Many in Africa Not Benefiting From Economic Integration

Region Not Benefiting From Economic Integration

Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d’Information (Kigali)
NEWS
20 November 2007
Posted to the web 20 November 2007
Kigali
Despite belonging to several regional economic communities, countries in the East Africa sub-region are still riddled with poverty, conflict and civil strife – and development efforts have to be stepped up or the few gains are washed away, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has warned.

Although this sub-region covers 30% of the population of Africa, the UN agency says in a working paper for a three-day expert meeting in Kigali, that it represents just 10% of GDP of the continent. The session ends November 22. The countries include Rwanda, DR Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Comoros, Djibouti, Seychelles and Madagascar. The 13 states are members of either the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), or Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries (CEPGEL).

Experts from the UN agency are meeting with counterparts from different regional groupings on the continent to work out ways on how the lagging blocks can tap from world wide growth prospects.

The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Somali civil war, internal strife and cross border conflict among Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo and Uganda – have had adverse effects on stabilization and development efforts, the agency notes. There has been some progress in terms of growth, according to the top UN body that was charged with over seeing integration some 4 decades ago, but poverty has not receded. Malaria remains a problem and HIV prevalence rates running at 10% and above among a population 60-70% living in rural areas – barely able to feed itself. This, the agency says is due to structural imbalances, including fragile ecosystems, soil fertility depletion, and low technological base in an environment characterized by poverty.

The UN also says despite IMF intervention in form of induced stabilization and structural adjustment programs ushering in new economic management models and reduced deficits, progress achieved has failed to be turned into ‘meaningful advances in poverty reduction through increased employment, investment and production’.

In spite of this and membership of concerned countries in several regional economic communities, as the agency notes, economic policies continue to be divergent to a certain extent rendering cooperation in intra-regional trade, monetary and financial relations difficult to achieve within the various groupings. High transactions costs on the continent mean the levels of competitiveness are rather low and countries are not in position to cut import and production costs to compete in a rapidly globalizing market. The countries are meeting difficulties in the WTO trade talks and EU-ACP partnership agreement negotiations, notes the UN. “These are taking place amidst inadequate socio-economic infrastructures for health and education systems, transport and communication networks, energy etc.”

Women’s rights have been furthered, but the UN body says land rights are still denied to women in some countries where ‘polices, programmes and budgets are still not engendered’. The UN Economic Commission for Africa has come up with a 3-year business plan (2007-9) that it wants streamlined into the development agendas of regional groupings.

Africa’s “Marshal Plan” (Editorial)

The Continent’s Marshal Plan
This Day (Lagos)

EDITORIAL
22 November 2007
Posted to the web 23 November 2007
Lagos
Painfully, the African continent has become the sick baby of the world, to which every other part must spare a thought by way of aids and grants. By the low development indices, Africa is understandably a leading member of the Third world community. But it ought not to be so. Given the abundant human and material resources available on the continent, Africa ought to be one of the leading lights of the world. But several intervening variables have conspired to stymied the growth of the continent. One such intervening variable being the slavery and colonialisation visited on the continent by Europe. This undoubtedly helped to get most African countries stunted. Indeed, several such African countries, although have since regained their independence, have not quite recovered from the deep lacerative effects of the invasions. As if that is not bad enough, Africa has also had a larger-than normal share of bad leaders, who are either acutely corrupt or super despotic. All of these have in no small ways helped to continually undermine the potentials of the African continent.

It is against this backdrop that we commend President Musa Yar’Adua’s call for a comprehensive Marshal plan for Africa. He had made the call at the just-concluded third African Forum in Germany. President Yar’Adua had lamented that the miserly aids and grants often given to African countries for developmental purposes are often too tokenistic to make any meaningful impact. As he put it, such aids “are usually too little, most times misdirected and generally do not make much of a difference.”

The truth is that Africa must learn to take its destiny in its hands by rising from the valley of dependence to a platform of responsibility. It must take charge of its own development challenges. One way of doing it effectively is for the continent to unite to draw a its own Marshal plan, akin to the European Recovery Programme employed by the United States of America. United States had with Europe designed a Marshal plan to reconstruct the European continent after the devastating World War 2.

The African continent must resolve from the ravages of war and despotic terrorism of its leader to work out modalities of regional integration and co-operation in a way that it can synergise its resources and launch out into the global arena with a bang.

We believe, and strongly too, that Africa surely needs an economic emergency scheme anchored on a Marshal plan. Given the fact of the human and material resources available, all that is thus germane is the harnessing of all its potentials for maximum impact. The Marshal plan, will in that sense, thus serve as a road map to the continental development plan of the region.

We call on the African leaders to immediately set in motion a process that will truly activate the practical modalities of the plan, through re-orientation and attitudinal revolution of themselves and their people. It is only when the African people themselves demonstrate a strong resolve to help themselves will they truly get out of the quagmire of underdevelopment.

One way of showing such attitudinal change will be to tackle the hydra-headed problem of corruption frontally and brutally. No donor nation or agency will be eager to assist a country where mere renovation of a government official’s residence for instance, can gulp as much as N628 million. Such high tempo graft will only repel nations willing to offer assistance. Well managed, under responsible leadership, powered by the right vision, Africa has all the potentials to be strong and independent, economically and politically. The Marshal plan can guaranty this.

In all, we believe in the Marshal plan, just as we urge African leaders to co-operate and look-inward in the task of growing the continent.