This year, 17 African countries are celebrating 50 years of independence. In the main, it has been a roller-coaster ride for Africa in the last half a century. In many instances it has been a matter of one step forward, two steps backwards. But at the heart of this has been the issue of leadership, which really underpins the process of development.
The question that we must ask is this: have African leaders finally made the transition from overseeing colonial economies to ones that can now cater for the needs of their people? This does not appear to be the case in most of Africa. Fifty years after the heady days of independence, the economies of most African countries have not moved on from cash crops, oil production and mining, and on to industrialisation, which should be the mainstay of economic development. African countries continue to be wholesale producers of primary products for export. And they are at the mercy of external forces that fix the prices of these products, thus disrupting any chance of these countries making long-range economic projections.
The problem facing Africa today is that although the continent’s leaders have made commitments to achieve development targets over the past 50 years, they have woefully failed to make good their promises to their citizens. What this illustrates is a serious lack of dedication on the part of African leaders to a common cause for the continent.
The African Union, which replaced the Organisation of African Unity in 2002, is supposed to give meaning to the aspirations of African leaders. But they have been found wanting when it comes to implementing what they themselves have decided at their summits. A few home truths were rammed down the throats of these leaders at their recent gathering in Kampala.
You see, they had agreed at their summit in Libya in July 2009 that by July this year their countries would have ratified and acceded to all OAU and AU treaties. OAU, you might ask. Yes, indeed. Eight years after the OAU went out of existence member countries have still not made good the treaty obligations they undertook when the body was operational.
It just goes to exemplify the cavalier attitude that African leaders adopt on issues relating to the continent. At the Kampala AU summit they were presented with a report card on the State of the Union, which does not really paint a rosy picture of the performance of the pan-African body. But if you think that it was the AU Commission itself that was so brazen to admit failure, you are mistaken. The report was put together by civil society organisations in order to chivvy African leaders to keep to the promise made in Libya last year.
Sub-titled “Deliver the Dream: Time to close the gap between continental promises and the reality of African people”, the State of the Union looks at how African governments have delivered (or failed to deliver) on the various commitments they have made over the years, such as to increase investment in healthcare and agriculture, improve human rights and fight against corruption. The upshot was litany of broken promises.
“This report finds an alarming gap between AU legal instruments and policy standards, the policies and practices of most member states,” the State of the Union said. “Unless there is a change in the behaviour of both African Union organs and member states, the many important decisions being taken at continental levels risk the danger of not being implemented. This will continue to have devastating consequences for the millions of African citizens denied good governance, fundamental freedoms and basic human rights. It will also further expose our pan-African institution to an obvious credibility challenge.”
It went on: “We hope this report will encourage all of us to pause, reflect and revitalise our energies. ‘Business as usual’ will not unleash the change Africa needs. Collectively, those of us working in organs of the AU, member states and in civil society organisations must rise to the occasion to prevent the suffocation of the dream of continental integration whose time has come.”
The report is based on studies in 10 key AU member countries from the five continental regions and with a combined population of 450 million, representing two fifths of Africa’s population. So, as you can see, this is an extensive study. It was undertaken from September 2009 to June 2010.
The study portrays a mosaic of unfulfilled promises, missed targets and failure to invest in the development of the continent. Most of the landmark announcements made at previous OAU and AU summits are far from being implemented.
The health sector, an extremely crucial development indicator, has been poorly supported by African governments, which decided in 2001 to spend 15 per cent of their national budgets on health. Sadly to say, only six countries have achieved this target and Sierra Leone is not one of them.
But even in these countries there has not been a major reduction in the number of children dying under the age of five or of women during or after childbirth. The APC government’s planned free health care programme is commendable, but the bottom line is about how effectively and efficiently this money will be spent, say health experts.
In the State of the Union report, African leaders have been asked to now ratify all OAU/AU documents by January 2011. But going by poor past performance, I would say that this is yet another target date that would not be reached, come the deadline.
All in all, what this report is clearly saying is that African leaders have failed the continent and the people of Africa. Fifty years after independence Africa
Desmond Davied