"Unfortunately, in too many cases, potential entrepreneurs and investors in
Africa are deterred by arbitrary laws, corrupt bureaucracies and government
favoritism.  Africa is a continent of entrepreneurial enthusiasm – that’s
what I saw.  But these individuals have no chance for success without
governments that fairly enforce laws and contracts, respect human rights and
property, and fight corruption.  Governments also must remove barriers to
trade – both internal and external – and open their economies to investment.
They must allow companies and entrepreneurs to compete without excessive
interference, including interference from government-owned enterprises."

The above statement sounded so true, I could not pass the chance to comment on it. The Hajj industry alone is a clear indication, how Government interference is beginning to destroy the entrepreneurial spirit of the Gambian business person.

Musa jeng.

Ylva Hernlund wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2002 23:17:33 -0700
> From: International Bicycle Fund <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
> To: an WASAN <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [WASAN] Treasury Sec. O'Neil'sl Africa Speech
>
> Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill
> “Caring Greatly and Succeeding Greatly: Producing Results in Africa”
> Remarks to the Carnegie Endowment for Peace
> Washington, DC
> June 5, 2002
>
> [Note to Secretary O’Neill: on June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George
> Catlett Marshall announced the European Recovery Program, later known as the
> “Marshall Plan” at Harvard University.  Today marks the 55th anniversary of
> that speech.  See conclusion.]
>
> Good morning.  Thank you, Jack (DeGioia, President of Georgetown
> University), for that kind introduction.  I also want to thank the Carnegie
> Endowment for International Peace for arranging this opportunity to discuss
> my tour of Africa.  And thanks to Georgetown University for accommodating
> this crowd!  It’s encouraging to see so much interest in this important
> subject.
>
> I went to Africa last month to listen and learn; to meet African leaders in
> and out of government, to meet doctors, farmers, teachers, students, and
> entrepreneurs.  I went to hear their insights into the obstacles to Africa's
> prosperity.
>
> I also went to find a real-world basis for recommendations to the President
> on how to allocate funds from the newly created Millennium Challenge
> AccountFund.  But most of all, I went with an open mind, and one one pivotal
> question: How can the people of the United States and the developed world
> best help Africans and their elected leaders achieve prosperity at last?
>
> It is too soon to announce policy recommendations from the trip, but I
> certainly learned a great deal, and I want to share some of my experience
> with you.
>
> Some would say my trip was a little out of the ordinary.  The Treasury
> Secretary traveling with the rock star.  The “odd couple.”  Bono even had
> tee-shirts made portraying Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.  But we really
> weren’t so odd.  In fact, I think Bono and I found a lot in common.  We both
> desperately want to see the people of Africa – in fact, the people of the
> worldentire globe – living to their full potential.
>
> I did try on the famoushis blue shades during the trip.  And Bonohe sang the
> occasionala song here and there.  Between these lighter moments, though, I
> have to say this was the most intense twelve days I’ve ever experienced.  I
> metMeeting people like Sister Benedicta, who runs a hospital and orphanage
> in Ethiopia.  She maintained an incredible radiance, even as she told us how
> many people die in her hospital every day –, how many children die in her
> hospital every day.  To witness that strength of spirit is a truly profound
> experience.
>
> I can’t begin to describe all the emotional moments during this trip.  They
> confirmed three things for me.  First, a truth we’ve always known: All
> people everywhere can do great things when they are given the tools and
> incentives for success.  Second, that with leadership --– honest,
> accountable, and committed to progress --– everything is possible.  Without
> leadership, nothing is possible.  And finally, that in the right environment
> focused on growth, enterprise and human development, aid works.  Knowing
> that it can work, we have a moral imperative to demand as much.  Assistance
> should make a real difference in people’s lives.
>
> I met leaders across Africa who are beginning to create the conditions for
> economic success, such as President Kufour in Ghana, and President Museveni
> in Uganda.  We in the developed world must support African leaders who are
> creating the conditions for success –those who rulinge justly, encouraginge
> economic freedom, and investing in their people.  And we must ourselves take
> a leadership role in demanding results.
