No one can underestimate the importance of diplomacy; Ghana under Nkrumah had the best foreign policy on the African continent hence widest coverage in diplomatic terms internationally. In all this Ghana’s Foreign policy was mostly centered on Africa, in one book “The political and social thought of Kwame Nkrumah”, the author Ama Biney makes it clear that under Nkrumah, Ghana’s foreign Policy was centrally in Africa.
We have Diplomacy on the continental level and then on the international level, on the African continental level I believe Diplomacy should supersede everything else because that’s how we can be able to reach consensus.
On the international level it is not the case, diplomacy doesn’t work as frequently hyped, countries are either strong or weak, a victim or victor and the eater or food to be eaten. One should be directed to Prof. John Mearsheimer’s November 2023 podcast on Lex Friedman (YouTube) on this subject.
With this understanding out of the way, it is important to appreciate that diplomacy at home on the African continental should be revolutionary and not passive as is being practiced the current heads of states, passive because in various parts of the continent many African countries are importing goods from outside the continent, goods which one or more African countries are manufacturing or producing in one way or another. Engagement between states on the African continent should be prioritised compared to the world external to Africa.
This negative phenomenon is laid bare in how frequent African heads of state visit other African countries vis a vis in the west, the Ghanaian president who is a typical African head of state visited Europe and the United States for a minimum of 14 times during the period between 2021 and 2023, whereas he Visited fellow African countries only 6 times. This lack of interest in Africa is at the core of our underdevelopment because the heads of state do not spend time to discuss the problems affecting the whole continent but rather frequent Europe and the west where nothing constructive for Africa is really coming from.
Our trade with each other within African is at 17% compared to the other parts of the world where trade in Asia and Europe is up to 65%. This shows that at the continental level, diplomacy is not being practiced. If this is not negligence, complacency and passivity, it is hard for one to know what it is. This anomaly greatly be criticized on a continental level.
On the international Level, having seen that nations seek to be strong, and they go to all length in order to achieve this objective, as is evident in the behaviour of powerful nations in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Ukraine etc. it is hard for one to see how and why our African heads of state have made diplomacy at this level the center of their strategy on the international level instead of mobilizing the African people in combating this overwhelming power.
It is important to inform the ordinary person about the reason for Pan-Africanism, not because they are going to lose anything, but because they are going to gain more. This work should majorly be done by the intellectuals and those who subscribe to Pan-Africanism in practice and not merely in theory and for convenience to look good or other reasons of that nature.
If the Intellectuals who know better are waiting for someone to convince them about the importance of Pan-Africanism as a necessary concept for the survival of the African people when they get to power amidst this naked and overwhelming power weak countries face on the international stage, then we have a big problem and, in our criticism, this is the negligence, complacency and passivity we should vigorously combat.
The literature which justifies the immediate need for a Union of African states is 60 years old on a minimum level, therefore from one’s understanding, there should not be any intellectual on the African continent or at least majority who are waiting for someone to convince them on the importance of a Union of African States in our lifetime. It should be a Shame that someone has to justify this to African intellectuals.
The foreign policy of the African Continental Unity Party is in Africa First and the African diaspora second.
