IMHOTEP: The peoples'commonwealth

I am writing this piece from the salubrious ambience of Marlborough House, headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

I was invited to participate in the civil society consultations preparatory to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that comes up in Trinidad in a matter of weeks.

The artworks adorning the walls are of Georgian England at its best, interspersed with the dour portraits of current Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and of former Secretaries-General, including our own Emeka Anyaoku, in his flowing robes and red cap as befit an Ndichie high chief.

This year’s theme, “Partnering for Sustainable Development” was the focus of much of our deliberations; with presentations from delegates from the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific and Africa. Yours sincerely was the delegate for West and Central Africa.

Barring a few diplomatic fireworks from representatives of governments who were not happy that the searchlight was turned on their countries’ governance and human rights records, proceedings went in the decorous and civilised manner for which the Commonwealth has come to be known.

We all agreed that CHOGM 2009 is coming at a time of pressing challenges in international economic relations -- global financial meltdown,climate change and worsening poverty.

There was a sense of urgency on the imperatives of reengineering growth and restoration of global equilibrium. There is also the abiding challenge of tackling the HIV/AIDS global pandemic, especially legislation to curb discrimination and access to anti-retrovirals.

The delegate from Malta spoke passionately about the need for member countries to commit to the Commonwealth Gender Plan of Action that requires that 30 percent of all top decision-making positions in government be occupied by women, to an embarrassing murmur on the part of some of the men.

Issues of peace, conflict, governance and human rights featured prominently. Concerns were expressed about human rights violations in several countries.

Nigeria was among those that stood out, with the killings of journalists and the recurrent religious bloodbath for which we have become notorious.

A rather chilling report on The Gambia was submitted by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), where the President laid down an ominous warning to human rights groups: “If you think that you can collaborate with so-called human rights defenders, and get away with it...I will kill you, and nothing will come out of it.

"We are not going to condone people posing as human rights defenders to the detriment of the country.... Be rest assured that your security and personal safety would not be guaranteed by my Government.”

One would have thought we in West Africa have gone beyond this kind of language. Alas, not. The ultimate irony is that Banjul is the seat of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

There was a lively debate on the role of culture, development and innovation led by Baroness Lola Young who is of Nigerian parentage and a member of the British House of Lords.

The Royal Commonwealth Society also threw the challenge for us to re-define the values and principles of the Commonwealth for the twenty-first century.

The fact that we are an association of free nations that works by consensus and has no binding legal force could be perceived as a key weakness.

But it could also be our strength. We were all anxious that the Commonwealth should not become an ineffectual ornamental club, but a forum for serious dialogue on some of the greatest challenges facing our 53 nations and 2 billion peoples.

I made the point that we need to move from being a Commonwealth of Nations to being a Commonwealth of Peoples.

I also made the point that no Commonwealth country has ever gone to war with another member state, and that we have always shared a heritage rooted in the common law tradition, in the civic virtues of tolerance and respect for human dignity.

Majority of delegates welcomed Rwanda’s application to join the Commonwealth. Dame Zena Daysh, a remarkable woman from New Zealand, spoke on the importance of building sustainable human ecologies that support the health and well being of all citizens -- about ethics, about responsibility and about solidarity.

Dame Zena is Founder and Executive Vice-Chair of the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC). She later invited me for a walk through Trafalgar Square, where the pigeons of my youth have disappeared.

We talked about many things - about life, about the destiny of our nations and about the prospects of humanity in our new century.

She advised me to be courageous in adversity, to be strong and never to yield. “Don’t be afraid of pain, because you learn from it and it will go away after a while”.

Dame Zena speaks on authority. She is ninety-six years young and still going strong -- still active on so many good causes. She remains for me the enduring symbol of the Commonwealth of peoples.