Billions of dollars of public funds continue to be stashed away by some African leaders - even while roads are crumbling, health systems have failed, school children have neither books nor desks nor teachers and phones do not work. -- SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN, United Nations, New York, New York, March 14, 2000 If the World Bank is such a "monster," as President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe claims, then African governments should not go to the Bank for loans. In fact, if African leaders and the corrupt ruling elite were to disgorge the loot they have stashed in foreign bank accounts, they would have more than the paltry sum the World Bank lends to Africa. "According to one United Nations estimate, $200 billion or 90 percent of the sub-Saharan part of the continent's gross domestic product (much of it illicitly earned), was shipped to foreign banks in 1991 alone" (The New York Times, 4 February 1996). http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/features/perspectives/2000B2.shtml -- Dr. GEORGE B.N. AYITTEY [In interview @ the Center for Finance & International Dev., The University of Iowa -- "Multilateral Institutions and African Development Q&A"] **************************************************************************** Folks, the following quotes will give you an idea of how the REAL PEOPLE of Africa -- not the stuffy, pompous elite -- see of events on the African continent. Enjoy. http://www.freeafrica.org -- Dr. GEORGE B.N. AYITTEY [[log in to unmask]], President, The Free Africa, Foundation, Washington, DC, May 10, 2001 **************************************************************************** The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership . . . We have lost the twentieth century; are we bent on seeing that our children also lose the twenty-first? God forbid! -- CHINUA ACHEBE [in The Trouble With Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Press, 1985; p.3]. It has become trendy for enlightened writers on Africa to put all the blame for Africa's backwardness on the West. I think the West should not be blamed anymore for Africa's predicament...I may ask, what is our goal as Africans? It sounds funny that a country like Nigeria cannot boast of any significant supply of good drinking water even after 30 years of independence. One is tempted to think that the goal for Africans is to drive a flashy car, and own a house in Britain, US or France. This is very common among our leaders, some of who think it is a mistake not to have a Swiss bank account or a castle in France. It is not a shame to admit our failures, set our priorities right and forget about blaming the West always for our woes. In fact it is a lazy society which puts all the blame for its troubles on its neighbors. Let our leaders set clear-cut goals for our countries, and not Swiss bank accounts. I don't think George Bush would set himself a goal of owning a bank account in Ghana or Nigeria. -- OSA KINGSLEY in New African, August, 1990; p.45. Three decades of dictatorships, phony and misunderstood political ideologies have left a legacy of fear, poverty, refugees, outright political thuggery and theft. The systems which have been in place for the last three decades in Africa have produced the likes of Amin, Bokassa, Nguema and the remaining political sphinx which strangle the African continent and its people. Since assuming political power in their countries, these leaders have held their citizens hostage, have run national economies like private chicken-runs and created a national mentality of siege and a state of hopelessness. -- GEORGE SONO, New African, Jan 1991; p. 41. Africa's biggest problem today lies with the leadership. They are so removed from the people that they are looked upon as foreigners. They are driven by self-interest, so excessive that their peoples' interests are forgotten -- hardly different from the colonial masters. -- JOHN HAYFORD, New African, April, 1994; p.7. The problem in Africa is precisely that there is no state to speak of. What exists are ramshackle gangs, presided over by political thugs and military adventurists, generals who have never been to war, and rickety old men who lack vision, who simply pretend to be governing, talk less of ruling, a society. In no African social formation has this body, by whatever name it goes, been able to operate as a state. -- JULIUS O. IHONVBERE [Nigerian scholar, currently at The Ford Foundation, in a keynote address at The All-African Student's Conference, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, May 27, 1994. "Pan-Africanism: Agenda for African Unity in the 1990s."] Three decades after independence, uncertainty and fear still rule the African continent. The freedom and justice that many people sacrificed their lives for have been replaced by tyranny and oppression. And the promises of a decent living has been betrayed by misgovernance and corruption. Most Africans fought so hard to liberate themselves from colonial rule only to be used and abused and their nations ruined by their own leaders. Today Africa has very little to show for its independence because of inhumane and incompetent leadership. -- STEVE MALLORY, Publisher, The African Observer, May 2-15, 1995; p.3 Nigeria, the comatose giant of Africa, may go down in history as the biggest country ever to go directly from colonial subjugation to complete collapse, without an intervening period of successful self-rule. So much promise, so much waste; such a disappointment. Such a shame. Makes you sick. -- LINUS U.J. THOMAS-OGBOJI, The African News Weekly (May 26, 1995; p.6 No military coup in Africa has produced a vibrant economy to replace the bankrupt one it