Unity is strength. But in a very strange way, it can be all we need to sign off an already miserable Africa into continental slavery - permanently. I can bet the European Union is not worried about counterpart efforts to unite in Africa. Continental unity in these present conditions would hardly tickle the British. Because this unity can simply mean instead of Economic Partnership Agreements, IMF , World Bank, G-8, WTO globe-trotting to painstakingly negotiating hurtful agreements with 53 African leaders, they only have to deal with one single African president - and voilà. China would not have to host China-African summit with 15 African Heads of States. It would just give the African leader or commissioners a phone call – next day 150,000 galamsey miners would swarm the coast. So to enthusiasts clinching their fist in anticipation of sending shivers down western spines when we unite. Settle down. Nobody is shivering. The problem of Africa is no longer African unity. Sorry, it is not. It is a patent lack of independent thinking, independent planning, independent execution. Unity is fighting WBC welterweight champion, and WBA (Super) super welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather. Independence is gaining enough stamina for that weight division. For now we are just jumping in the junior bantamweight category. Sorry, we have to re-start and re-win the 1957s colonial struggle in 2013. It’s okay to discuss how continental unity would be like. Is it one President, one currency, or one language? Which is better economic integration or political? Discussing the future can be thrilling, can’t it? But the reason why nations fought for freedom was to develop independently. The trick was that if African states guarded our individual independence from former colonial masters, we would ultimately see how unsustainable this vigilance would be, then see why we needed each other in maintaining that independence – and naturally unite. After all, the enemy(say Mali) of my enemy(World Bank) is my friend(African Union). Right now it’s the friend (IMF) of my enemy (say Nigeria) is well – my friend too. As long as Ghana (through Busia, Acheampong, Rawlings, Kufour, Mills, Mahama ) fought off imperial advances after independence, we would see why Nigeria can be a great friend. As long as Nigeria independently fought off Britain, she would see why Rwanda could be a key ally. Protecting our individual independence from colonial powers alone just draws us together. Here is the thing: Independence from, means dependence on. Independence in its purest sense - is free lunch. It doesn't exist. Independence from your father means dependence on your landlord – until you build your house. So African unity was a possibility as long as independence remained the reality. Right now functional independence is very doubtful. Our President gave a nice speech at the AU summit - and 3 days after, had a nice lunch with Francois Hollande in Paris. The prayer during meals was a doctored version of the Lord’s prayer: it was “give us our daily aid”. We drove out an empire in 1957, we can barely drove out Asian galamsey operators in 2013. So much for independence. So long for African unity. So you see unity is a problem that can wait. Functional independence cannot. Whilst we wait for ourselves to become global giants, there is nothing stopping us from becoming uncompromising local midgets. Nothing stops us from choosing local contractors to build roads or local I.T companies to solve technological challenges. The dumbest mammals are often big. What it needs is not more food to be strong but a little brain to be smart. I support continental unity (the big mammal). But I would take an independent thinking Afircan president any day (the little brain). There is a formula for calculating how soon we can unite as Africans. It is this: the temperature for Africa’s unity is measured by the thermometer of independent thinking. So take a map, get on the internet, read the headlines: Donors pledge US$4bn for Mali’s reconstruction Promising Southern African Development Fund collapses due to mismanagement Massacre in Nigeria spurs outcry over military tactics More than $148bn is lost to corruption in Africa - AU Report And ... Kenyan MPs vote to increase their pay despite protests Then you would know that the temperature of African unity is very,very cold.