By Ddungu Davis Joel
Pan Africanists under the umbrella of the Africa Rising have tasked the African union and heads of its member states, to think of re-amending all policies hindering Africans from traveling to fellow African countries.
The Pan Africanists including activists, CSOs, and pan African members states who have gathered at the city of Arusha in Tanzania in a three day conference to discuss a way forward on how to make Africa great, say it not worth for an African to be blocked to enter another African country following matter of border demarcations drew by the whites.
Dr Kumi Naidoo, the founding chairperson of the Africa Rising, and Richard Ssewakiryanga, the former NGO forum Uganda executive director, speaking to the media at MS Training Center for Development Cooperation (TCDC) in Arusha, said that the matter of restrictions at border points must be revised immediately.
Meanwhile, Makena Mwobobai, the executive director of the Training Center for Development Cooperation, that hosted this assembly, challenged Africans to improve measures to manage their challenges without running to whites always.
Activists Habib Buwembo said he is a victim since he was blocked from crossing at the Namanga Kenya-Tanzanian boarder over travelling documents yet he had the Uganda’s national ID and migration travel pass.
While testifying to journalists, Buwembo said he was detained entry over four hours at the boarder point yet the two countries where he was detained are both member states of the east African community
Namara Claire, the Kyambogo student and Activist, and John Mbaziira, the former Kyambogo University guild president who also doubles as the students activists to the Assembly, who both attended the assembly noted that some Africa leaders are not focusing on the matters that affect their citizens.
Meanwhile, Haldi Yakubu, the coordinator of the Assembly, noted that Africans need to mind matters that drive them ahead by themselves not only being driven by theories of the Europeans.
He noted that revising boarder point policies entry doesn’t mean that Africans should avoid having passports and national IDs but to remove some restrictions that may fail one to travel mostly during emergency times.
“I wanted to travel to Cameroon for a conference of only two days, and it’s a three hours journey, but I was told to first have a visa three weeks before the traveling date, yet I had received the invitation two weeks ahead of the conference day, whats wrong with our Africa?”, Yakubu asked.
