By Andrew Bomani *
Monday, the 27th July 2026, saw the address by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, of the First Ordinary Session of the 7th Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, Gauteng Province.
Ramaphosa notably stated that “the Pan-African Parliament carries the hopes and aspirations of more than 1.5 billon Africans for peace, progress and prosperity across our beloved continent. It is an enduring symbol of unity in diversity: a unity anchored in the conviction that Africa’s future must be shaped not only by its governments, but by its peoples.”
The PAP is without a doubt an institution that since its inception over twenty years now is far from living up to the ideals accompanying its formation. In some sense it is safe to say it has progressively vanished from the public imagination.
Without wishing to raise here a host of critical issues for the PAP to contend with, it is quite the irony that South Africa is a country that has played host to the continental legislature but now finds itself in the eye of a storm regarding the issue of migration.
The latest wave of marches this year are a high-water mark that have even drawn in the attention of the UN secretary-general.
As much as migration is a thorny issue from a global perspective, the ways of South Africans collectively has them found wanting on whether they are adequately imbued with the spirit of Pan-Africanism or Ubuntu that Africans have been inculcated with.
Consequently, their fitness to host the PAP in this era is put into major doubt. It is my reckoning that time has come to relocate the PAP from South Africa. On that score, one nation that unhesitatingly comes to mind is the Republic of Ghana.
First and foremost it is the birthplace of the founding president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, who was miles ahead of any other African leader in championing the concept of Pan-Africanism with supranational institutions. Nkrumah in fact attended the historic 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester in the UK back 1945. Significantly, Julius Nyerere paid glowing tribute to the man at Ghana’s 40th independence anniversary celebrations in March 1997.
Beyond that, Ghana has displayed singular readiness to receive other Africans over time and even Americans of African descent. It has even gone a notch higher and pushed at the UN with some success for colonial reparations for Africa.
My appeal is that as Africans which here includes the likes of the Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader Julius Malema – who has stood out against the popular wave – we close ranks on this matter in spite of all the obstacles on the road and attendant costs that will plainly surface.
God Bless Africa.
Andrew Bomani is the Co-Founder of the Independent People’s Party (IPP) of Tanzania and he cab be reached via email: a_bomani@yahoo.com. Theviewed expressed are his
Spot on. We must be so focused on our liberation that truth just be seen for what it is and nothing else. The government of SA has not shown by their actions that they deserve such a solemn institution.