At the Summit, the main call was the need to strengthen the African unity and fight corruption, tax evasion and illicit financial flows. All the delegates at this summit sang from the same political hymn book that in this beautiful continent of Africa there need to eradicate corruption and poverty in Africa.
Even though the summit touched on other issues like Continental Free Trade Area, Free Movement of Persons, Single Markets and liberalization of air transport in Africa, it was the issue of eradicating corruption that really caught my utmost interest. No one needs to be reminded that indeed corruption in Africa has a disproportionate impact on the livelihoods of the poor ordinary Africans. It undermines the delivery of public services, including public housing, healthcare and access to water, adequate sanitation and access to reliable supplies of electricity. Sadly in this continent it has and it still diverts much needed finance and other resources that can be used for development with respect to job creation, poverty alleviation and weaken the capacity of the state to deliver effective services and gravely undermine the trust of ordinary people in government.
