Free movement of people across Africa may not be realised soon. Only 29
countries signed an agreement to allow free movement. PHOTO | PHOEBE
OKALL | NMG
There was giddiness in the Rwanda capital Kigali, last week as
African Union leaders signed the African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA).
The chairperson of the Africa Union
Commission Moussa Faki gushed on Twitter: “Incredibly proud of our Union
as 44 out of 55 member states signed the #AfCFTA, 43 signed the Kigali
Declaration and 27 signed the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons,
Right to Residence and Right to Establishment, sealing the deal of
continental economic integration!”
In the headlines
about AfCFTA, that little bit on the protocol on free movement of
persons and right to residence was mostly missed.
If
all of the AU’s 55 members sign up, and then it’s ratified at all
national levels, AfCFTA would be a market of 1.2 billion people, and a
gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion. But if you have been an African
long enough, you would be wise not to bet on all that happening.
For
now, though, the biggest thing about AfCFTA is not that tomorrow all
borders will be thrown open to African commerce, and all will be honky
dory.
Rather, that the idea of a common African free
trade, is no longer academic or dreamy pan-Africanists. It has given
permission to those willing to take the risk, to put a toe in the water.
It is like that advert for toothpaste on TV. This
beautiful young lady takes her boyfriend to meet her family. He is
nervous like hell, fearing they might reject him. They hug and embrace
him because, well, he has good breath! It’s not the moral most people
would take away from the advert.
One would imagine
that the main lesson is that if you want your girlfriend’s hand in
marriage, you have to pluck the courage to show up before her parents or
guardians to ask for it.
A small change in how we think about what is possible in Africa, can mean a lot.
Three
years ago, I was involved in a project to develop a pan-African video
game. The request was that it be a story that touches all African
countries, be educative, but fun.
Perhaps
unsurprisingly, the story that developed was an obstacle course, where
you could traverse the continent, say from Cape Town to Alexandria, and
your success would ultimately be based on your knowledge of the
continent.
If you chose to go through countries where
border officials take bribes for visas and you are charged burdensome
taxes, or routes where the police shake down travellers at roadblocks,
you could arrive at your destination short of money or having overspent,
both of which would cost you points.
There was also,
inevitably, the routes that would land you in regions where there was
rebellion and you could get killed, or kidnapped for ransom. There were
endless obstacles and perils.
Because of the classic
problems involved in doing pan-African work, as AfCFTA will find out,
the game was only built halfway before it got overwhelmed by Africa.
But
if it had been completed, the idea it was structured around would have
collapsed in Kigali last week. No pennywise investor would have put
their money in a 2020 version of the game. I think that’s remarkable.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is publisher of Africapaedi.com and explainer site Roguechiefs.com. Twitter@cobbo3
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