How rich Africa could beat poverty

Photo by: Frederick Onyango An elderly woman and a young girl wait for relief food in Marsabit district in Kenya. African resources do not create new wealth in Africa because they are not processed on the continent, but are shipped to the industrialised countries in raw form. October 26, 2007: Africa is not a poor continent. Rather it is the people who are. The continent has the largest world deposits of diamonds, gold, coal, copper and manganese. It has large deposits of minerals, huge reserves of crude oil and natural gas and vast forests, fisheries and land for agriculture and cattle ranching. Africans rank among the poorest in the world in the midst of plenty for three main reasons. First, since the early days of colonialism, there has been incessant plunder and exploitation of Africa’s resources by the developed world to the detriment of economic development in Africa. Second, there is deliberate marginalisation of Africa in global financing, foreign direct investment and access to science and technological innovation that could have created new wealth for Africa. In other words, African resources do not create new wealth or employment in Africa because they are not processed on the continent but are shipped to the industrialised countries in raw form. And finally, most African governments have, so far, not taken concrete action to ensure that we change globalisation system in our favour. We have not developed home grown strategies to deal with our specific situations. In most cases, we have depended on “surrogate economists” to advise us and ended up with wrong diagnoses, wrong prescriptions and hence wrong results. Africa must agree on economic strategies and technological innovations that are tailored to respond to the challenges of poverty alleviation and help to bridge the “technology divide” between industrialised and developing nations. These measures must prevent the existence of extreme poverty amidst abundant wealth; hunger and malnutrition amidst food surpluses; diseases and death amidst breakthroughs in medical and health sciences; and ignorance amidst phenomenal advancements in information and communications technology. Malawi is responding to the challenge of poverty through a variety of measures including implementing its home grown strategies and taking full ownership of its economy and destiny. During the past three years, Malawi has beaten all odds and introduced its own “Green Revolution”. It has implemented a successful agricultural subsidy programme that enabled the country to move from chronic food shortages, famine and malnutrition, to huge food surpluses. As a result, Malawi has independently been rated among the 12 best managed countries in Africa. The country has also moved from rampant corruption to a well-managed economy with a high rate of economic growth; and it has empowered the poor urban and rural communities through affordable loans and public works programmes. Malawi is meeting the challenge of poverty eradication through the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) that aims to provide a new window of opportunity for the Government, the private sector and the donor community, to combine forces towards achieving sustainable economic growth and to alleviate poverty. The Government has also decided to have a holistic policy framework that combines the management of consumption and public expenditure with a sound structure of production, manufacturing and income generation. This not only takes care of the supply side of the economy through application of new technologies, but also changes the colonial economic framework under which we “produced what we did not consume and consumed what we did not produce”. The Government has decided that to effectively reduce poverty, the Malawi economy must grow at a minimum annual rate of six per cent. To achieve this, the MGDS has six key “priorities within priorities” that we know can pull the country out of the “poverty trap”. The index has (1) agriculture and food security; (2) irrigation and water development; (3) transport and communications infrastructure; (4) energy and power development; (5) integrated rural development; and (6) management and prevention of HIV/Aids pandemic. We have also placed high priority on public health and education, especially science and technology. We have given priority to investment in physical and social infrastructures such as roads, energy, telephone and communication networks, public health, education...to increase industrial production, manufacturing and trade. As an integral part of this strategy, we have in place the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) that aims to create a favourable and enabling environment for local enterprises to invest and create new wealth for FDI to flow into Malawi. The new strategy has resulted in the growth of the Malawi economy from a mere two per cent in 2004 to a phenomenal 8.5 per cent in 2006. To break the “vicious cycle of poverty,” Malawi will not take a posture of “business as usual” but has set up clear “performance criteria” in the national budget to evaluate its actions. To enhance the performance of our economy, Malawi decided to shift from preparing “expenditure budgets”, to preparing “growth budgets” to provide the nation with a new economic vision, a sound policy for resources mobilisation, and the best practices in science and technology. This will help transform Malawi from a predominantly importing and consuming economy to a manufacturing and exporting one. Nonetheless, the industrial nations must agree to change their mindset. In this regard, let me draw your attention to the remarks made by the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who in his report to the House of Commons on the Group of Eight Summit said “the wealthy nations of the world simply cannot any longer ask the developing world to stand on its own feet but shut out the very access to our markets necessary for them to do so”. The world is one and Africa is part of it. Industrialised nations must work to enable African countries to participate effectively in global negotiations to benefit from technology, global finance, international trade and prosperity. The continued ruthless plunder and exploitation of Africa’s minerals is no longer a viable option for a new world order. Equity, justice and fairness must be adhered to in all negotiations involving the rich and poor nations. The more Africa can acquire technology for industrialisation and agro-processing, the more the continent will contribute positively to global prosperity. An economically and politically stronger Africa is a better trading partner for the industrialised countries than a weaker one. Wa Mutharika is President of the Republic of Malawi

Not for our Muluzi to learn from

BY Steven Nhlane10:04:46 - 24 October 2007

This column has never been mean when it comes to giving praise where it is due. Among those who can bear testimony to this include Kalonga Gawa Undi on the recent Kulamba ceremony in Zambia and the elevations of Chikulamayembe and Kyungu chieftaincies to the status of Paramount Chief as well as Kaluluma to Senior Chief. But former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano's achievement for winning the Africa Leadership Prize does not draw any comparisons. The prize goes with a whopping U$5million (K700million) to be given out over a period of 10 years. There are other prizes. These include U$200,000 (K28million) annually for life, thereafter, and U$200,000 (K28million) a year for 10 years towards public interest activities and good causes.Chissano has beaten the likes of South Africa's Nelson Mandela, Botswana's Ketumile Masire, Sam Nujoma of Namibia, Tanzania's Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa, Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, and of course, our own Bakili Muluzi. Chissano, we are told, won the prize for his achievements in bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country as well as for not seeking a third term which the constitution allowed.It is very tempting for many Malawians to remind our own former president, Bakili Muluzi, that what Chissano has achieved, he too could have achieved, in fact with much ease, considering that Malawi was much better off in many ways than Mozambique in 1994 when our Muluzi became president of this country. The main difference is that when Chissano took over the reins of power, he focused his fight on poverty brought about by the ravages of a 16-year-war, and the need to bring about democracy in his country. On the other hand, when our Muluzi wrested power from Kamuzu, he expended most of his energies on fighting political enemies rather than poverty. The other difference between the two former presidents is that when Chissano saw that he had done enough for his country, he voluntarily stepped down so that others waiting in the wings, could continue to build on the strong foundation he had laid down; a virtue that continues to elude our Muluzi to this day. And so we can say without fear of contradiction that as things are now, our Muluzi is far past the learning process, because he will not want to contradict himself now by bowing out of the presidential race after already declaring himself a candidate.By his own declaration---if what a BBC website report is anything to go by, he does not want to be an ex-president, meaning that should he be allowed to contest and then win the presidency, he will want to rule this country for life. It does not occur to him that there are over 14 million Malawians, many of whom are better qualified to rule this country than him. True, Chissano is a role-model not just for Africa but for the rest of the world, but his achievements are not for our Muluzi to learn from.

Chissano’s win, lesson for Muluzi

BY The Daily Times14:09:54 - 23 October 2007

That Mozambique’s former president Joachim Chissano is the first laureate of the inaugural Mo Ibrahim award only serves as a timely lesson to our own former president Bakili Muluzi who refuses to retire from active politics, but instead is armed to the teeth to bounce back to presidency.One could only imagine how Muluzi would convey his congratulatory message to his buddy Chissano.The Mozambique ex-president track record is an illustrious one. He came to power in 1986 upon the death of Mozambique’s first president Samora Machel. Having steered the country to peace, stability and democracy and strong economic progress, he voluntarily stepped down from power in 2004, despite the country’s constitution allowing him to run for a third term in office.Today, Chissano wallows in the aura of a real elder statesman, honouring invitations from organisations like the United Nations to be either an envoy or a peace negotiator. The wads of dollars he will get from the prestigious award only add to an already comfortable retired president.But to Muluzi, this entire tale does not count an inch.Here is a man who unsuccessfully manoeuvred for a third term in office by trying to amend the constitution of the country that barred him from doing so.He did not stop at that, but went further to implement his Plan B by imposing a successor on his party, eventually on all Malawians, whom he wanted to remote-control when out of office. Having failed on his Plan B, he is now decisively geared to execute Plan C, which is to stand for presidency again in 2009 and remove Mutharika from power at all cost. His party seems powerless to stop him in his tracks. Honestly, this is a terribly sad tale for an ex-president.With such a tale, the country should in the meantime forget about producing an elderly statesman like Chissano that we could all be proud of.With the record Muluzi holds after handing over power to his successor, who could assign him as a peace negotiator elsewhere, let alone an envoy?How proud would the United Democratic Front party and the entire country be if Muluzi had won the award? This country cries for an elder statesman who everybody would look up to in times of political impasses like the recently ended budget saga.This country desperately needs a peace ambassador that the UN could send to mediate between warring factions elsewhere. Unfortunately, the sole candidate for the post lives in his own world and believes completely otherwise. He has turned his retirement home into a campaign centre for his comeback and is geared to spend every penny in his kitty to fulfil his ambition.We only wish Chissano’s win could pump sense into Muluzi’s head for him to appreciate that not all is lost after relinquishing power to a successor.

Mozambique's Chissano wins Africa leadership prize

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Mozambique's former President Joaquim Chissano, who stood aside after leading his country to peace and democracy after years of civil war, won the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership on Monday.

The $5-million prize -- the world's largest individual award -- was presented by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a ceremony in London's city hall.

Chissano, a former revolutionary who fought Portuguese colonial rule, served as president of the southern African country from 1986 until 2005, winning praise for his pragmatic policies in a nation once one of the poorest in the world.

He won acclaim for stepping aside after 18 years in power, when he could have stood for a further five-year term, saying he wanted to create political space for democracy to thrive.

"President Chissano's achievements in bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country greatly impressed the committee," Annan said in awarding the prize.

"So, too, did his decision to step down without seeking the third term the constitution allowed."

Chissano, celebrating his 58th birthday on Monday, was not in London to receive the award.

He was in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, on a mission as U.N. special envoy to peace talks between the Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

Chissano has also been working with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which issued war crimes indictments against five top LRA commanders in 2005.

GOOD GOVERNANCE

Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born telecommunications entrepreneur, established the prize as a way of encouraging good governance in a continent blighted by corruption and a frequently loose adherence to democratic principles.

Annan said he expected the award to make African leaders more aware of their records on human rights and democracy.

"The prize celebrates more than just good governance," said Annan, who stepped down as U.N. head at the end of 2006.

"It celebrates leadership. The ability to formulate a vision and to convince others of that vision; and the skill of giving courage to society to accept difficult changes in order to make possible a longer term aspiration for a better, fairer future."

Winners will receive $5 million over 10 years and then $200,000 a year for life, with another $200,000 annually for "good causes" they espouse.

In contrast, the Nobel Peace Prize, which Annan won jointly with the United Nations in 2001, pays $1.5 million.

Chissano, a former leader in the Frelimo guerrilla movement which fought Portuguese rule in Mozambique for decades until independence in 1975, was only the second person to serve as president of Mozambique.

He succeeded liberation hero Samora Machel, who was killed in a plane crash in 1986.

A quiet man, Chissano showed his negotiating skills when he concluded a peace deal in 1992 to end a 16-year war with Renamo rebels, laying the foundation for his country's first multi-party elections in 1994.

While highly regarded for the role he played in reviving Mozambique's economy, he has areceived criticism for his close friendship with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.