Tinyiko Makondo
22 May 2009
opinion
Johannesburg — ON MONDAY, Africans will celebrate Africa Day -- a day marked as a commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, and a celebration of African unity.
It was with great fervour that African leaders formed the OAU, now the African Union (AU). The formation of this body not only provided renewed hope for Africa's independence, but also created expectations for a better life for African people. It provided a new sense of visionary leadership and good governance, which would steer Africa onto a transformative and development path.
Yet the aftermath brought about indifferent results for most Africans. The leadership vacuum left by colonial powers provided greedy leaders with an opportunity to seize political power. As a result, the continent continues to host poverty, underdevelopment, a poor human rights record and lack of access to justice, and it is littered with failed states.
Of course this is no exoneration of western imperialism. But Africa's failure to escape from poverty, after more than 40 years of independence and more than $400bn in development aid can also, to a large extent, be ascribed to a failure of African leadership and to bad governance. Forty years on, do Africans have anything to celebrate? Does Africa have leaders of integrity, who are committed to transforming her into a first-world continent? Are Africa's leaders there to guide their governments to ensure that they perform effectively for their citizens? Or are they there to plunder the wealth and deplete their countries' resources?
Somalia, for example, is a failed state that has turned into a breeding ground for terrorists and pirates. Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Africa, can no longer feed its people. The Democratic Republic of Congo is still engulfed in conflict, while thousands are being massacred in the Darfur region of Sudan. It is almost a mission impossible, in most African states, to conduct a universally acceptable election, as Kenya and Zimbabwe show. Weaknesses in democratic governance continue to dampen social activity, cause civil unrest and create a fertile ground for conflict. The recent undemocratic transfer of power in Madagascar, the coup in Mauritania and the assassination of the president in Guinea further show the failure of African leadership.
Conversely, decisive leadership and adherence to democratic values have yielded positive results in some parts of Africa. This has been the case in the few shining examples Africa boasts, including Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius and SA. Ideally, good governance entails political leadership, strong government institutions, capacity to deliver public services and a strong civil society. It also means strengthening the rule of law, respect for human rights, universal access to justice, forums for complaints, appeal and redress and enforcement of property rights. These aspects are atypical in Africa, and truly, they are difficult to achieve without decisive leadership -- leadership that puts principle and respect for the will of the voters before self-gain.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. It is encouraging that the AU is taking initiatives that hold great promise for Africa's development. The New Partnership for Africa's Development has provided a common economic plan for Africa's development. The African Peer Review Mechanism also promotes integrity in leadership and governance in Africa. Whether these will see the light of the day, only time will tell.
As Chinua Achebe wrote: "The cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but his voice is the property of the neighbourhood". Hopefully, the shining stars such as Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Joaquim Chissano and Jerry Rawlings, among others, can indeed rub off onto other failing African states.
However, African leaders should first acknowledge that the driver of Africa's problems today is leadership. Africa needs more proactive and collective leadership in addressing issues of development, governance and justice. It is then that Africans will have something to celebrate.
Makondo is a senior researcher at the Gauteng Legislature.
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ON Saturday, Africans in Chicago will celebrate African LIberation Day hosted by the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party, the final political party created by Honorable African Legends President Nkrumah & President Ture who is the model of manhood and African leadership but was debased and underminded by western intelligence that instigated violence in African politics and supported corrupt leadership that violently took power from legitimate revolutionary leadership. This is Africa's #1 problem
True talk, the imperialists are our number one problem.
The problem with this article is that it assumes that all African countries have the same: problems (although we share certain common problems e.g. curroption), amount of mineral resources, man power, or political stability. Therefore, it makes it difficult for me to say that Aid should stop for all the countries in Africa.
The best way is to analyse each country individually. I know of one country I believe should stop receiving Aid and that it Nigeria. Despite any Aid received in the past, the greedy still find a way of benefiting themselves so with or without Aid the people still suffer. Besides, the country is rich in mineral resources, to the extent a former dictator, Abacha, can steal nearly 2 TRILLION DOLLARS (over half of the stimulus amount for the whole of the USA) and that is just Abacha not forgetting what his thugs stole from the Country.
With regards to war torn countries I believe what they need more urgently is military help. They need stability...
Correction I said 1 TRILLION while it is 1 BILLION but it is a lot of money anyway..
Aid as presently constituted should end, it,s not in Africa,s interest. Africa,s vast reserve of stolen funds in western banks should as a matter of urgency be returned to help with the process of national development across Africa,that,ll be more effective than the useless aid being brought in and subsequently repatriated through the back door using their equally useless N.G.O,s. KEEP YOUR AID, RETURN STOLEN FUNDS IN YOUR WATCH.
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