HARARE -(Dow Jones)- A Zimbabwe businessman who said President Robert Mugabe
had "printed useless money" has been convicted of denigrating the president, the
BBC reports on its Web site Wednesday.
Jason Gambitzs told his staff he couldn't give them a Christmas party or
bonuses because of the president's policies, state-run media report.
Gambitzs pleaded guilty to contravening the two-year-old law which outlaws
insulting the president.
The 72-year-old faces up to a year in jail when sentenced.
"Your Mugabe is chasing away tourists who are supposed to bring in money," Mr
Gambitzs allegedly told his workers Dec. 9, the Herald newspaper reports.
"So where do you think I will get the cash from? ...Why can't we remove him
from power?" he reportedly asked.
Gambitzs is the third Zimbabwean in two months to be charged under the
law.
One was arrested for labelling Mr Mugabe a dictator who ruled by the sword
and another was jailed for calling him thick-headed.
Mugabe has been in power since independence from the U.K. in 1980.
The country is suffering a major economic crisis, with inflation now
officially standing at 149% and unemployment at about 80%.
Millions of once self-reliant people are now surviving on food aid, blamed by
critics on the government's land reform program, which seized commercial farms
from white farmers for redistribution to black Zimbabweans.
Mugabe said the seizures were necessary to redress the balance of
ownership.
Fourth day of Christmas: The Scandal of Mugabe’s prisons
Sokwanele
Reporter: 29 December
2004
An opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party activist who spent over a month in solitary
confinement in one of Robert Mugabe's hell hole prisons before the bogus charges
against him were dropped and he was released without explanation or apology,
reflects on the scandalous state of the country's prisons:
"Even the police cells
throughout the country where those who are charged with crimes are gathered
prior to court hearings, are filthy and overcrowded. Overflowing broken toilets
where toilet paper is unheard-of, are the order of the day. Due to the
unhygienic conditions diarrhoea is ever present and prisoners have to use their
hands to clean themselves. Showers and washing are nonexistent in these
facilities. Generally there are two meals a day made up of a communal bowl of
sadza (cooked maize meal) and these same dirty hands and fingers are the
instruments for eating. Needless to say, this continues the cycle of the upset
stomach. There is no tea or sugar and there are no vegetables or meat to add to
this diet. Prisoners held in these conditions lose weight rapidly. Often,
remand prisoners are left to themselves, forgotten and at times they can be left
without food altogether for a day at a time or more.
"In the prisons, these
conditions are mirrored although of late, the quantities and the number of meals
have been reduced due to lack of funds. Here you will find prisoners sentenced
for long-term incarceration very lucky to receive a cup of tea in the morning
for breakfast. Prisoners queue twice a day to collect their meals dished up
from filthy dirty plastic containers. There are no cleaning materials and the
vessels are lined with putrified scum. Prisoners on remand who make the
fortnightly journey to the nearest courthouse, often return to find their meals
left on dirty plastic plates, smothered in flies. There are times when they are
not so lucky and return to face the prospect of up to another 24 hours without
any food at all. (It must be remembered that even the remand prisoners are
denied food from their relatives and friends despite the fact that the
government department responsible does not have enough funds to provide the
basic nutritional needs of inmates).
"In some prisons rice is
served as an option but it is not a wise choice as the portion is pitiful and
makes up about one handful twice a day. To this is added the course stalks of a
bitter type of cabbage (Kale) in the morning. Later in the day one might be
fortunate enough to receive a spoonful of boiled beans. This last meal of the
day can be served as early as three o'clock in the afternoon with nothing
further until a cup of tea the next morning for breakfast.
"A lot of Zimbabwe's
prisons were built as self-sustaining units with well-equipped prison farms
which supplied the basic food needs of the whole prison population. Piggeries,
dairies, chickens and the beef herd used to provide prisoners with a healthy and
varied diet. Today, it is only the prison staff who benefit from what remains
of the produce from these now dilapidated and badly managed farms. Sadly, the
prisoners don't even pick up the scraps. Disease is rife and diet related
illnesses such as scurvy are evident everywhere. Every day, there are deaths
caused by ailments brought on by nutrition deficiency. The immune system
suffers as a consequence and, with virtually no medical care available, there
are literally hundreds of preventable deaths a year in our prisons.
"Yet while prisoners
starve and die, the political elite get fatter and richer by the day as they
plunder the diminishing resources of a once happy and prosperous
Zimbabwe".
ps.
To mark the International
Human Rights Day on December 10, the Law Society of Zimbabwe (ZSZ) visited a
number of prisons across the country. The lawyers examined prison conditions at
Khami, Bulawayo, Mutare and Chikurubi prisons. They reported that there is
insufficient food in the prisons and the living conditions are inhumane. Their
findings support the view that conditions in the prisons are a scandal. It is
little wonder that they are increasingly seen as death traps for inmates.Unconfirmed reports say at least five
prisoners die because of disease and starvation every month at just one of the
country’s prison – Harare Remand Prison, which is one of Zimbabwe’s most
overcrowded prisons.
Day
5:
30th December 2004 Tomorrow’s article describes the Zimbabwean government’s
efforts to become the sole controller and provider of food supplies in Zimbabwe.
This has inevitably led to extensive corruption.
Real courage in Zimbabwe By David Thomas, Evening Standard 11 February 2003
People talk a lot of rubbish about courage. Politicians
boast of making tough decisions, when all they've ever done is follow the latest
focusgroup. Actresses witter away about the bravery required to get their kit
off in public. I'll tell you what courage is.
Courage is walking on to a cricket pitch in Zimbabwe, wearing a black armband
to protest the death of democracy.
Courage is issuing a statement that lets the whole world know that
Zimbabweans are crying out for release from the inhumanity and insanity of the
Robert Mugabe regime.
Courage is doing those
things when you know that Mugabe's opponents usually end up tortured, imprisoned
or killed.
Courage is what Andy Flower and Henry Olonga displayed yesterday.
Their gesture of resistance was sport's equivalent to the student standing
before the tanks at Tiananmen Square. It was as if a German athlete had walked
into Berlin's Olympic Stadium, in 1936, wearing a yellow star in solidarity with
the Jews.
And it let the whole world know that the issue of playing cricket in Zimbabwe
had nothing whatever to do with player security.
The ICC, cricket's governing body, that verminous nest of unprincipled
toadies and crawlers, laid on a press conference to assure us that the death
threats received by England should not be taken seriously. South Africa's
second-most senior policeman promised that the players were in no danger.
The England team were evidently not impressed. Maybe they were wrong.
I don't think there's ever been a question of Mugabe allowing any potential
danger within miles of the match. If there's one thing dictators are good at,
it's security. But I'm not the one who got the death threat. If I were going to
spend hours on a cricket pitch, as a sitting duck for a possible sniper, I may
feel very differently.
I'm not going to knock a man for refusing to walk in front of a gun. Still I
say again, security was never the issue.
The issue is the degree to which decent human beings are prepared to do
business with filth. It's the willingness of sportsmen to celebrate their
health, their strength and their freedom in a land where millions are starving,
innocent families are butchered and government opponents are tried for treason.
That's why, back in August last year - long before the current fuss exploded
- I was saying that the England cricket team should never set foot in Zimbabwe.
People can throw up their hands and say it's not the business of sport to
make moral and political judgements. They can claim that other ICC countries
have governments that are anti-democratic themselves.
But there is no other cricketing nation where property is seized on
government orders, and its owners raped and killed.
No other nation uses mass starvation as a political tool.
Now Flower and Olonga have told the world that the people of Zimbabwe are
begging for release from their oppression.
Since their heroic gesture, I've changed my mind.
I think England should go to Zimbabwe. The world's cricketers should stand
alongside these brave men, wearing black armbands, just as they did.
Zimbabwe's cricketers may be governed by a madman, their sport may be run by
grovelling cowards, but they need to be reassured: they are not alone.
Overseas students cheating British education system: Think tank
Press
Trust of India
London, December 29, 2004|15:54 IST
Thousands
of people who enter Britain as students, particularly from Jamaica and Zimbabwe,
are being granted extensions to stay — far more than the number of official
college places, a think-tank has claimed. The analysis of government
statistics by Migrationwatch, an independent think-tank, said that the figures
make it more likely that people who have visited the UK for other reasons are
trying to stay as students and may be using bogus colleges. In the case of
Jamaica, figures for 2001-2003 show that 1,690 students were admitted to the UK,
but 27,525 others were given permission to extend their stays. Over the same
period, 4,270 Zimbabwean students were allowed entry, but 25,420 other
"students" were granted extensions of stays. "Even if some of the education
is not in formal educational establishments, how can you explain 27,000
extensions? Jamaica and Zimbabwe are largely English-speaking, so these cannot
all be English-language courses," said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of
Migrationwatch. The think-tank's analysis is drawn from Home Office
immigration statistics that show 190,215 extensions were granted last year — an
increase in student extensions of 48 per cent. A spokesperson of the Home
Office said Migrationwatch was highlighting "an old story". The government
was aware of abuse of the overseas student system and was introducing tighter
visa restrictions and stricter limitations on the time people could spend in the
UK on courses.
