CHRISTIAN APPOLOS in this report, presents excerpts of a recent interview with the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-AFRICA) General Secretary, Comrade Akhator Joel Odigie, on the focus of the African Trade Union Migration Network (ATUMNET) in 2024.
Between 18th and 20th December, 2023, members of the African Trade Union Migration Network gathered in the capital city of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, to review activities of the network all through the year 2023.
The gathering also took serious decision on some issues ATUMNET will focus its activities and campaigns on in 2024.
Comrade Odigie gave a detailed explanation of the issues the network has chosen to focus in the new year. He equally stressed their importance. “Let me first say that the African Trade Union Migration Network (ATUMNET), its essence is to contribute to the advancement of a pro-right based migration governance in the continent and the development agenda of Africa. When the rights of migrants and migrant workers are protected, their innate and express contribution could also help to advance our development agenda. Having said that, ATUMNET is focused to making its contribution in the following areas in 2024.”
He went on to say; “Number one on the list is Africa’s integration. On the issue of integration, we are committed to three areas of campaigns. First is ratification of frameworks and instruments on the continent. One of such instruments is the African Free movement protocol of the African Union. As we speak today, only four countries have ratified the agreement. These are Rwanda, Cote d’Ivore, Mali and Niger. We want to increase that number to a minimum of 14 in 2024. We are going to do this by showing to our governments the arguments. Let’s not forget, when we talk about Africa’s integration, we are talking about how we can work together as a continent to increase our voice as a block at the global level. Our continent still remains on the margin of the global economy.
“Number two is AfCFTA protocols. As a continent, we adopted the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) so that we can trade amongst ourselves better. This is a good initiative though we have concerns about the trade policy because some crucial elements have not been put in place yet. However, we can learn by practice, we can improve by practice. So, AfCFTA is a good initiative and we welcome it. The more we look at issues around AfCFTA, the more we’ll see where our weaknesses are. With serious commitment, we can improve it. As members of organised labour in the continent, we support the AfCFTA because it is about workers. It is the workers that create the goods and services with which you trade. So, we see our role very much there.
“However, still on the issue of integration, if the African Union and African member states have overwhelmingly adopted the AfCFTA, it is inconceivable that they will not adopt or ratify the free movement protocol because they are complementary instruments, especially when all the member states adopted the development of both policies and frameworks.”
Furthermore, Comrade Odigie said; “In the same vein, the issue of ratification is where we are having some kind of divergence. However, I do not think that there is a need for that, because free movement gives opportunity for ideas. Free movement contributes to innovation and invention, because ideas, people, enthusiasm, energies are on the move, including capital, especially in this instance, social capital. Social capital is even more useful for deepening stability. When people integrate more, there are less chances of friction or violent conflicts, because that kind of integration increases tolerance and cohabitation.
“I want to commend the latest kid on the block, Kenya, for making commitment to remove visa for all Africans starting from 2024. It is exemplary and we commend them. And this is why we think Kenya should not waste time. They should be among the first few countries to ratify the free movement protocol.
“Benin Republic is Africa’s most open country on the continent because nobody needs a visa to go to Benin. We are saying this and we are publicising this for Africans and the world to know that Benin is open. If you want to go to Benin, you don’t have to think twice. And it’s a country with very rich historical and cultural things to find out. It is a place we can recommend you to go to for holiday. And this is why we say to the government of Benin, what are you waiting for? Ratify the free movement protocol. If you have opened your country to Africans, it’s only semantics that you don’t ratify.”
He then spoke comprehensively on other more issues that will take centre stage this year for ATUMNET, saying; “2024 is a very important year for us. We want to work more on the issue of skills development. We’re saying if we want to integrate this continent, our people must have the required capacity. That is why as ITUC-Africa, we are interested in working with the African Union and the ILO on the issue of the YES (Youth Employment Strategy) Africa Initiative. To create employment means you must give capacity. So you must train people. Capacity development is key for job creation, for employability.
“So we are interested in this in 2024. We are going to be campaigning very strongly on employment, capacity development and skills development. Our advocacy will also include Skills Partnership. We will work together with countries especially European countries, where many Africans are moving in droves through the Sahara and rickety boats across the Mediterranean. We say to them come let’s work together, let’s invest in skills development, and employment creation. Let’s broaden the employment base.
“Because when we broaden the employment base, we broaden the tax base, which leads to the third issue: Social protection. We are going to be very critical on social protection for all workers including migrants, because when people have opportunity for survival, for welfare, for well being, the attraction to move to Europe is substantially reduced. So we want to increase the tax base, we want to broaden the tax base through job creation that people can then pay taxes.
“Also, our work on illicit financial flows (IFF) and the debt campaign will continue because we are saying how do we finance social protection. Our engagement is not the one where we just tell government “do this or do that”. No, we are contributing to the solutions. So this way, we are campaigning for our government to do the needful in terms of policy, practice and programme-wise to reduce tax leakages. On the part of our creditors, how do we reschedule our debt in a way that budget to debt servicing is not skewed against social spending. I repeat, we are interested in reversing this skewed budget-to-debt servicing ratio that is skewed against social service spending. We want to reverse that.
“We also want to increase our work on fair recruitment. The Middle East with their petrol dollars has very ambitious plan of modernisation. They will need labour. Our people will go there to work. When they are well trained, they will find jobs there. But more than that, we’re interested in their rights being protected. In other words, they must go without being exploited or abused and they must return with good sense. And this leads me to the other area of work for ATUMNET, which is reintegration. When people go, they must be excited to want to come back.”
In addition, he said; “The final point I want to stress is that our work on the rights of every worker, including migrants, should be secured. Including right to organise, to join unions and to be active in the union. We will continue to push for all of these. On the fair recruitment I was talking about. I’m saying we need more work on regulation of recruitment agencies and recruitment practices. We need more regulations. And the last point is social dialogue. We want to be seen as contributors, agent of change. This is where our campaign on expanding the social dialogue space will base. Where social dialogue institutions do not exist, please create one. Where it does exist, facilitate it for it to be strong, for it to be effective.
“Much more importantly, let it be tripartite. And let the tripartite actors be genuinely engaged and involved. When there is a medium and space for discourse, ideas will always come. This is what democracy is about. We are all in agreement. It is not about a four-year electoral ritual of ballot voting, it’s about engaging the states and engaging the apparatus and functionaries of the state every day. So, as change agents, our social dialogue component will also mean asking our governments to be responsive and accountable. We are going to continue to make these demands.”
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