Maravi

Gordon Brown and the poor

Gordon Brown and the poor
By Editor
Saturday August 04, 2007 [04:00]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's commitment to the cause of the poor, to the cause of poverty eradication, cannot be doubted. As Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom and as chairman of the International Finance Corporation, we remember very well how Prime Minister Brown not only advocated that rich nations give more to the developing world, but also urged wealthy nations to cancel unpayable and unsustainable debts owed by poor nations. He did not only ask other nations to do that which he could not do.

He led by example, by committing the United Kingdom in 2005 to pay not less than 10 of the developing world's debt bill as a way of fighting poverty. And most of the benefits have come to Africa.

To further show his commitment for a fairer and more just world, Prime Minister Brown earlier this year called for the modernisation and reform of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. And he had justifiable and genuine reasons for his proposition. He justified his call for a new order not only at the UN, but also at the institutions which have not helped much to reduce world poverty and inequality - the World Bank and the IMF - by arguing that today's globalised world was not the same as the post-1945 world in which the international institutions were created.

He argued that the institutions therefore must adapt to deal with the overarching impacts of globalisation. He stated that globalisation had changed the world, and needed to work for all people through economic and social justice. He linked the necessity of reforming the institutions to the fight against terrorism. Prime Minister Brown's statement was not essentially new because it echoed previous calls for reform of the institutions. However, its significance was that it was coming from an unusual source.

At the United Nations in New York last week, Prime Minister Brown reminded the world again that a lot more needed to be done to deal with poverty and underdevelopment. He could not have put it any better than this: "It is time to call it what it is: a development emergency which needs emergency action". By this remark, what Prime Minister Brown was calling for is a new drive for the world to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which most countries, including Zambia, may not achieve as targeted.

If the truth is to be told, it is no longer doubtable that unless something magical is done, most nations will skip these targets because nothing much has occurred in terms of working towards the goals. But as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "The clock is ticking louder and louder every day. To reach the goals on time, we have to take concerted action now. Some say we will not make it but I say we still can."

As Ban admits, the true position at the moment is that many countries are off-track in terms of achieving MDGs and, although he himself is optimistic, most nations are actually off the rail as far as their journey to MDGs is concerned. This is particularly so for African countries, and Zambia is not an exception. We stated sometime this year that an assessment of the progress, or the lack of it, towards achievement of MDGs in Zambia is not encouraging. We may not necessarily have to go target by target to prove why Zambia is off-track in terms of achieving the MDGs because at the moment, we already know that more than three quarters of Zambians live with and experience poverty every day. And many households continue to go hungry. If we are to look at the health sector, the picture shows a state of hopelessness. Although a lot has been said about the need to improve maternal health care, in line with the fifth MDG, it is reported that Zambia's maternal mortality ratio at the moment is 728 per 100,000 live births. According to the United Nations Population Fund, Zambia's maternal mortality rate ratio of 728 per 100,000 live births is among the highest in the region.

These are the realities that tell us that we are not doing much in terms of achieving MDGs. And this is why it is encouraging to see leaders like Prime Minister Brown being consistent in reminding the rest of the world that world poverty should still occupy the high table of the development agenda.

Going by the state of world poverty today, where billions of people struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis, nobody can doubt Prime Minister Brown's conclusion that world poverty and underdevelopment is a development emergency which needs the attention of all those who are committed to the cause.

And we encourage Prime Minister Brown, since he has over the last few years proved to be consistent in his call for the eradication of poverty from the global stage, to keep drumming it in the heads of other world leaders, that apart from other challenges that face the world, poverty, hunger, disease and backwardness are also a reality which the world cannot afford to stand by and watch.

We can only hope that the British Prime Minister will keep his enthusiasm to tackle the challenge of poverty because the poor's voice is hardly audible - although the poor man or woman's challenges are the most visible - and perhaps a strong voice from a leader of a strong nation will have some meaning and bear some fruit, at least one day.

Labels: EDITORIAL, GORDON BROWN, TONY BLAIR

posted by MrK @ 4:44 AM