Policy implementation to consolidate gains realised this year
By Leonard Makombe THE year 2005 will see the consolidation of the gains realised
this year through the implementation of the Macro-Economic Policy Framework
(2005-2006).
Some of the gains which have been realised during the last
12 months include impressive strides by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in reducing
the rate of inflation from 622 percent in January to 149,3 percent last month,
stimulating economic growth and rationalising the financial sector which was
fuelling the country*s economic problems last year.
By and large, the
year 2004 marked a turning point in the country*s fortunes as the cumulative
decline in real gross domestic product (GDP) of 28,4 percent between 1999 and
2003 was arrested.
According to preliminary estimates, a 2,5 percent
decline in real GDP would be registered in 2004 from an 8,5 percent decline last
year.
As the Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr
Herbert Murerwa, put it when he presented the 2005 national Budget, projections
for the coming year indicate that with sustained implementation of the recovery
measures embarked upon, the economy is on course for positive growth of between
3,5 percent and 5 percent.
GDP is one of the main indices used to
measure a country*s economic development and it sends signals --- both positive
and negative --- to international investors.
During the year a battery
of measures were put in place to turn around the economy. The most notable of
these were a tight monetary policy and a new policy framework with a two-year
implementation period.
While the monetary policy announced in December
2003 has been largely credited with some of the gains recorded so far, it must
also be mentioned that the fiscal discipline on the part of the central
Government has had far-reaching, and positive results.
Under the
Macro-Economic Policy Framework (2005-2006) a review of the National Economic
Recovery Programme (NERP) has been made.
Sectoral objectives such as
agriculture development, industrialisation, infrastructure development,
investment promotion, social service delivery and poverty reduction underpin the
new policy framework.
These sectoral objectives are consistent with the
realisation of Zimbabwe*s Millennium Development Goals targeted at reducing
poverty, improving health and education delivery by 2015.
Among the
challenges faced by monetary authorities and Government in the coming year will
include maintaining the momentum which has been generated so far.
An
inflation target of 200 percent by December 2004 was initially set in the maiden
monetary policy statement. It stood at 149,3 percent as at November 30. And
indications are that based on current performance, the rate will continue to
slow down until the desired single-digit levels in 2007.
As such,
analysts said there was need to maintain the momentum and at the same time make
sure that other strategies, consistent with the spirit of economic recovery, are
implemented.
"Such strategies would include increasing the volume and
quality of exports which are produced in the country. "
It has always
been mentioned that our exports, including those from other African countries,
do not earn much on the international market because they do not have value
addition.
"This is one area we need to improve on as a nation if we are
to increase our foreign currency receipts and speed up the economic recovery,"
noted one analyst.
He added that precious metals such as platinum would
do wonders for the country if proposed changes by RBZ are implemented in
February.
The central bank has promised to take over the marketing and
regulation role of platinum, effective next year, in a move aimed at making sure
that the white metal makes its rightful contribution to the economy.
By
Paul Nyakazeya FIVE banks will initially be
accommodated in the $2 trillion Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) which
begins operations next week.
These are Trust Bank, Time Bank, Royal
Bank, Barbican Bank and Intermarket.
CFX Bank, which is only two weeks
into curatorship, has been ruled out for the time being.
ZABG, which was
born out of the Troubled Financial Institutions Act passed by Parliament
recently, gives the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) the power to intervene in the
affairs of banking institutions that faced financial problems and were
subsequently placed under curatorship.
Speaking with the Herald Business
yesterday, economist Dr Eric Bloch, who also sits on the RBZ advisory board,
said five banks would make up ZABG when it starts operating next month.
"The banks that are to be accommodated in the Zimbabwe Allied Banking
Group are Trust Bank, Time Bank, Royal Bank, Barbican Bank and Intermarket. I do
not see CFX coming in at this stage because the curator (Mr Fungai Kuipa) would
not have completed his investigations in time to be part of the first lot.
"The bank (CFX) might join later in the year when procedures have been
followed," said Dr Bloch when asked which banks would make up ZABG.
The
aim of creating ZABG is to resolve the problems of solvency and liquidity being
experienced by the banking sector. The banking group will amalgamate selected
troubled banks into a single unit, which will be issued with a banking licence.
The Herald Business understands RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono would soon
appoint Mr Stephen Gwasira, who is the central bank*s head of supervision and
surveillance, to head ZABG.
Mr Gwasira will come in as Chief Operating
Officer of the allied banking group while Mr Dominic Magwada, managing director
of Trust Bank, would be appointed head of the retail division. Mr Andy Hodges
will head the treasury division, while NDH founder Mr Never Mhlanga is expected
to head the asset management arm.
Mr Sydney Mabika, former head of
personnel consultants Lorimark would be brought in as chief of human resources.
In October, Dr Gono pledged to have the bank operating what he said
would be "full-scale banking operations on 1 January, 2005". He also ordered
curators to turn in their final reports by November 30.
Dr Gono has set
2007 as the year when Government would be expected to ease out of ZABG to make
way for private investors.
In this endeavour, Government and the Reserve
Bank hope to create a platform for indigenous investors to acquire shares in
sound banking institutions, protect creditors and depositors and resolve
liquidity and solvency challenges in distressed institutions.
RBZ and
Government also hope to minimise moral hazards and promote prudent banking
practices to promote strong corporate governance, accountability and shareholder
oversights.
Government will own shares in ZABG, through a Special
Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and will bear the cost of banking crisis resolutions
already advanced to the financial sector through the Troubled Banks Fund.
It is expected that Government will fully divest from ZABG by 2007 by
which time full economic turnaround would have been achieved.
Although
the Special Purpose has an option to own 100 percent of ZABG, the ultimate
structure will depend on the valuation of existing shareholding in the troubled
banking institutions as well as the value of claims from other creditors and/or
depositors converted into equity.
Initially, ZABG would be financed
through the conversion of the RBZ Troubled Banks Fund and claims of other
significant creditors and depositors which will be converted into equity.
Daily Mirror, 29 December Final nail in Moyo coffin Daily Mirror
reporter
Zanu PF has put the final nail in the coffin of Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo’s political career after it set new guidelines, which disqualify
the rabid critic of the private media from contesting in the party’s primary
elections to select candidates for next year’s parliamentary elections. Moyo
does not feature in any of the party’s structures from where candidates for the
January 15 primary elections will be picked. According to new guidelines
announced yesterday, only those in the central committee, national consultative
assembly and provincial executives are eligible for elections.President Robert
Mugabe has since said he would not appoint anyone into his Cabinet who has not
been elected by the people. The junior minister’s political fortunes have been
waning after his name was deleted by the presidium from the list of central
committee nominees from Matabeleland North, before he was subsequently dropped
from the Politburo at the December 1 to 5 party congress. His crime was the
convening of the unsanctioned Tsholotsho meeting that attempted to scuttle the
ascendancy of Joyce Mujuru into the party’s presidium, in favour of Speaker of
Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa has since distanced himself from the
plot, which would also have seen the removal of party vice-president Joseph
Msika and chairman John Nkomo in favour of former women’s league boss Thenjiwe
Lesabe and legal secretary Patrick Chinamasa, respectively. Lesabe has since
been relegated to a committee member in the politburo, while Chinamasa tumbled
from the party’s highest decision-making body outside congress. Although Moyo
had become popular in his "home" constituency of Tsholotsho, which he had
literally developed overnight, upgrading roads and providing public lighting,
the meeting he held there with six provincial leaders and other "mini-heavies"
from around the country has left him in a delicate situation. The party has
since suspended the six provincial chairmen and war veterans’ leader, Jabulani
Sibanda, which renders them ineligible to contest the primary polls.The six are:
Masvingo chairman, Daniel Shumba, Manicaland’s Mike Madiro, Midlands’ July Moyo,
Matabeleland North’s Jacob Mudenda, Lloyd Siyoka of Matabeleland South and
Themba Ncube of Bulawayo. Eccentric war veterans’ leader Joseph Chinotimba
and former home affairs deputy minister Mabel Chinomona are also likely to be
affected by the entry rules since they face disciplinary problems in their home
provinces in the aftermath of the Tsholotsho meeting. Chinomona has a pending
case before the party’s national disciplinary committee, while the ruling party
Harare provincial executive passed a vote of no-confidence in Chinotimba and
former Harare mayor Tony Gara for their various roles in the unsanctioned
meeting. A number of other Zanu PF young "Turks" are also likely to be sidelined
as a result of the party’s new guidelines, as the party rids itself of people
perceived to be bent on destroying it from within. Zanu PF political commissar,
Elliot Manyika yesterday said only provincial executive, national consultative
and central committee members would be eligible to stand in the primaries, while
outgoing parliamentarians who did not meet the set criteria and had no
disciplinary cases against them are also in for possible
re-election. "Provincial executive members, national consultative members and
central committee members are the only party members eligible to stand as party
candidates in the 120 constituencies countrywide," Manyika said, adding that
interested members should submit their CVs through their district coordinating
committees by this coming Sunday. He added: "Outgoing Members of Parliament who
do not meet the above criteria and have no disciplinary cases against them are
eligible as well." However, the waiver does not count for Moyo, who was only in
Parliament by virtue of having been appointed by President Mugabe as a
non-constituency Member of Parliament. Manyika last night said the waiver only
related to "elected" MPs. Makonde MP Kindness Paradza, also finds himself in a
precarious position since he has a case pending before the party’s national
disciplinary committee for allegedly disrespecting party structures and the
office of the President. While Zanu PF’s secretary for information and
publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, has said Paradza has been cleared of the charges,
the party’s provincial chairman for Mashonaland West, Phillip Chiyangwa, before
his disappearance, insisted Paradza was still on suspension. Political
observers said there was no love lost between the erstwhile friends – Paradza
and Chiyangwa. Paradza was arrested on Monday for allegedly inciting violence in
his constituency against Leo Mugabe’s supporters, and was released on free bail
yesterday. Mugabe is the provincial secretary for information and publicity for
troubled Mashonaland West province. Manyika added that all provinces would be
required to set aside a third of their constituencies for women, in line with
the party’s constitution as adopted during the party’s congress early this
month. Card-carrying members who could not hold positions in the party because
of their employment in the civil service would only be allowed to contest the
primaries after a waiver by the party’s national elections directorate. This
exemption is likely to favour outgoing Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief
executive officer Tichaona Jokonya, who is reportedly eyeing Chikomba
constituency in Mashonaland East. Jokonya, a former ambassador to Ethiopia, is
also Zimbabwe’s former permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva
and in New York. Prospective candidates will be vetted in their respective
provinces before their names are submitted to the national elections directorate
for further vetting. The party has also directed that the primary elections be
held in one day throughout the country, possibly to minimize rigging.
Zim Online (SA), 29 December EU to cut aid if Mugabe signs NGO law
Harare - The European Union will reduce all aid, including humanitarian
assistance, to Zimbabwe if the southern African nation's draft non-governmental
organisations (NGO) Bill was made in to effective law. The Bill, which prohibits
NGOs from receiving foreign funding for human rights work and imposes several
other severe restrictions on civic society, was passed by Parliament two weeks
ago but must be signed by President Robert Mugabe to become effective law. In a
statement the EU president said the new legislation will curtail its ability to
give humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe which in the past it has given through
NGOs. The statement read in part, "the NGO Bill is bound to circumscribe the
work of NGOs in the field of governance and could have a significant negative
impact on the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe. (The EU) also regrets the
impact that the Bill will have on other areas, notably social, health, and
humanitarian programmes. If the bill is implemented immediately, the EU's
ability to provide assistance to Zimbabwe will be significantly affected".
Brussels has already withheld a EU7.5 million grant to Harare for HIV/AIDS
programmes until NGOs through which the funds will be disbursed are registered
under the tough new law. The EU stance appears to confirm earlier warnings by
civic society experts that the government's new NGO law will scare away
potential foreign donors besides forcing at least half of civic organisations in
the country to close down. Mugabe and his government say the new law is
necessary to rein in some NGOs they accuse of hiding behind humanitarian work
while plotting to topple them from power.
