sekou Toure, Thomas Sankara, W.E B. Dubois, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya among many other illustrious sons of Africa. 

The election of President Robert Mugabe has also sent tongues wagging and a plethora of people asking the vital question as to how his tenure as chairman of the continental body will pan out especially his relationship with the western world and its repercussion for the rest of Africa. Some civil rights societies have argued that, with his poor human rights records in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe’s election sends an extremely awkward message to the rest of the world on how the AU stands on principles of democracy and good governance. Some African diplomats are also uneasy, saying that the choice of Mugabe is unfortunate. The AU has faced previous controversial choices before and this is not the first time an autocratic leader would take the AU’s top post. In 2007, the AU was deeply divided over the candidacy of Sudanese, President Omar Al-Bashir, while civil war raged in the western region of Darfur. Some civil societies groups also objected when Libya’s Gaddafi who heavily bankrolled the AU took the post in 2009. With the travel ban imposed on him by the United States of America and the European Union since 2002 how will he execute some of the functions of the office should the need arise that he travels to those European countries or America ? 

Be that as it may, many political and international relations watchers think that there are more pressing issues on the African Continent for him to deal with in the next one year as head of the AU than his relationship with the western countries. How to fight the dreadful insurgent group, Boko Haram that is currently causing havoc and killing innocent citizens in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad. How to bring back the school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, how to fight the deadly Ebola Virus in some West African countries including Liberia, and Sierra Leone, how to bring lasting peace to Libya, and Egypt. How to achieve true economic and political emancipation in Africa should be the new agenda and the new focus and direction of the African Union for the next one year under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. The year 2015 will see 19 African countries holding elections with nine taking place in the first quarter. 
May the Chairmanship of President Robert Mugabe be a success!
Long live the African Union!

BY: SAMPSON KWABENA SENAHEY, FORMERLY OF DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA.