‘Lack of social transformation hindering Africa’s development’

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

‘Lack of social transformation hindering Africa’s development’

‘Lack of social transformation hindering Africa’s development’
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 3:50:55 PM

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni yesterday said lack of social transformation is the main hindrance to development in Africa. And African Union Commission (AUC) deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha has described Africa as a continent on its knees owing to the effects of the global economic crisis.

Meanwhile, the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to contribute US$600 million toward the US $1 billion needed for the successful implementation of the COMESA-EAC-SADC sponsored tripartite North-South Corridor project.

Delivering his keynote address, President Museveni, who stole the limelight with his humorous sentiments and frequent use of mostly Ugandan traditional proverbs, said the continent had in the last 500 years failed to move away from being a net exporter of raw materials to finished products.

President Museveni, who described as robbery the difference in profit margins for the countries that were net exporters of raw materials and those of finished goods, said there was need for Africa to break free from the sin of exporting raw materials.

The Ugandan President cited coffee trade, saying some recent statistics had revealed that out of the total global trade spurring over US $99 billion, the net exporters of raw coffee only accounted for US $5 billion.

He said although the continent was currently shifting from being primary exporters of raw materials to value addition, growth in the industrialisation was being hampered by weak infrastructure.

"This is a massive loss to Africa. The value of Africa trade with the whole world is modern slavery, the biggest problem facing Africa for the last 500 years has been social transformation," said President Museveni, who described himself as an improvised chairman of the East African Community (EAC) representing Rwandan President Paul Kagame who was attending the commemoration of the 1994 genocide in that country.

"Originally, the problem was ideological and people didn't see that. You find that you have a permanent secretary of trade who doesn't see this to be a problem, it took our freedom fighters, not our technocrats, to realise that this is robbery. The issue that is coming up now is that people are beginning to be ideologically oriented and the problem now is infrastructure."

He said investment in infrastructure such as roads, railway and electricity would not only help to reduce the cost of doing business on the continent but also lead to job creation.

Earlier, President Museveni caused laughter among the delegates when he said Africa needed capacity building in infrastructure delivery and not "voting in elections."

President Museveni, who spoke for close to an hour, the longest among all the heads of state, also said there was need for Africa to harmonise perceptions that external funding would make work easier on the continent.

"You have people talk about capacity building and these are seminars to teach people about voting. I fought for voting and I don't need anyone to teach me how to vote," said President Museveni who is one of Africa's longest presidents serving, having been at the helm of Uganda since 1986.

"Capacity building must mean teaching people on how to implement roads, rail infrastructure because these are the biggest bottlenecks we are facing today."

He also talked about deep regional and economic integration for the continent, saying the current global financial crisis had shown that the ideal of standing alone was not feasible.

President Museveni also accused the western countries of having spread the economic crisis to Africa, which he said was in a weaker position to survive the crunch.

"Because we are associated ourselves as Africans with the 'over-consumers', we are beginning to suffer despite the fact that local demand for products that we produce is not declining. How else do you explain, for instance, in Uganda inflation is going up," he said. "Africa might be a therapy for the problems our over-consumers are facing but we need expenditure on basic infrastructure to achieve this."

President Museveni said Africa needed more independence in financing huge infrastructure projects, saying evidence in recent studies had shown that very little direct foreign assistance had gone towards capacity building in infrastructure development.

"Africa needs a bit more autonomous in financing for infrastructure projects. In the last 50 years, no big railway has been built on the continent," President Museveni said. "I don't know of any except the [Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority] Tazara which of course was built by the Chinese."

And Mwencha said there was need for increased Aid for Trade to Africa to help the continent deal with the effects of the global financial crisis.

Mwencha said lack of competitiveness and failure to integrate into the global economy exacerbated the problems the continent was facing.

"Elements of Aid for Trade should be given a central focus and it is heartening to see many development partners including institutions present here today," Mwencha said. He said the North/South Corridor project had helped to break that old perception that regional economic communities could not work together, adding that the attainment of the Abuja treaty of the Africa Common Market was not "a far cry."

"Today is the day of commitment, reflections. We have a serious agenda before us and particularly with our development partners in the face of global economic challenges, we don't leave Africa behind because there is no way the global economy will survive if any part of the world is not performing," Mwencha said. "We need a global solution that is inclusive and takes everybody on board and we hope this meeting will send that message and that commitment that Africa has to be on the table and that Africa has to address one of the difficult challenges it was facing because Africa now is almost on its knees. Not because of Africa's actions but what happened elsewhere and therefore we need that reform in order to address this challenge."

Meanwhile, AfDB president Dr Donald Kaberuka said the Bank was committed to helping finance for infrastructure projects aimed at helping to achieve competitiveness on the continent.

Dr Kaberuka disclosed that AfDB was committed to providing finance to various infrastructure on the continent including the feasibility study for the Kazungula Bridge linking Zambia and Botswana through Namibia.

"We shall commit to this region [North/South Corridor] in the coming three to four years about US $600 million. And I want to call on our other partners and institutions to do the same," said Dr Kaberuka. "We certainly want to leverage on private sector investments as well because during this crisis, infrastructure is the first victim."

And President Rupiah Banda said complexities surrounding Africa's development had continued to mount despite the national and regional initiatives as well as support from cooperating partners in the past decades.

"In addition, the increase in the flow of foreign investments and the expansion of economic activities in the region in the recent past has added pressure on existing infrastructure," President Banda said. "This is a case whether it is energy sector, telecommunication, road and rail transport networks as well as the civil aviation."

Earlier, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki urged the three tripartite secretariats within the next six months to work out the programme and timelines of integrating the other corridors.

"It is very clear therefore that our three regional economic blocs face a challenge of financing the development of infrastructure crucial to promoting growth and reducing poverty," said President Kibaki who is the current chairperson of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). "This calls for urgent and diversified joint mobilisation of financial and technical assistance."

And South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, called for increased investment in electricity sector to accelerate growth and development on the continent.

Labels: ERASTUS MWENCHA, INFRASTRUCTURE, YOWERI MUSEVENI