>
> The impoverished people of Africa --– and in poor nations everywhere --–
> require a new kind of help, that goes beyond the well-intentioned but
> disappointing results of assistance programs over the past fifty years.
>
> If our assistance is not making a difference, or if we cannot measure our
> results to know what difference we have made, then we have to change our
> approach.  We owe that to the people of Africa.
>
> In Africa, I saw signs of progress everywhere.  Programs are working, aid is
> helping, and standards of living are improving.
>
> But there is a long way to go.  The progress I saw deserves praise, but it
> just isn’t enough.
>
> Let me highlight thehree areas in which we witnessed progress.  In
> particular, I saw  -- three kindsaspects of of investmentsing in people that
> arethat are vital to realizing Africa’s potential: clean water, primary
> education, and fighting HIV/AIDS.
>
> Clean water is, surely, one of the most essential elements of a dignified,
> civilized life.  No aspect of infrastructure is more basic.  Yet 45% of
> sub-Saharan Africans lack access to clean, safe water.  T -- that’s about
> 300 million people – more than the total population of the United States.
> In Ethiopia, that figure is 78%, or 50 million people in that country alone.
>
> One insight from my Africa tour is that local leaders, with some engineering
> and financial support, could develop clean water sources for their towns and
> villages fairly quickly.  For example, in one Ugandan village I saw a
> concrete basin installed to protect a natural spring.  T providing water to
> the village, so the women of the village could collect the water directly
> from the basinspring instead of collecting it after it has sprilledead
> across the muddy ground.  The concrete basin cost a thousand dollars to
> install.
>
> But the local chairman for the project told me that the greatest hindrance
> to installing the system had been local fears that a snake was protecting
> the spring, and that the snake would become enraged by any tampering and
> would take away the water.  He had to spend considerable time persuading his
> fellow villagers to go ahead with the project.  It took his leadership to
> get the project finished.
>
> Or consider another village, where women were trekking to a muddy river to
> obtain water, even after a well was dug in the village.  AOnly after the
> well was built, did anyone inquire of the women wouldn’t use itwhy they
> weren’t using it.  It turns out that they women valued their social time
> down by the river, and so they chose to continuekeep collecting dirty water
> from the river, rather than clean water from the well.  When the water tap
> was relocated further from the village, providing an opportunity to
> socialize, they started to use it.
>
> In these and other cases, only local leadership couldan tailor development
> projects to suit local cultures and customs.  With support from the rest of
> the world, these small projects can make a quick difference.  And iIn so
> many of these cases it was sometimes shocking to seewitness the disconnect
> between the aid bureaucracies with their 15-year plans and the availability
> of more immediate solutions.
>
> You cannot airdrop solutions to local problems.  You can only offer air
> support.  Local leadership must implement the solutions on the ground and be
> accountable for success.
>
> If we can figure out a way to support African leaders in bringing clean
> water to their nations – , and I think we can do that -- much faster and
> cheaper than these endless studies say we can --– we can vastly curtail the
> prevalence of debilitating diseases and liberate hundreds of millions of
> people, especially women and children, from preventable, debilitating
> illnessill health and meaningless, wearisome labor work.  They would be free
> them to pursue their dreams for a better life for their families.
>
> The second important investment I saw African leaders making was in raising
> primary education enrollment.  I believe that in Africa, in the United
> States, and in every part of the world, children by the age of about ten
> years old should and can have the tools to be life-long self-learners.  But
> that requires that we get them into schools at an early age, and keep them
> there, with adequate materials.
>
> In Uganda, they’ have had tremendous success increasing primary school
> enrollment.  Primary school enrollment has increased from about half (55%)
> of the children in 1994 to nearly all of them (94%) in 1999, and nearly half
> of the students are girls.  Education quality is improving as well.  But
> there is still a long way to go.  I visited schools where they have gone
> from a ratio of 16 students per book down to six per book.  That’s progress,
> but it’s not good enough.  We must never be satisfied with the progress we’
> ve made – wWe must always set our expectations higher.  Surely, we can get
> every student his or her own book.
>
> Similarly, one study in Uganda found that where only 230% of non-wage
> spending for education was actually reaching schools in 1991.  money
> allocated for education was actually getting to the students -- Tthe rest
> was lost to corruption and bureaucracy.  Following reforms enhancing
> transparency and accountability for government spending, -- over now 90% of
> school spending is now getsting to the schoolstudents.  That’s a huge
> improvement. But again, we can do betterthat’s not enough to allow us to be
> satisfied.
>
> The third, perhaps most crucial area for investment in people is health
> care.  Nowhere is this more urgent, and more heartbreaking, than in the
> struggle against AIDS.  In South Africa I saw mothers with AIDS caring for
> babies with AIDS, even when proven, inexpensive drugs are available to stop
> transmission between mother and child.  I saw the dedication of nurses and
> doctors treating people with AIDS, and their patients’ struggle to survive.
>
> Certainly, prevention of further HIV contagion is the utmost priority,
> especially to keep the next generation of newborns free from disease.
> Uganda, in particular, thanks to President Museveni’s leadership on this
> issue, is one of the few tohas reduced the portion of the population
> afflicted with AIDS.  It is the only country in Africa to have done so.  But
> aAmong the many challenges facing those who fight AIDS in Africa is that in
> many countries, there is a social stigma attached to even testing for the
> disease.  They need more leaders like President Museveni, towho tackle this
> issue head-on.
>
> This is our challenge: to focus the attention of the world on getting
> results.   Caring greatly is not enough.  We must also succeed greatly.
> Starting today -- not in a 15-year plan. Starting today.
>
> I’m glad to see progress, but we should not confuse progress with success.
> We must challenge ourselves to aim higher and concentrate our efforts so
> that international assistance advances the progress taking place on the
> ground.
>
> I’m glad to see progress, but we should not confuse progress with success. I
> refuse to be satisfied.  We must challenge ourselves to aim higher and
> concentrate our efforts so that international assistance advances the
> progress already taking place on the ground.
>
> Providing the framework for basic health and education is crucial
> fundamental forto enabling people toensuring a population that is prepared
> to realize theirits potential.    When governments are investing in their
> people, providing clean water, education, and health care, and  when the
> other aspects of good governanceleadership are present –-- ruling just
> rulely and encouraging economic freedom --– show their value, and prosperity
> can blossom.
>
> In fact, the private sector is already growing in parts of Africa.  I
> visited entrepreneurs who are grabbing the opportunities that good
> governance hasand economic freedom have made possible.  They are creating
> jobs in industries from coffee and cut flowers to athletic wear and data
> processing.  By doing so they are spreading knowledge and inspiring others
> to reach for their dreams.
>
> As private enterprise grows expands in anthe economy, trade and investment
> grow to dwarfreplace official aid.  Countries that won political
> independence years ago finally win their economic independence as well.
> Government provides the conditions for growth, but it is not the source of
> prosperity.  Private citizens create prosperity through enterprise.
>
> And in Africa, where the conditions are right, citizensthey are doing just
> that.
>
> For example, in Ghana I visited a successful U.S. investment, called
> Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.-Business Process Solutions.  ACS sells
> data processing services to insurance companies in the U.S.  It opened its
> office there in 2000, and already it employs over 800 Ghanaians, paying an
> average of three times the average wage in Ghana.  80% of the employees are
> women.  The company now plans to expand its operations to four new sites in
> Ghana and to increase its workforce to over 1,000 people.
>
> ACS employees start with a high school diploma and typing skills.  The
> training they receive creates a new knowledge base on which future employers
> can build.  As foreign investments like ACS/BPS show success, others are
> bound to follow, and I am optimistic that increasingly advanced services,
> such as software development, will thrive in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.
>
> In Uganda, I met a woman, Lukia Ssemonobe, who opened a restaurant with
> micro-loan funding and a lot of hard work.  This woman lost her husband a
> dozen years ago, and had to feed four children without income.  Indomitable,
> she borrowed $50 from the local branch of a branch of FINCA, an
> micro-finance NGO, and used that and subsequent loans to build two
> businesses --– a restaurant and then a tailoring shop.  Now she employs
> about a dozen of her neighbors, supports her family, owns a home, and has
> become a leader in the community.  Lukia shows the kind of success that is
> possible.
>
> I also visited a cut-flower factory, where local entrepreneurs are
> diversifying Ugandan exports by growing beautiful flowers and air-shipping
> them the same day to European markets.
>
> In Ethiopia, an entrepreneur from Chicago invested in building a garment
> factory that makes sports clothes and ships them to the U.S. under the
> Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.  The company now employs about 200
> workers, each earning between three and 21 times the average Ethiopian
> income.His [many] employees earn well above the average Ethiopian wage.  I
> also saw a local company that has produced and exported coffee for decades.
>
> Jobs that deliverand prosperity are created one at a time, by people like
> Lukia, or the investors in ACS.  They see opportunities and choose to take
> the risks, because they are confident they will reap the rewards of their
> success.
>
> Unfortunately, in too many cases, potential entrepreneurs and investors in
> Africa are deterred by arbitrary laws, corrupt bureaucracies and government
> favoritism.  Africa is a continent of entrepreneurial enthusiasm – that’s
> what I saw.  But these individuals have no chance for success without
> governments that fairly enforce laws and contracts, respect human rights and
> property, and fight corruption.  Governments also must remove barriers to
> trade – both internal and external – and open their economies to investment.
> They must allow companies and entrepreneurs to compete without excessive
> interference, including interference from government-owned enterprises.
>
> That’s no small order.  But aAs private sector production takes hold in
> Africa, productivity and incomes rise, in Africa, African growthit will
> become self-sustaining.  -- Africa will be its own best marketit’s own best
> market, just as the U.S. is its own best market, and Europe is its best
> market.
>
> CBut coming back to my original question, what can we in the U.S. do to
> support African success?  Here in Washington, we need to push ahead with
> President Bush’s reform agenda, to improve the effectiveness of wealthy
> nations’ support for African development and promote the best efforts of our
> African partners.
>
> Many extol debt forgiveness as the path to African development.  I would
> agree that debt forgiveness may help, but it alone is not the solution.
>
> Debt forgiveness solves nothing if we allow newanother build up of debt to
> that only creates the next generation of heavily indebted poor countriesthe
> HIPC program a decade from now.  President Bush has proposed that up to 50%
> of World Bank and other development bank funds for the poorest countries be
> provided as grants rather than as loans.  This proposal acknowledges the
> long-term development challenges facing these countries, their vulnerability
> to economic shocks, and the reality that essential investments in social
> sectors, such as education and health care --– investments in people --–
> cannot directly generate the incremental revenue to service new debt.
>
> Replacing loans with targeted grants will eliminate the need for governments
> to repay principal and interest on long-term investments in people.  It will
> thereby eliminate the next generation of debt service problems.  It is time
> to end the sad cycle of indebtedness for countries committed to success.
>
> Second, it’s a simple fact that is as true about an individual as it is
> about a nation --– even without debt, it’s impossible to prosper without
> income.  Even if we forgave all debts, many of these countries still could
> not fund their own budgets, and they would not be much better off.  In
> Uganda over half of the government budget comes from foreign aid.  Think
> about that.  It is not a self-sustaining situation.  The only way out of
> that kind of shortfall is internal economic growth.