Daily Mirror, 29 December Family pays dearly for supporting MDC Tinofa Karonga
A family in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP) District in Mashonaland East
paid dearly for allegedly supporting the opposition MDC, when it was banished
from the area by Chief Tedius Matambanashe and war veterans a fortnight ago.
Assistant Inspector Dickson Muza of UMP Police confirmed to The Daily Mirror
yesterday that they had received a report that a family of eight, under the
guardianship of Reginald Marongedza, was evicted from its homestead and banished
from the area. Relatives had told Chief Matambanashe and war veterans that they
were die-hard supporters of the MDC.Muza also said the family was alleged to
have been in possession of MDC membership cards and party T-shirts. "The police
received the report of the banishment and launched an investigation to establish
whether it was true that the family was evicted on allegations of supporting the
opposition party. The police failed to get ample evidence to show that they were
members of the opposition, but we are still investigating the matter," Muza
said. Last week, Marongedza (29) adamantly denied being a member or supporter of
the MDC. He alleged that jealous relatives had sold him out in order for them to
take over a piece of land that was left in his custody by his late parents. "I
don’t support the MDC. I don’t even know their slogans, but I was labelled an
MDC supporter. They have taken my land and my livestock are being kept at a
friend’s home. It is only jealousy because I occupy a very big piece of fertile
land and own many beasts. The matter is being handled by the district council,"
Marongedza said. The chief executive officer of the UMP Rural District Council,
Edward Manyani, said they would deal with the matter as soon as possible. "We
received the report and together with the police we are going to settle the
dispute. Every person has the right to belong to a party of his or her own
choice, though Uzumba is a no-go area for the opposition," Manyani said. The
chief could not be contacted for comment.
Some people see in Africa's political and economic failings proof that
Africans are incapable of ruling themselves. Such people may also believe that
the colonial powers opted out of the continent prematurely and that some more
years of tutelage might have made a difference. In this liberal age such views
are rarely spoken openly by either the enemies or friends of Africa. But it
would be naive to think that Africa's experience has not raised questions about
the quality of the character and mind of the African. The doubt certainly
occupies the thoughts of many Africans as they watch their prostrated countries
treated as basket cases. Self-doubt has grown with each decade of apparent
failure.
Ordinary Africans, bewildered and disappointed by the outcome of self-rule,
find little around them to instil the confidence that as a people they can
manage their own recovery. In some respects Africans are now more vulnerable to
theories of black inferiority than they were during colonialism. Under
colonialism they could dream that with liberation would come the opportunity to
prove their worth. The future was uncompromised by the failures of the present.
After more than three decades of misgovernment, many Africans have lost faith.
In 1990 a state governor in Imo state in southeastern Nigeria explained to a
public meeting in the capital Owerri that his cash-strapped government was
unable to solve the severe erosion problem devastating the region. After he had
spoken an old man in the audience stood up and said "Since you and other black
leaders have tried your best but have not been able to improve the lives of us
ordinary people, why don't we ask the whites to come back. When the white man
ruled us things were not this bad. Please ask them to come and save us." The
statement, spoken with sincerity, met momentary silence in the audience followed
by some laughter and applause.
In a way, the whites have been returning. Some would say, they never left.
Over the past two decades western governments, aid agencies and multilateral
finance institutions have sent experts to African countries to help them
develop. The help increasingly involved attempts to direct the political and
economic development of the recipient nations.
Calls for recolonisation
The experts and their prescriptions have failed to shift Africa. The next
stage, it seems, is for the West to directly take over the management of
troubled African nations. Last year writer Norman Stone in 'The Observer'
newspaper proposed a programme of enlightened re-imperialism' to sort Africa
out. Conditions in Africa today, he said, were similar to the bloody mess that
prevailed before European colonisation in the nineteenth century. "There is a
strong case for another version of the nineteenth-century liberal international
order to be re-imposed....Empires do not have to be formal or tyrannical....
There are times when they do good, and the post-independence history of Africa
indicates that this is one of them."
Why not simply privatise whole African countries?, asked Robert Wheelen of
the Institute of Economic Affairs. In the journal of the institute in September
1996 Wheelen argued that multi-national companies should be invited to bid for
the right to run African nations under leases of up to 21 years. They would
undertake to provide specific services and bring about efficiency and discipline
in return for pre-set tax revenue.