set out to redeem. In almost every case, the army boys have imbibed the ways of the corrupt politicians they pushed out of office and even taken their crookedness to a higher level. -- AFRICAN NEWS WEEKLY, September 1, 1995; p.7 Many a time we have wondered if the so-called African leaders sometimes lack the capacity to think and understand the ramifications of their actions . . . After all the bloodshed in Rwanda you would think we have learnt a lesson but no! Idiocy of our power-hungry leaders seems to triumph over pragmatism and common sense. The rationale for the current fighting defies any logic . . . The world must be getting tired of us (Africans) giving our self-inflicted tragedies galore.. We seem to lack any sense of urgency to handle problems in an expedient manner devoid of bloodshed. Lord Have Mercy! -- GHANA DRUM EDITORIAL, November, 1996; p.2 Every military regime is a fraud. Anybody who heads a military regime subverts the wishes of the people. -- Gen. I.B. BABANGIDA (rtd), Former Head of State, Republic of Nigeria in The African Observer, Jan 18-31, 1999 I heard we have a new government. It makes no difference to me. Here we have no light [electricity], we have no water. There is no road. We have no school. The government does nothing for us. -- SIMON AGBO, a farmer in Ogbadibo, south of Makurdi, Benue state capital in Nigeria in The Washington Times, Oct 21, 1999; p.A19. LOOT RE-LOOTED IN NIGERIA What baffles me is that even the money recovered from Abacha has been stolen. If you recover money from a thief and you go back and steal the money, it means you are worse than the thief. -- UTI AKPAN, a textiles trader in Lagos in The New York Times [Aug 30, 2000; p. 10]. MUGABE MUST GO! If you had told me a year ago that I would be in the streets rioting, I would have said you were insane. But then again, if you told me I would be praying to God to deliver us from [President] Robert Mugabe a year ago, I would have said the same thing. I am not a violent man; I am not an especially religious man. But whatever it takes for Zimbabwe to finally be rid of this man, I am willing to do." -- Josiah Makawa, a 24-year-old warehouse worker in Harare (The Washington Post, Nov 23, 2000; p.A45). AFRICAN ELITES They all want to wear Western suits. They are ashamed to wear African clothes. When they come to power and think that everything that comes from outside Africa is good, they are no longer Africans. All that a president wants to do is put on a suit and meet Chirac (French president). He has to be like Chirac. -- PATHE OUEDRAOGO, a tailor in Abidjan (The New York Times, Nov 13, 2000; p.A4 Enough is enough. I have never participated in a demonstration before. I'm sick over this. It's a masquerade, a fraud. General Guie has to leave power. If he doesn't, it's war. -- JULIETTE ADJOUA KOFFI, The New York Times, October 25, 2000; pA5. DIRE CONDITIONS My family has not eaten meat in months. Sometimes we eat only raw vegetables for supper because we have no money to buy [fuel] for cooking. This government has had 20 years to do something about the land problem and they did nothing. Now that's all they want to talk about. No one is listening. -- JOSIAH MAKAWA, a 24-year-old warehouse worker in Harare, Zimbabwe (The Washington Post, Nov 23, 2000; p.A45). At a press conference in London in April, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, lambasted African leaders who he says have subverted democracy and lined their pockets with public funds, although he stopped short of naming names. "Billions of dollars of public funds continue to be stashed away by some African leaders - even while roads are crumbling, health systems have failed, school children have neither books nor desks nor teachers and phones do not work," he complained. -- The AFRICAN-AMERICAN OBSERVER, April 25 - May 1, 2000; p.10. Former South African president Nelson Mandela urged Africans to take up arms and overthrow corrupt leaders who have accumulated vast personal fortunes while children have gone hungry. He urged the public to pick up rifles to defeat the tyrants. -- The WASHINGTON POST, May 7, 2000; p. A22. Africans want change because there is so much suffering here. But Africans are above all else devoted to their ancestors, and they do not want to betray that by becoming something that they are not. -- PATEKILE HOLOMISA, an inkhosi (a chief) and head of the Congress of Traditional Leaders in South Africa (The Washington Post, Dec 18, 2000). Workshops and seminars (don't let the politicians and the elites ever pull the wool over your eyes) are not a monopoly of academics. They are very much the equivalent of a baraza -- that traditional African democratic forum, where decisions took place with everybody contributing their piece so that a fair and viable conclusion could be reached. -- AKINYI, PRINCESS OF K'ORINDA TIMBO in New African, March 2001; p.6. When I listen to African leaders at international gatherings I cannot but feel ashamed at their quickness to blame the white man for all the woes of Africa. This, to my mind, is nothing but a childish case of passing the buck. Rawlings blamed European industries for thwarting Africa's attempts at industrialization. He cried that they continue to flood African with more sophisticated goods at cheaper prices than we produce. And I covered my head in shame. I asked myself, are the ports of entry no longer under government control? Even Japan, as industrialized as it is, does not allow certain goods into its borders. It will be funny if, in this millennium, we continue to blame the white man for our woes when we are actually the ones responsible for our backwardness. -- ADEDEJI ADEYEMI, Kaduna, This Day, Vol.6, No.1900, July 5, 2000; p.13. Your