Accra, Ghana — The African Union’s vision for seamless movement across the continent is facing challenges. The protocol that would allow Africans to move freely across borders remains largely unratified.
The African Union’s Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, adopted in 2018, aims to give Africans the right to live and work anywhere within the bloc. It was meant to complement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) launched in 2019 and operationalized in 2021.
But only four countries — Mali, Niger, Rwanda, and Sao Tome and Principe — have ratified the free movement protocol. Thirty-two other nations have signed the protocol, but it needs at least 15 ratifications to come into force.
African Union (AU) officials are concerned about the slow pace towards ratifications and the implications for trade on the continent.
“We know that without free movement of persons of goods and services, the ideals of AfCFTA would not be achieved,” said Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah, the AU’s Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development.
“If they aren’t able to move freely, then trading will become an issue,” she told DW.
Why so many African countries have not finalized free movement
Security concerns top the list of reasons why African nations have been reluctant to ratify the protocol.
“One of the things that they [African countries] usually mention is about security. If you open the borders, won’t people come in and terrorize and things like that?” Hardi Yakubu, movement coordinator of Africans Rising, an NGO that advocates for Pan-Africanism, told DW.
Twum-Amoah echoed this sentiment, acknowledging that “for most member states, it is security.”
Margaret Kamar, a Kenyan senator and member of the Pan-African Parliament, the legislature of the African Union, added that the lack of harmonized border systems is another hurdle.
“Everybody has small fears about security systems,” she said. “At the border points, we realized that we have not harmonized the systems. When you open borders, you want to be sure that these rights to entry for any member of the partner states can be accounted for, because you must account for the people.”
There’s also the issue of revenue. Many African governments rely on the income generated by visa application fees. A visa-free regime, they fear, could mean financial losses.
Twum-Amoah disagrees. “The idea of losing money, I really don’t subscribe to it.”
Rwanda: a model for the continent
Rwanda is being held up as a success story following its ratification of the protocol. The East African nation has also integrated its border systems to track entries efficiently — whether by land or air.
“Rwanda has integrated their systems completely. Whether you enter Rwanda [by] bus or through the airport, they can track you. So, we found that this is something that other countries can learn from,” Kamar said.
In terms of losing revenue from a visa-free policy, Kamar cautioned against such fears.
“Rwanda is a very good example where they increased the number of tourists and earned more from their expenditure inside the country than the $200 [ € 173], they would have been chasing, looking for a visa,” she added.
Peer-to-peer learning: a new strategy
To address the slow pace of ratification, the AU has launched a peer-to-peer learning initiative to foster dialogue between nations to share best practices and address mutual concerns related to free movement.
The first session was held in Accra, Ghana, earlier this month, and more are planned.
Twum-Amoah noted that “we need to also undertake a bit of education to let them [countries] know that” there are solutions.
“We came up with some conclusions and one is to ensure that member states are all on the same page, exchange ideas so that we can move this protocol forward,” she added.
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Twum-Amoah said solutions can be found for the challenges member countries have identified: “There are ways and means that we can do it, if we all work together.”
Kamar remains hopeful. “We realized that most of the challenges are actually the same between most of the partner countries,” she said, adding that there would be the need to sell the idea to all African countries stressing the importance of ratifying the protocol.
“You cannot have an African Continental Free Trade Area without a free movement of people because people must move with their goods,” she concluded.
“So, we cannot say we are going to trade freely if you are not moving. The movement of people must accompany them.”
Edited by: Keith Walker
