It is time for the African Union to push for cultural diplomacy in the form of a Museum of African Music, Arts and Culture as an entity for both preservation and a celebration of our similarities as well as the richness of our cultural diversity

In terms of Africa’s decolonisation and integration the OAU and the AU have a mixed score. It is important to allow time for some of the AU’s policies to start biting.

There is a need for a cultural rebirth in Africa as part of the radical economic and social transformation of the continent. A new African consciousness that is free from the chains of ‘colonial’, ‘post-colonial’ and ‘decolonial’ must be located in African reference points

The focus of the next 50 years for the African Union should be to move from being a rigid bureaucracy to an agile organisation, which is able to flex and move at speed in a global society

How is it that 50 years on, the OAU/AU has failed in the main objective for which it was founded? Because the United States of Africa cannot be brought about by leaders who are not Pan-Africanists

In accordance with its founding principles, the AU must actively encourage its members to strengthen domestic justice mechanisms and, where they are either weak or blocked politically, to embrace the ICC as a court of last resort

The principal drivers of the Somali crisis are identifiable foreign powers exploiting the vulnerabilities of the Somali people rooted in clan rivalry, poverty, religion and selfish ambitious personalities

In Africa’s last monarchy – the kingdom of Swaziland, the major question is: for how long multi-party politics should be construed as incompatible with Swazi tradition, when that tradition is static? It appears that Swazi tradition was not only hijacked by the monarchy but has arrested the development of genuine democratic participation of Swazi citizens

Some of President Jonathan’s close allies are threatening, or prophesying, violence in Nigeria should he fail to be re-elected in 2015. His opponents are not taking this lightly. This alarming talk is raising political temperatures in the already deeply divided nation

Youth unemployment and hopelessness pose a serious threat to development and peace in the north. Increased initiatives and budget spending on youth unemployment, poverty alleviation and empowerment programmes are quite positive. If sustained, these programmes could reduce the risk of violence

What credits one’s life is not how much wealth he has piled up for himself but how good he has done for the rest of humanity. Dr Oladipo Fashina was very careful to ensure that he autographed his deeds with excellence

The greatest enemy against achievement is negativity. And victory isn’t cheap; it’s accomplished through sweat, tears and braving betrayal from within

There is a clear disjunction between the world NGOs seek to create, and the world their governance structures reproduce

Two years after French-led forces brought Allassane Ouattara to power, he is not yet in control of the country. Rebels run a parallel taxation system and looting of the country’s resources is in top gear

The government should have capitalised on a recent embarrassing incident in which an official was exposed as incompetent to mount a major PR coup against its critics. But it is too optimistic to expect state bureaucrats in Nigeria to see rare opportunities thrust right under their noses

New York, May 2, 2013-The Committee to Protect Journalists asks Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chairperson of the African Union, to uphold press freedom by calling for justice in journalist murders in Africa and for the release of all imprisoned journalists.

Violence across Africa is often fueled by political elites who try to cling to power. They play on tribal historic injustices and often leave the poor to fight each other. Transitional processes in the post-conflict societies of Kenya and Zimbabwe are yet to fully achieve their goals

The unresolved land question at the Kenyan coast has continued to stagnate development, stoke negative ethnicity and create squatters. Successive governments have displayed lamentable laxity in carrying out the required reforms. The people need to push the new administration on this urgent matter

It seems that Kenya’s middle class of shoppers at Java have become complacent with constitutional change at a time when they should be pushing for further implementation of the constitution

South Africa is this week hosting yet another major conference, the World Economic Forum for Africa, amidst increasing evidence that the nation is fast growing as a sub-imperialist power