Is Africa ready for an open-borders system that would allow its people free movement between nations and speed the development of continent-wide trade? The call to do away with visa regulations is gaining ground and yesterday Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, secretary-general of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa, which represents internationally the interests of local governments, told a business breakfast in Sandton, Johannesburg, that the time for colonial borders was long gone.He said that the continent had to have free movement of people to achieve the development and intra-Africa trade we so desperately need."People at the local level want free movement. We beg our national governments to consider bringing African people together. West Africa has done this. We do not see any problems there. People can move from Lagos to Dakar without a visa," Mbassi said.Although we agree with the sentiment of relaxing border controls and scrapping visa requirements, Africa must first deal with the elephant in the room - dictatorships.Whatever system we adopt to facilitate the free movement of people, it will be useless as long as dictators still run the show.Africa has shown itself unable to deal with the despots who have been in office for decades. They are stumbling blocks to our progress.It is shocking that African countries compete with each other to trade with Europe and the West as a whole but are unable to look across their borders for trade.However, Africa is working hard to realise the dream of uniting the continent. In June, African leaders signed an historic 26-nation free-trade pact, creating a common market spanning half the continent, from Cairo to Cape Town.But first things first: the rule of law, and respect for the judiciary and human rights, should define the future we want...