Washington, DC — The African Union is about more than political structures. It should open the way for substantial expenditure on Africa's infrastructure, to facilitate intra-African trade and investment. But who's going to put their money into long-term infrastructural development in Africa? History shows that the continent is a high-risk environment for investors - whether foreign or African - and unless that perception changes, the African Union may find it hard to fund its plans. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has had a long career in business and development both as a leader in the public sector with UNDP and more recently in the private sector with her own business and on the board of a leading US-based African investment house. She ran for president in her country, Liberia, in 1997.
As someone who's been very active in Africa's economic affairs and works in the private sector, what do you want to see the African Union achieve in practical terms? What are the things that really have to happen first?
I'd like to see us focus on better infrastructure; roads, other types of transportation systems, communication technology - all improved, enhanced, rationalized, and harmonized across countries. You need to start in every sub-region - Mano River, Ecowas, Cedeao, on the West side, SADC, Comesa, in the southern region and on the East side, the East African Union. You need to take a couple of those and see how you can connect them.
I think sometimes we put the cart before the horse, because you're not going to get political commitment unless you can get people doing business with each other, trading. We need to encourage the trading blocks. We need to do more inter-Africa trade. Africa today claims less than 2% of global trade and inter-African trade is even less than that.
So those are the things that need to be addressed and I know much is being done policy-wise and at the sub-regional level but I think we need a much greater push, a more concerted effort and more importantly, tackling some of the obstacles at sub-regional level. I tell you, try driving from one country in West Africa to another; Look how many road blocks you face! Look at the shakedown and the extortion that market women face when trying to get their goods across borders, despite all the policies that say Ecowas is moving.
The reason for that is, many people - the security forces who man these road blocks, the traders who are moving across - don't really understand the issues. They need to be told through media, radio, dialogue, workshops, whatever, of the economic advantages to everybody of promoting this free movement. They need to be told of the consequences that follow from some these things that look like little trifling impediments, yet have major repercussions for trying to improve upon trade and regional cooperation. We need to get the African people involved and win their understanding, commitment and their contribution to the process.
I must say the CFA [franc zone] countries with the common currency have been able to make much more progress. They have gone beyond a common currency, and now have harmonization of business laws and institutions that are going to enforce those laws. We can build upon that.
So where's the money going to come from to build those roads, to put up the servers and get the Internet connections out there? Is it a matter of going back, cap in hand, to the World Bank or is there a role for the African private sector here?
That's the rub. You just touched upon the Achilles heel of the whole African Union objective. The funds to support the institutions, the many institutions that will be created are just not there. And to find them, will frankly mean, Africa itself will have to look at its own resources and allocate them more efficiently and effectively towards this goal.
That will mean that we need more accountability, we need more efficiency on a country level, on a sub-regional level, that enables Africa to first apply its own resources towards these goals and then, of course, to go out and try to mobilize supplementary resources from the friends of Africa in the industrialized world and the private sector.
You know, studies have shown that more capital leaves Africa then any of the other more developed regions of the world. Now, that capital flight; if we can find the means, if there's concerted commitment on the part of African leaders to seek the repatriation of that capital and to put it into building the private sector, if we can also improve upon governance so that people's freedoms are assured and people's rights are protected, then we can make Africa a more attractive place for private investment.
We're not only talking about Africans themselves but others who do not see the attractiveness of Africa today because of corruption, because of non-predictability regarding laws and procedures. We have the responsibility to get our environment right. The other regions of the world were not built by development assistance. In the beginning, yes, but after that, the bulk of funds today come from the private sector and from private capital.
But private capital is very shy. It only goes where it has confidence, where it knows it's safe, where returns can be assured, repatriation of profits is allowed and where predictability in the political and regulatory environment is there. We need to work on that.
Don't you sometimes feel a bit depressed by this situation? What you are saying has been said for so long; yet here we still are with political leaders who raid the till and send the money abroad. We're still faced with foreign capital saying it's not safe to put its money here and African investors eager to get their money out of the continent. I mean how are we going to get African investors to be more 'patriotic' in the use of their funds?
To me, African capital is like capital anywhere else. There's no patriotism involved here, it's a question of confidence. Take the many Africans abroad; for decades the brain drain has deprived Africa of the source of its wealth, Africa's human talent; they don't come back because they don't have confidence in their environment, or that their creativity and their industry and their freedoms will be protected. That's what we're working on.
I'm glad to say that one or two countries have already made some progress in this regard. Those countries are already attracting back capital that has left the country, attracting new investment. In some countries where we have such bad leadership, I wish Africa itself would speak out against its own wrongs - that's part of our problem. We see wrong around us and we stay quiet. That silence is defeating us because it takes away the inspiration externally to help us fix problems in places where we know bad leadership is undermining efforts to attract private investment, private capital.
And is the African Union going to do that job that you want it to do, of speaking out and while encouraging good behavior, criticizing the bad?
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I don't know yet. It remains to be seen. The leadership of the Union is not yet determined, they're in a transitional phase. We hope that the African leaders will see the wisdom of putting people of strong character and requisite capacity in place and that these people will build upon what has been done in the OAU.
Policies are fine, the goals are fine, but what happens in practice is different and the African people need to be involved. They must demand more of their leaders, more of their continental institutions. To demand more, they need knowledge and that's where the leaders have failed them; in many cases knowledge has been denied because it would allow people to demand transparency and accountability.
But you know, we're going to see some very startling changes in leadership in Africa in the next five years. I am convinced that a woman is going to come to power from one of our countries and when you see that I think the African Union and all the African institutions are going to be in for a great awakening because I think that a strong woman with a sensitivity and the commitment is going to be that strong voice that Africa needs.
Is it going to be you?
I don't know. But if it's not me, it's going to be somebody else and I'll be right behind her. I'm going to work toward it and I think we'll get there. Either I will get there or some other deserving woman will get there and will stand out and will begin to speak for the African people and to challenge the wrongs in our societies and to be able to enable Africa to compete effectively in this globalized world. I'm optimistic.
