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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived document may not work.


Africa: ECA Policy Lecture, 2

Africa: ECA Policy Lecture, 2
Date distributed (ymd); 001014
Document reposted by APIC

+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++

Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+ +gender/women+
Summary Contents:
This posting and the previous one contain excerpts from the concluding section of a recent lecture by K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The lecture, gives an overview of ECA perspectives on current economic challenges, with special reference to Ghana. For the full text of the speech, please contact ecainfo@uneca.org.

+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Economic Development and Reform Issues in Africa: Lessons for Ghana

By K. Y. Amoako
Executive Secretary
Economic Commission for Africa

University of Ghana, Legon
September 21, 2000

(continued from part 1)

The informal sector

Another critical area for Ghana and Africa is how we plan to harness the energies of the so-called informal sector. Here in Accra, you can buy anything from Wrigleys chewing gum to dog collars to fly swats at the traffic lights. But is this really the most productive use of these young people's time? Sixty per cent of our people are engaged in fringe activities from which, because of a lack of support and training, they eke out a living. How can we improve their productivity? How can we boost their enterprises? How can we introduce them to new knowledge and technology, which in revolutionizing their lives, would lift the rest of Africa?

Science and technology

This links to the critical need not just to develop science and technology curriculums in our schools, but to develop S and T cultures in our societies. A tiny 0.4 percent of government resources are devoted to research and development in Africa - most of this to agriculture. This is far lower than the investments made by the Newly Industrialized Countries. Comparative experience tells us that, in a world increasingly driven by knowledge rather than physical resources, there is no way we can hope to become globally competitive with such low investments in technological advancement. Harking back to Nkrumah, we will all recall how much emphasis he placed on S and T, including the establishment of institutions like GSTS in Takoradi and UST in Kumasi. In future, when upstarts like the young Amoako insist on going to Legon to study economics rather than to Kumasi to study science and technology, maybe their parents need to be tougher on them!

Information technology, in particular, offers a means for African countries to leapfrog into the 21st century. At ECA, which houses the African Information Society Initiative, we have identified several reasons why this is so. Apart from the intrinsic importance of information and knowledge to any development effort, IT reduces the costs of doing business, cuts across the huge geographical barriers that have been such impediments to development in Africa, offers numerous economic opportunities in and of themselves for small-scale entrepreneurs, and opens huge possibilities in the social sectors such as distance education and telemedicine.

In this area of information technology, ECA is carrying out activities in partnership with several organizations including UNESCO, the World Bank and the Carnegie Corporation to develop training centres of excellence at national and subregional levels, using existing infrastructure, largely at universities and schools of technology and communication.

Having learned more from the Vice Chancellor today about the considerable progress in leveraging information technology for education here at Legon, I would like to offer all the support of the Economic Commission for Africa in ensuring that within the next three years, Legon becomes a model for African universities.

Let me also mention that driving around Accra, I have been delighted to see the many cybercaf‚s and the vibrant IT culture that is developing, including talk of E-Mail addresses at post offices - an area where I believe Ghana is taking a lead in the rest of Africa. I am also informed that "see you at dot com" has become another way of saying good-bye among the youth and that the Internet is becoming a popular venue for courtship. Don't you wish that you and I could turn back the hands of time!

Gender equality

Back to my lecture, I would be remiss if, in this discussion on human capital, I did not make specific mention of the imperative of gender equality if Africa, and Ghana, are to achieve their development objectives. In simple terms, we cannot hope to progress when more than half of Africa's people are barred from realizing their full human potential. ...

Ghanaian women have traditionally occupied key positions alongside men in the production of goods and services - yet their contributions to the economy are largely absent from national accounts. There is something deeply wrong when 43 years after independence, less than 10 percent of our parliamentarians are women. A recent study on Violence Against Women and Children in Ghana, carried out by the National Council on Women and Development reveals the extent to which the basic human rights of women are daily violated.

Again, we need to ask ourselves tough questions. Why is it that, despite the rhetoric, African countries are not doing anywhere near enough to advance the status of women? How can the energies of civil society - that have arguably been far more visible than those of government in this area - be better harnessed? How can we move beyond conferencing and advocacy to implementation and monitoring? Why are women still only talking to women at gender conferences? What can be done concretely to bring African men on board?

Health

Turning to health, despite gains made in life expectancy and infant mortality in Ghana, the weak state of the health sector is underscored by the fact that 60-70 percent of the country's health problems are communicable and preventable diseases that also include epidemics. The most frightening of these is the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

It is estimated that in no fewer than 13 African countries, between one-tenth and one-quarter of the entire adult population is living with HIV or AIDS. Infection rates this high are not seen anywhere else in the world.

As Callisto Madavo, the World Bank Vice President for Africa told a recent conference on HIV/ AIDS in Lusaka, "HIV is now the single greatest threat to future economic development in Africa." AIDS is taking away Africa's present and taking away its future.

Consider that, as a result of HIV/AIDS:

  • Economic output in Kenya will fall by 14.5 per cent in the 1995-2005 period.
  • 11 per cent of all children in Uganda and 9 per cent in Zambia have been orphaned as of today.
  • AIDS treatment costs may account for more than one-third of total government health spending in Ethiopia, more than half in Kenya and almost two-thirds in Zimbabwe by the year 2005.
  • Almost 15,000 teachers by the year 2010, and 27,000 teachers by the year 2020 will die in Tanzania.

