#JazzNightsJupiter: S1xE1: We Missed the Boat, so We Took the Plane
Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr.
*We Missed the Boat so We could Take the Plane* 26 November, 2026 Dear Uncle Kwame, It's me – your nephew: Mendacity Milk Mensah, the one who might have triggered the milk wars between Kenya & Tanzania. Mum tells me that day when Kenya closed the border to Tanzania in April 1977, was the day I popped out. The East African integration stopped working for 22 good years! Could I have been that significant to cause two countries to stop cooperating when they were doing so well? Auntie assures me countries are like human beings – they always have minds of their own. Am not sure I understand that totally, but you know with Auntie, always best to agree! Yes, Uncle Kwame. To the specifics. I have always wondered whether you and my South African godmother shoot too far for the stars? What a giant step it was in creating Agenda 2063! Do you think we have got what it takes to carry the weight of this concept? Or pass it by like a shot in the dark? It’s November 2026 already – just a month before Xmas festivities, but this month, Uncle Kwame, is already very exciting! When those new commissioners at the AU assumed office, the department responsible decided to call November ‘Aviation Month’ to commemorate the momentous developments in that month. Apart from the statutory celebration of YD on 14 November, everyone seemed to have forgotten that ECOWAS had a transport summit from 5-8 November in 2024, where significant developments around Africa's Aviation, including the necessity of reducing TCFs by 25% had been initiated. Uncle, most telling for me was the 1 November date – three years to the day when my South African godmother made good on deepening relations with Ghana with the effective take-off of the reciprocal visa waiver between Ghana and South Africa. Already, academics and CSO activists are using this visa waiver as evidence of how quickly AU member States should work on visa reciprocity; and the AU Freedom of Movement Protocol. Uncle Kwame. No-one is happy at all. We don't understand why there should still be four ratifications, yet 32 signatures for the FMP Protocol. I hear from the grapevine that the moratorium that was placed on AU Champions will be removed soon. The new commissioners I understand have seen the light – and the need to lift it – just like lifting visas between Ghana and South Africa has opened up two regions of West and Southern Africa in one foul swoop, because more Ghanaians are exploring other SADC countries, while South Africans visit more ECOWAS countries bordering Ghana. This is the spirit of Africa you so championed in your earlier days, and it is finally coming to see the light.of day! In closing, Uncle Kwame; if it is true that victory loves preparation, then it was always going to be impossible for you to miss that boat to the US when you so nicodemously stowed away many moons ago. Truth be told: you never missed that boat of opportunity so that we, the next generation, could take a plane – like that great work being done with the Single African Air Transport Mechanism (SAATM). I need to get back to catching up on Agenda 2063. With warmest regards, Always your eccentric nephew, Mendacity Milk Mensah E K Bensah Jr is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell E K Bensah Jr that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
© 2025 E K Bensah Jr
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