Concerted efforts by members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have finally forced Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to step down and concede defeat. It was perhaps one of the most resolute steps taken by any African grouping to date. It is a strong message that issues can easily be resolved by regional blocs without waiting for the African Union (AU) to sound the bell. Many a time the AU has looked on as manageable situations have gone out of control and countless lives lost. It started with Somalia when clan wars made it ungovernable before religious militarization took over. Anarchy was entrenched and the threat of terror from the Al Shabab is today knocking on the doors of regional states yet it could have been nipped in the bud. We will not even have to mention Rwanda, when even our neighbors were simply counting bodies floating through their territories. Had even one country intervened to stop the mayhem, the body count would not have been as high. Does the Gambian saga mean that the AU has to be decentralised before it becomes effective? Are regional blocs now waking up to the fact that it is wiser to put out a fire before it spreads across borders? Gambia is a wakeup call to all regional blocs not to just use their summits to simply talk shop. They should put their act together and not depend on the bureaucratic AU. President Paul Kagame was given a tough nut to crack when he was entrusted by his peers to clean up the Union. His team of eminent personalities will have to dig deep in their bags of tricks to come up with a remedy. As long as “rapid response” continues to be absent in the AU’s dictionary, it will be up to the EAC, ECOWAS or SADC to pick it up from there.
