Comment
Regional Problem Solving
Whose head will appear on the currency, and whose flag or national anthem will be adopted and, at the time, most important of all, who will be the President of these United States of Africa? These and other such questions loomed very large for African leaders as the most important considerations and Kwame Nkrumah's ambitions to continental leadership or so at least it seemed to his colleagues, made them so suspicious they agreed that they would rather dream about unity than do anything about it.
If the continental scale co-operation was too mind- boggling to contemplate, it was at least clear to all that there can be no avoiding the need to tackle the problems on a regional scale. It seemed more realistic to approach the problems of Africa on a regional basis and the economic sector was and remains the most unifying factor.
It was not unlikely either that if African countries had not been so poor, they would have found the prospect of unity so frightening. Europe had shown that prosperity has a way of dispelling fears and mistrust of your neighbours and people once prosperous, seem more willing to relinquish the trappings of power.
The East African Economic Community appeared to be showing the way until it was overtaken by disaster. The Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) could not have been faulted on ideas when it came into being. The implementation is proving somewhat more difficult.
Thus at the end of the recent summit, the tone of the communique sounds more down beat. The protocol for the free movement of peoples and goods cannot be implemented yet.
On an individual basis most West African countries blame much of their economic difficulties on smuggling of their goods into neighbouring countries, thus Ghana closed her borders for almost two years after the December 31, 1981 coup and Nigeria's borders have remained closed for almost one year. It has taken more than the feeling of the grass being greener on the other side to motivate the mass movements of peoples in the sub-region and it is quite obvious now that the closing of borders or repatriation of illegal immigrants is not likely to solve the movement of peoples. For as long as the economic fortunes and misfortunes of the various countries in the region remain varied, people will move and possibly, even more important for as long as the political climates remain varied in the member countries, people will move.
It is most unlikely that President Dauda Jawara would have gotten much help from Senegal to bring down the coup attempt against him in 1981 if Senegal had been under a military regime. In much the same way, Captain Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso could not have gotten the help he says he got from Ghana to stage his coup last year, if Ghana had not been under military rule.
At the moment, Flight-Lieutenant Rawlings of Ghana is engaged in restructuring Ghanaian society, having finished cleaning it of the 'criminals' he said he overthrew. Maj-Gen. Buhari is cleaning up Nigeria and has not yet decided if and when political activity will be restored and in what form. Gen. Samuel Doe is actively engaged in the mechanism of handing over power to himself. Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo wants to forget that he was the Sergeant that staged Black Africa's first coup d'etat.
Slowly, but surely, the sub-region is becoming a place where only military people may roam. Civilian, elected leaders are becoming an endangered species.
The political map of the sub-region is increasingly being dominated by totalitarian military or soldier-politicians. The domino theory appears to have been played out in its entirety in West Africa and very soon there will be no hiding place in the region for those who would not accept the military solution.
It is not surprising that Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana have been getting on much more smoothly this year than they have been for a long time and protocols on security have been signed. They might not be able to implement protocols on free movement of peoples and goods but it looks like they will be able to maintain and impose a ban on the movement of their nationals.
Experience has shown that while coups in the region have a way of catching on, the return to civilian democratic rule does not catch on. What seems obvious is that neighbouring countries are distrustful of those who attempt to break out of the military rule mould, for good reasons. If a liberal democracy should be working in one part of the region, the myth that western-style democracy has failed will be blown.
It is becoming clear that the problem cannot be tackled on the basis of trying to create an oasis in the middle of a desert, both on the economic and political front. While leaders might not yet be ready to give up their flags, or currency or national airline or State House in the interest of united ECOWAS, people will move when their own countries prove impossible to inhabit, exhortations of nationalism notwithstanding. According to sections of the Nigerian press, travellers are now carrying yams and milk from Ghana into Nigeria, reversing the trend of many years. To such commentators, the Rawlings solution thus looks now very attractive and is being advocated to solve Nigeria's woes. Those who believe there is an alternative might want to consider the problem on a regional basis.