murderous military campaigns and strong-arm tactics have robbed African children of their youth, robbed African countries of hope and, in many instances, sentenced African people to lives no better than those of animals." -- Anne-Marie Kabongo, a 25-year-old law student from Congo, lambasting African leaders at the Eight Summit of the Francophonie in Moncton, New Brunswick (August 31 - September 5, 1999). Wiping tears from her eyes, she said: "I don't care what they do to me. The truth had to be told. -- The WASHINGTON POST, September 6, 1999; p.A21. As hopes wither and economies flounder, a new generation of Africans are turning their backs on the continent's old guard political leadership. From Zimbabwe to Uganda, Angola to Kenya, post colonial leaders and pre-independence political parties are falling from grace. Desperately holding onto power by political manipulation and old western-bashing slogans of the 1960s, they blame their nation's financial ills on foreign exploitation rather than on their own failings -- but with a new generation of educated African citizens, such transparent rabble rousing rings increasingly hollow. Economic progress, not political slogans is their concern." -- MILAN VESELY, in African Business, April 2001; p.41. To hear MORE African Voices, please go to: http://www.freeafrica.org/africanvoices.html MULTILATERAL INSTITUTIONS AND AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT Q&A by George B.N. Ayittey http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/features/perspectives/2000B2.shtml QUESTION #1 Foreign aid by multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank has not brought an effective result to African development. Some argue that external interference, in the form of loans or grants, has actually disrupted African development because it prevented African countries from setting their own pace and direction of development. What is the appropriate role you think, or the majority of people in your country would think, multilateral institutions should play in the context of African development? If you think multilateral institutions should continue to provide financial aid to African countries, what is the most effective way of using the aid by multilateral institutions to encourage African development? AYITTEY: While there is sufficient blame to go around, the failure of foreign aid and loan programs by the multilateral institutions needs to be placed in proper perspective. Fact is, these institutions cannot disrupt African development without the acquiescence of African leaders and governments. That is where the emphasis must be placed. There is no law which requires African leaders and governments to accept foreign aid or loans from the World Bank. Nor is the World Bank the only place where African governments can borrow money. If the World Bank is such a "monster," as President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe claims, then African governments should not go to the Bank for loans. In fact, if African leaders and the corrupt ruling elite were to disgorge the loot they have stashed in foreign bank accounts, they would have more than the paltry sum the World Bank lends to Africa. "According to one United Nations estimate, $200 billion or 90 percent of the sub-Saharan part of the continent's gross domestic product (much of it illicitly earned), was shipped to foreign banks in 1991 alone" (The New York Times, 4 February 1996). The most effective way of using foreign aid to encourage African development is by "opening up the process." Conventionally, a foreign aid program is designed behind closed doors. An agreement is usually reached between a Western donor and a corrupt and undemocratic African government. There is no input from the people and billions of loans are contracted without their authorization. This process needs to be opened up. For example, before the World Bank grants a loan to say Ghana or Kenya, there should be an open hearing to allow those who believe the loan proceeds might be misused the opportunity to air their views. QUESTION #2 Over the past few years, people have been increasingly critical of the multinational's policies in Africa and elsewhere. Picketing and marches have become more common in both Europe and the United states during high profile meetings. What do you believe is the proper role of average citizens around the world in affecting policy change? How can a concerned citizen in the world community help to promote development and work to end the cycle of poverty in Africa? AYITTEY: Picketing and marches are useful in focusing attention on Africa's plight. However, they have become one-sided. It takes two to tango and most Africans recognize that bad leadership has been a major cause of continuing poverty in Africa. "Billions of dollars of public funds continue to be stashed away by some African leaders -- even while roads are crumbling, health systems have failed, school children have neither books nor desks nor teachers and phones do not work," said Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary-General at a press conference in London in April 2000 (The African-American Observer, April 25 - May 1, 2000; p.10). Then at the July 10, 2000 OAU Summit in Lome on July 10, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told African leaders that they were to blame for most of the continent's problems. "Instead of being exploited for the benefit of the people, Africa's mineral resources have been so mismanaged and plundered that they are now the source of our misery" (Daily Graphic, July 12, 2000; page 5). If they are sincerely concerned about the plight of the African people, those who organize pickets and marches in Western