<<Print>>

A senior research person at Legon Centre for International Affairs, Dr. Yao Gebe has considered Professor Mike Ocquaye�s questioning of the essence of the AU day celebration as unfortunate. This was in response to Prof. Mike Ocquaye�s comments in Parliament on Tuesday in which the First Deputy speaker of the house questioned the essence of celebrating and observing the African Union (AU) Day as a statutory public holiday when the body has not lived up to its expectation. Speaking on Xfm�s Big Bite morning show on AU�s day May 25 2011, Dr. Gebe said it was important to commemorate the day as �some individuals, political leaders past and present shed their blood to establish individually and collectively on the African continent what we call today political independence�. He said considering the fact that Prof. Ocquaye was a professor of political science, a politician and a law maker, �he could have spoken better than he did� since the holiday was not for just Ghana but Africa as a whole. Dr. Yao explained that though about a hundred years ago, outsiders seized the African continent, took its resources, manipulated and divided its people, Africa was still independent hence the need to commemorate the day. He said the day is to ponder over how to retract the fortunes of the continent and as such he did not know what Prof. Ocquaye meant when he said the AU had not achieved anything since he (Dr. Gebe) believed the foundation had been laid. This year�s African Union day was celebrated under the theme "Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development".