The tragedy of Africa's situation is that as absurd as these proposals by
latter day imperialists sound, there are many Africans who would support some
degree of direct governance by external agents to straighten out their
countries. For instance, some Liberians called for their war-battered nation to
become a trust territory of the United Nations. International football star
George Weah, apparently exasperated by the anarchy and hopeless condition of his
homeland, told the New York Times in May 1996: "The United Nations should come
in and take over Liberia, not temporarily, but for life. To make Liberians
believe in democracy, to make us believe in human rights." For his
outspokenness, two of Weah's female cousins were raped and his house burnt down
by gunmen from one of the warring factions that had for six years turned Liberia
into a killing field in a senseless war.
Weah's comment was naive but understandable. Blaming Africa's woes on bad
leaders has become the mantra of many people concerned about the continent's
future. A change in government, preferably through democratic means, is viewed
as the main pre-requisite for making a fresh start and attracting economic
investment. Analysts focus their minds on how inept African leaders can be got
rid of. George Ayittey, a Ghanaian professor at the American University in
Washington, DC, suggested that African dictators be paid to relinquish power.
Citing the example of Somalia where a war-induced famine in 1992 led to an
international mercy mission, Ayittey told a reporter during the OAU summit in
July 1996 "The humanitarian mission cost more than $3 billion. If we had just
taken $50 million and bought out the regime, imagine the savings in terms of
life and infrastructure." In a similar vain, the Financial Times Africa expert
Michael Holman, had suggested in his paper that a demobilisation fund be set up
to ease the army out of power in Nigeria and "provide golden handshakes to
officers who want to leave."
The tendency is to view Africa's woes in terms of the excesses of individual
dictators and their cronies. The image that comes to mind is of kleptomaniacs
and megalomaniacs like Mobutu Sese Seko and Jean-Bedel Bokassa. It is easy to
draw from this the conclusion that the simple solution to Africa's governance
problems is to change its leaders.
The belief that a nation can be redeemed by removing a set of crooked leaders
inspired the killing of Nigeria's first post-independence civilian rulers by
idealistic army majors. But the coup only succeeded in shifting power to another
set of ineffectual leaders. Since independence in 1960 the leadership of Nigeria
has changed nine times. This is more changes of government than occurred in most
European democracies during the period. Despite the changes of governments, the
Nigerian state remained corrupt and ineffective. Throughout Africa, changes in
helmsmen have not lessened corruption or quickened the pace of economic
development.
Ignorance and lack of capacity not the main causes
Some people put the persistence of mismanagement down to a lack of capacity
for good governance. One result of this view is the explosion of capacity
building programmes initiated by donor and multilateral agencies. The aim of the
schemes is to help African countries put in place structures and reforms that
will strengthen the rule of law, support democracy and promote greater
accountability and transparency. Underlying many of these programmes is the
notion that poor governance is due largely to incompetence, ignorance and
inadequate infrastructure. In effect, the aim is to do now what many feel should
have been done by the colonisers before they relinquished power. That is, teach
Africans how to govern themselves.
Certainly African nations suffer from poor administrative, inadequate
judicial infrastructure and insufficient numbers of expertise. But these
short-comings cannot explain the abuse and misuse of state power in the
continent. For instance, Nigeria has a large number of highly-trained
professionals, including accountants and constitutional lawyers. Laid down
budgetary procedures, include provisions for checks and balances, are adequate.
But the fact remains that Nigerian rulers have ignored the provisions of the
constitution and laid down administrative procedures are irrelevant to the
actual workings of government.
Abuse and misuse of power and authority by Nigerian rulers have not been
largely due any national lack of capacity for good governance. Nigerian leaders
have not been ineffective and tyrannical because they are incompetent or
ignorant. Neither has the lack of administrative or intellectual expertise to
formulate and properly execute growth enhancing policies been the major problem.
Quite simply, Nigerian leaders have acted in their own selfish interests in
total disregard to existing rules and laid-down procedures.
The popular image of African rulers as bungling buffoons is not helpful. It
obscures reality. Anyone who has observed the way in which the military has
dominated politics in Nigeria would see that the generals are no fools. They and
their advisers have shown themselves to be quite adept in the art of retaining
political power. Since the early 1990s they have toyed with the civilian
political class. General Sani Abacha has since seizing power in 1993, with
remarkable political skill undermined the opposition - sowed confusion in their
ranks and made them loss credibility in the eyes of the public. Judged by
Machievellian standards, Nigeria's ruling generals and their advisers have shown
great political sophistication. It would be a mistake to approach Abacha and his
cronies as a bunch of idiots, ignorant of the art of politics.