capitals need to organize a few against African leaders. QUESTION #3 While everyone agrees that many obstacles need to be overcome before long term sustainable development can be effectively realized in Africa, many disagree on what needs to be addressed first. Where should our priorities lie? Are certain goals more primary than others? Should we address education before legal reform, basic health care before promoting, for example, venture capital? Or do you believe, for instance, that promoting foreign investment is the fastest way to achieve reform in these other areas? AYITTEY: Consider the development process as embarking on a journey in a vehicle, leaving Point A (state of under-development) to Point B (developed state). The road is strewn with obstacles. Development literature has not hash a host of obstacles: low income, low investment, low savings, illiteracy, high population growth rates, and so on. The interplay of these factors produced the notorious "vicious circle of poverty." The vehicle for this journey may be private or state-owned. In virtually all African countries, a state vehicle was taken in the 1960s but this state vehicle has now broken down. It is a motley collection of obsolete, discarded parts scrounged from foreign junk yards and operates on borrowed ideology. The carburetor was a gift from Norway and the battery was donated by Austria. The tires came from Britain and China and are mismatched. A headlight is broken and the electrical system malfunctions. Turn the ignition switch and the wipers fall off. The engine sputters and belches thick smoke that pollutes the entire country. There are no brakes or shock absorbers (no checks and balances). The fan belt is ripped, which means its cooling system is inoperative. Clutching the wheel of the state vehicle is a reckless and unskilled egomaniac who proclaims himself "driver-for-life" and insists that he, and he alone, must be the driver till kingdom come since the vehicle is his own personal property. Aboard are his ministers, cronies, tribesmen, mistresses, sycophants, and other patronage junkies, who, in turn, have brought along their relatives, tribesmen, and friends. A goat, stolen from the people, has been tied to the rear bumper for a future feast. Somewhere along the journey, the smoke-belching, dilapidated state vehicle broke down: dead battery, overheated radiator with the coolant boiling over, and tires flat. This is a crisis situation which must be resolved before continuing on the journey. But it seems nobody is looking at the condition of the vehicle -- not the World Bank or western donors, who are more interested in laying down an 8-lane super highway. Nor are African intellectuals and politicians who argue ferociously about who should be the driver. Somali warlords are still battling to determine who should be the president of the country, even though the country has been reduced to rubble after years of civil war. Clearly, changing the driver through democratic elections or coups d'etat would not make any difference to the journey (development). Removing the obstacles on the road (building schools to improve literacy rates or sinking bore holes for drinking water, for example) would not make any difference either. Adding super high-octane jet fuel, installing brand new shock absorbers or emission control devices to cut down on the pollution would be futile. That state vehicle is going nowhere fast. In fact, if it moves at all, it will land in an economic ditch. It has to be junked or completely overhauled. Therefore, questions of "accelerating" development (getting to Point B faster) must be deferred until the vehicle is fixed (reformed). That cannot be done until the cause of the vehicle breakdown -- that is, the cause of the African crisis -- is determined, which, in turn, requires an understanding of how the vehicle operates and knowledge of its component systems. Systems such as cooling and electrical are to a vehicle what institutions are to society. The institutions that are critical for society are: an independent judiciary (for the rule of law), an independent central bank, an independent and free media, a neutral and professional armed/security forces, an independent electoral commission, among others. These do not exist in many African countries. Until these institutions are reformed, the development journey will be extremely slow, interrupted by constant breakdowns of the African state vehicle. Question #4 Are there specific social, cultural, or geographic characteristics in Africa (or in a specific African nation) that the IMF and World Bank have neglected to address and need to address in order to foster greater and more equitable development and wealth creation in Africa? AYITTEY: The World Bank and the IMF need to know that there were free markets, free enterprise and free trade in Africa before the colonialists set foot on the continent. It is not the World Bank which has to teach Africans about free enterprise and free village markets, which still exist in traditional Africa. Furthermore, in Africa's traditional village system of government, decisions are taken by consensus. No African chief, waving a bazooka, declared himself "president-for-life" and imposed his will on his people. The Bank should be extremely careful about giving loans to African leaders without the authorization of their people, as such loans can be repudiated. The billions of loans the Bank gave the late Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire did not benefit the people of Zaire (now Congolese), who never gave their authorization in the first place to Mobutu to secure the loans. http://www.ghanacybergroup.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------