With an infection rate of just over 4 percent (compared with Botswana, which, with a rate of 36 percent is the highest in Africa and in the world) Ghana has been spared the worst of this scourge. But I hesitate to even make this comparison because there is no room for complacency!

Indeed, it has been said that 4 percent is the "turning point" figure for HIV AIDS - where either a country is going to roll back the tide or watch it cascade. In December this year, ECA will devote its annual African Development Forum to the theme: "AIDS: Africa's Greatest Leadership Challenge". If there is one plea that I will unapologetically take advantage of this forum to make it is that Ghana rise to this challenge. Any more time wasted could be the difference between victory and defeat. Defeat in this case could wipe out the flicker of hope that we have for achieving Vision 2020.

Governance

This leads me to my final point - the common thread that runs through all the themes I have mentioned so far; the absolute pre-requisite for Ghana and Africa claiming the 21st century: the need for strong and capable states. The list I have given you is daunting. It calls for stronger and better, not weaker and ineffective states. The hallmarks of a capable state are strong institutions of governance; a sharp focus on the needs of the poor; powerful watchdogs; the rule of law; intolerance of corruption; transparency and accountability in the management of public affairs; respect for human rights; participation by all citizens in the decisions that affect their lives; as well as the creation of an enabling environment for the private sector and civil society. Capable states nurture all of these. Confident governments welcome the views of academics, civil society, the media, even of opposition parties.

Ghana is making important progress in these areas. The cornerstone for these is the 1992 constitution that provides for a multiparty, liberal, democratic order that is underpinned by the separation of executive, legislative and administrative powers, and is buttressed by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. The form of political authority changed - let us hope decisively and irrevocably - from military to multiparty in 1992. Two elections have taken place and a third is about to be held. In the short term, there may be contradictions between the imperatives of political and economic reform. But one thing we know for certain is that, in the long-term, plurality is the answer to political stability without which there cannot be economic development.

The bodies in our society charged with watchdog functions are increasing in number and maturity. There has been a significant proliferation of mass media organizations in both print and electronic media and a variety of civil society organizations have sprung up.

Corruption is being discussed more openly - but a great deal remains to be done on this matter both in Ghana and the rest of Africa. Here, I would draw your attention to an in depth study that has just been conducted in Kenya entitled "The link between Corruption and Poverty: lessons from Kenya Case Studies." The study points out that corruption taxes the poor, increases transaction costs and reduces the level of economic activity. Similarly, a study in Tanzania shows that corruption increases the cost of living by 25 percent.

Corruption is one of the cancers that have preyed on Africa's misfortunes, driving us even further into economic mismanagement and despair. The 2000 Corruption Perception Index, just released by Transparency International, shows five African countries to be among the top ten most corrupt countries in the world with Nigeria reclaiming the number one position from Cameroon. Ridding ourselves of this cancer must be a key priority in the 21st Century. As we would say here at Legon, integri procedamus - let integrity proceed!

Public perceptions are a key barometer of governance. The Ghana Institute of Economic Affairs has conducted two revealing studies - in 1995 and in 1999. There are several positive signals: growing awareness of the constitution; recognition of the system of government; of limitations to the president's power; of the military ceasing to be a source of fear; of freedom of expression taking root.

But there are also worrying signs - such as the declining perception of political representation, the high perception that political parties do not have an equal playing field and perhaps most worrying of all, the fact that two thirds of Ghanaians feel that their quality of life has not improved. If we revert to our earlier figures, this is hardly surprising. For although the trend is upwards, per capita income is lower than at independence and at $450 per annum it is pitifully low.

This brings us back to the crossroads - to the choices for the future.

VI. CAN WE MAKE IT?

In his book, "Which World? Scenarios for the 21st Century", Allen Hammond paints three scenarios for Africa based on the 2050 workshop held in Harare in 1994. These are:

  • SCENARIO ONE: High growth, led by Southern Africa with South Africa as the main engine of growth and a strong Southern African common market, but with Nigeria awakening and pulling its weight in West Africa, and a strong African common market emerging.
  • SCENARIO TWO: An escalation in ethnic conflict and sporadic government collapse discouraging private investment, beginning in west Africa, spreading to central and east Africa.
  • SCENARIO THREE: Episodic crises continue, debts are cancelled but new loans and private investment are scarce and export markets continue to shrink. However, a new generation of pragmatic leaders emerges. There is far greater self-scrutiny and consensus for change among the peoples of Africa. Economic reforms are pursued and deepened with governments making education and other basic social services a high priority.

Call me na‹ve, but looking at these three scenarios, I cannot help but feel that although the third scenario is a safer bet, the first of these scenarios is plausible, especially as we now know for a fact that Nigeria is awakening. This must be a source of hope for West Africa, as South Africa's emergence proved to be for Southern Africa.


This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC provides accessible information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and international policies toward Africa that advance economic, political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.

URL for this file: http://www.africafocus.org/docs00/eca0010b.php