Similarly, we should not see reactionary economic policies and practices of
African governments as stemming mainly from lack of knowledge of economic theory
and management. Many of the economic policies and actions that have entrenched
African countries in economic under-development were deliberately carried out to
serve the interest of those in power. African ruling elites have benefited
enormously from the economic misfortune of their nations. Not surprising, they
prefer to maintain the status quo as chaotic and depressive as it may seem for
the majority of Africans and liberal observers from abroad. There is reason in
the anarchy.
Scramble for wealth and power
Rather than view African rulers as buffoons, we should see them and their
actions from the perspective of the interests they serve. The failure of
democracy and economic development in Africa are due to a large part to the
scramble for wealth by predator elites who have dominated African politics since
independence. They see the state as a source of personal wealth accumulation.
There is high premium on the control of the state, which is the biggest and most
easily accessible source of wealth accumulation. The people in power and those
who seek power use all means to attain their goal. This includes fostering
ethnic sectarianism and political repression. Competition for control of the
state, whether between the military and civilian classes or between civilian
political parties, is invariably ferocious and generates instability. Many of
the apparently senseless civil conflicts in Africa, including in Liberia and
Somalia, are due to the battle for the spoils of power.
Franz Fanon in his book 'The Wretched of the Earth' published in 1961
eloquently described the character of the class that inherited power from the
colonialists. It is "a sort of little greedy caste, avid and voracious, with the
mind of a huckster, only too glad to accept the dividends that the former
colonial powers hands out. This get-rich-quick middle class shows itself
incapable of great ideas or of inventiveness. It remembers what it has read in
European textbooks and imperceptibly it becomes not even the replica of Europe,
but its caricature." This class, said Fanon prophetically, is not capable of
building industries "it is completely canalised into activities of the
intermediary type. Its innermost vocation seems to be to keep in the running and
to be part of the racket. The psychology of the national bourgeoisie is that of
a businessman, not that of a captain of industry." The description remains
accurate for today's elite who have grown through civilian politics, military
governments, business and the civil service.
As long as African political rulers and administrators are drawn from this
class of predators, no amount of preaching the virtues of good governance or
tuition on public administration will fundamentally alter the quality of
governance. This is not to say that constitutional reforms and increasing civil
society infrastructure are not important. They are. But they are not the key to
solving the problem of bad governance.
Good governance is the effective exercise of power and authority by
government in a manner that serves to improve the quality of life of the
populous. This includes using state power to create a society in which the full
development of individuals and of their capacity to control their lives is
possible. A ruling class that sees the state solely as a means of expropriating
the nation's limited resources is simply incapable of good governance. More
specifically, such a class will by its character and mission abuse power.
An underlying cause of many of the manifestations of bad governance,
including political repression, corruption and ethnic sectarianism, is the
endeavour by the ruling classes to be and remain part of the global elite
despite their nation's poverty. The competition for national resources leads to
conflict and repression. It is difficult to see how there can be good governance
when the orientation of the elite is to stay in the running and be part of the
fifth of the world's population that forms the international consumer class.
Bad governance is not a mainly problem of ignorance or lack of
infrastructural capacity or even of individual dictators. States in Africa are
incapacitated as instruments of development because ruling classes, including
people in and outside government, are motivated by objectives that have little
to do with the common good.
Africa's tragedy is not that its nations are poor That is a condition that is
a product of history. The tragedy is that it lacks ruling classes that are
committed to overcoming the state of poverty. Real politics here has little to
do with social and economic reconstruction. The observation of the assassinated
South African writer Ruth First in her book The Barrel of a Gun published in
1970 remains valid today. "There has been eloquent, inexhaustible talk in Africa
about politics, side by side with the gaping poverty of political thought. Down
there on the ground in Africa, you can smother in the small talk of politics.
Mostly it is about politicking, rarely about policies. Politicians are men who
compete with each other for power, not men who use power to confront their
country's problems."
As long as politics is dominated by predator elites it is difficult to see
how meaningful democracy or economic development can be sustained.. The
challenge facing those who want better governance is how to make those in
power accountable and ultimately rescue the state from them to transform it an
agency for positive change.
Tunde Obadinais director of Africa Business
Information Services