>
> And too many African nations, even after their debt is forgiven, have to
> rely on foreign assistance for an enormous chunk of their government’s
> income.  That only continues a dependency relationship.  We must do much
> more – we must encourage the Llocal leaders mustwho are createing the
> conditions for self-sustaining prosperity, not further dependency.
>
> Thatis is a premise of President Bush’s New Compact for Development.  In
> March, the President said, “the advance of development is a central
> commitment of American foreign policy ” and he outlined a “new compact for
> global development, defined by new accountability for both rich and poor
> nations alike.”
>
> The New Compact for Development creates the Millennium Challenge Account and
> proposes an additional $5 billion per year in official U.S. development
> aid --– a 50% increase over current levels --– specifically targeting poor
> countries that can use the money effectively.  To access the Millennium
> Challenge Account, a developing country must have a governmentleadership
> that shows a strong commitment to ruling justly, encouraging economic
> freedom, and investing in people, as I have described.
>
> Because results are what count, President Bush has created new incentives in
> our development assistance programs to reward thoseprograms that achieve
> real improvements in peoples’ lives.  He has committed that as a reward for
> proven results, the U.S. will increase funding for the African Development
> Bank by 18%, and will do the same as a reward for proven results in the
> International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank program for the
> poorest nations.  To receive these additional funds, the programs need only
> to show they are making a difference in people’s lives – a challenge these
> development organizations, their supporters, and their beneficiaries should
> all welcome.
>
> In the long-term, domestic entrepreneurship as well as trade and foreign
> investment are far more important for economic growth than official aid.
> The United States has created the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, or
> "AGOA," to open U.S. markets to exports from sub-Saharan Africa.  As Uganda’
> s President Museveni said “If somebody buys what Uganda produces, then he is
> rendering my country the best assistance possible.”
>
> I would also encourage all African nations to reduce trade barriers amongst
> themselves, so that all can benefit from their different comparative
> advantages, and relative proximity to each other.  They should be their own
> best markets, not their worst.
>
> The Africa I saw on my journey is already changing.  We stand ready to help,
> eager and impatient to assistchieve real improvements in the lives of the
> African people.
>
> Consider this.  Fifty-five years ago on this very date, U.S. Secretary of
> State George C. Marshall gave a speech outlining the European Recovery
> Program, later known as the Marshall Plan.
>
> In it, he said: “I need not tell you that the world situation is very
> serious. That must be apparent to all intelligent people.  I think one
> difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity…
> Furthermore,…  tThe people of this country are distant from the troubled
> areas of the earth and it is hard for them to comprehend the plight and
> consequent reactions of the long-suffering peoples, and the effect of those
> reactions on their governments in connection with our efforts to promote
> peace in the world.”
>
> He was talking about Europe in 1947.  TYet the words are just as true of
> Africa today.
>
> I went to those troubled lands, and I believe this: wWith the right
> combination of aid and accountability – from both rich nations and poor
> ones --– we can accelerate the spread of education, clean water and private
> enterprise throughout Africa.   We can help the African people create
> vibrant, self-sustaining economies and a rising standard of living.  And we
> can do it right now.
>
> Development is complicated.  I know that. and  I don’t underestimate the
> challengeit.  I just don’t think we should  accept complexitythat as an
> excuse for delay.
>
> As Marshall said, “With foresight, and a willingness on the part of our
> people to face up to the vast responsibility which history has placed upon
> our country, the difficulties I have outlined can and will be overcome.”
>
> Together, we can produce results for Africa.  We will tear down the walls to
> prosperity.  We will tear down the walls to prosperity.  Not in the next
> generation, but right now.  In this era of global opportunity, no continent,
> no country, and no person should be left behind.
>
> President Bush said it best – there are no second class citizens in the
> human race.  We must make his vision into a worldwide reality.
>
> Thank you.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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> Next WASAN meeting is Wednesday, June 26, 2002. Location: Safeco Jackson Street Center, E Main between 23 & 24, Suite 200, Seattle
> 7:30 PM WASAN business meeting. Everyone is welcome.
>
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