Thursday, March 8, 2012

Good bye Comrade Taju

On the 25th may 2009, Africa and the word generally lost one of the topmost Pan Africanists of our time Comrade Dr Abdhul-Raheem Tajudeen in a car accident in Nairobi. The death of Comrade Tajudeen has inevitably left a vacuum in the Pan African Movement but the movement stays and has to be accelerated. That he died on the African liberation day could have been designed by God so that we reflect on the current status quo of the Global Pan African Movement. Comrade Tajudeen has since 1994 been a General Secretary of the Global Pan African Movement. Apart from him (who ironically was rarely seen at the secretariat), the secretariat has been Ugandanised and many argue that it has been reduced to the arm/branch of the NRM Party. Mr. David Mafabi who was then a director for political affairs at the secretariat, took charge of the secretariat during the absence of Dr Tajudeen. Since Mafabi’s appointment as an Assistant to the President, the secretariat fell in the hands of Stephen Othieno and Grace Kabayo both Ugandans. Ironically, they still call it the Global Pan African Movement Secretariat may be this is the reason as to why no other country remits funds to run the secretariat.

The Ugandan tax payers’ money foots the bills of the daily running of the Global Pan African secretariat without the latter giving accountability to the former. It is my considered view that as we mourn the untimely demise of Comrade Tajudeen, we also rethink the future of the Global Pan African Movement. Fifteen years after the seventh pan African congress, it remains unclear as to when the 8th Pan African Congress will be held. It is also debatable whether the current Global Pan African secretariat has the wherewithal to organise the 8th Pan African Congress. I am highly skeptical and my skepticism is not unfounded. Some of us believe that as long as the secretariat remains in Uganda in the current shape with the current personnel, it will remain a money-making project for a few individuals at the detriment of the Global Pan African Movement and its ideals, values, objectives and aspirations. Some other doubting Thomases believe that it will continue to be used as an appendage of the NRM party. Clearly, it is virtually impossible to hold a position at the Pan African Movement secretariat unless one is a movementist. That vindicates what our local media attributed to Hon Kigyagi that even the sweepers on the streets will be NRM card holding members!

Yet, pan Africanism predates and transcends our trivial political leanings. It is a movement aimed at the unity, liberation, welfare and love of the African people and the entire black race. It is a movement that was started to combat slavery, colonialism, marginalisation and all forms of injustice inflicted on the black race. We are still confronted with injustices emanating from neocolonialism and globalization and as such I feel the Pan African Movement has a lot to do than preoccupy itself with trial, petty self-aggrandizement.

It is a paradox that since the secretariat came to Kampala, it has been hogged by Uganda and while here in Uganda it has been hogged by the NRM. This is but a sad commentary indeed. I hope no other country reads from Uganda’s script in case the secretariat shifts from Uganda. I have been calling upon some civil servants to join the pan African movement and many have told me they cannot because they are not politicians! May be it has been projected as a club of politicians and I feel it should be made attractive to all people regardless of their professions, social standing, and political inclinations. It must be a mass movement comprising of all that wish the best for Africa, Africans and the entire black race. Otherwise, the manner in which the Pan African Movement is being run is antithetical to Pan Africanism and is a test to Uganda as to whether it should be entrusted with the stewardship of any other regional or international organisation.

We must extend the movement beyond Uganda to include other nationals in the running of secretariat affairs. We must debunk the notion that the pan African movement is an extension of the NRM or state house. There is need to organise the 8th Pan African Congress which will help us go back on the drawing board and make self-appraisal. The Ugandan government should facilitate the national chapter so that it can have a secretariat that is up and running. It should also resolve the current stalemate in which the Global secretariat and the national chapter headed by comrade JP Mwesigwa Karooro are locked. The death of comrade Tajudeen can teach us that we should build institutions that outlive individuals. The demise of an individual should not leave an institution in disarray. Let us not agonise. Let us organise!

Vincent Nuwagaba, Political Scientist, Pan Africanist cum Human Rights Defender

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