Sustainable energy access for Africa: a win-win solution for climate and development

*By Fiona Lambe and Patricia Tella

Supporting developing countries to scale-up access to sustainable energy for cooking will not only bring positive effects for climate change; it will improve the health and economy of the world’s most vulnerable households. What’s more, the cost of achieving universal energy access in the coming decades is surprisingly low.

It is difficult to imagine, but right now approximately two billion people, one third of humanity, do not have access to energy for their most basic needs such as cooking, lighting and heating. Not coincidently, this is the same one third that is currently living in extreme poverty. Access to clean and safe energy for cooking is essential for human development. No country in modern times has managed to reduce poverty and achieve economic development without increasing access to modern forms of energy. Without a massive scale up in access to clean and safe energy, the world’s poorest regions will remain trapped in poverty.

For most Swedes, cooking is an enjoyable pastime and something that is normally taken for granted. We just flip a switch; turn a knob, and the stove turns own. However, for two thirds of the worlds’ population, this fundamental task is both a tiresome burden and a major health risk.

In Sub Saharan Africa, four out of five households do all their cooking over an open fire or using an inefficient wood or charcoal burning stove which exposes them to high levels of smoke and health damaging chemicals. They cook this way because they have very limited choice. Electricity is either unavailable – only 28% of SSA (excluding South Africa) is electrified – or unaffordable. Since the task of cooking usually falls to women and girls, it is they who face daily exposure to levels of pollution which are estimated to be the equivalent of consuming two packets of cigarettes a day (WHO, 2006).

The health impact of this exposure is devastating. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) smoke from domestic fires kills nearly two million people each year and sickens millions more. This is more than three people per minute. It is a death toll almost as great as that caused by dirty water and poor sanitation and AIDS, and greater than malaria. Without systematic changes, household biomass use will result in an estimated 8.1 million Lower Respiratory Infection (LRI) deaths among young children in sub-Saharan Africa alone between 2000 and 2030 (Bailis, Ezzati, Kammen, 2007, p 6).

These are indeed startling figures. So why isn’t more being done to tackle this problem? If indoor air pollution is responsible for more deaths globally than malaria each year, why don’t we see a global push for energy access similar in profile and funding to the global anti-malaria campaigns?

One answer is that until recently, there has been a marked lack of political will to acknowledge and tackle this glaring problem. This was made blatantly clear in September 2000 when heads of state from all over the world met to agree on eight specific targets for combating poverty, disease, illiteracy, hunger and environmental degradation. The deadline for achieving these eight ambitious Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is 2015 – just five years from now, but we are far from on track to meeting these targets. A major reason for this is that Energy Access was completely left out of the picture. Amazingly, there is no Millennium Development Goal on Energy, despite the fact that lack of access to clean and safe energy, especially for cooking, is a major impediment to meeting every one of the MDGs.

Now, with just over five years to go, we are beginning to see some momentum and a new global push to get energy access firmly on the development agenda. One major reason for this about turn is recognition of the enormous potential for so called “co-benefits”– additional or “bonus” opportunities for tackling climate change through projects designed to address the household energy problem in developing countries.

Cooking stoves and climate change
The same tiny particles from cooking fires that are linked to more than two million deaths annually are also contributing to climate change. Black carbon or soot is thought to be the second biggest contributor to global warming after CO2, and although dirty diesel engines, power plants and other more advanced technologies also produce black carbon, cooking fires appear to be the largest source of soot in developing nations. Several studies have indicated that reducing black carbon emissions may be among the most accessible, quick and cost effective actions to mitigate climate warming over the coming decades (e.g. Hansen et al.; Jacobson, 2002; Bond and Sun, 2005).

Replacing inefficient cooking devices with cleaner stoves and fuels, while immediately improving the health and well being of the users, could also have a significant positive impact on global warming in a relatively short time frame. This is because, unlike carbon dioxide which can remain in the atmosphere for many decades, black carbon particles generally fall from the sky in days or weeks.

A wide range of new and improved cooking stoves, as well as cleaner fuels are currently being field tested – many of these show great potential for addressing the climate and health problems. One success story is that of the ethanol fuelled “CleanCook” stove, originally Swedish technology, in Ethiopia. Ethiopian NGO, Gaia Association has pilot tested these stoves in households in Addis Ababa and in a number of refugee camps with very positive results. Households are ready to switch completely to ethanol (which is locally produced from sugar cane residues) and the project will soon enter a commercial phase where the Swedish stoves will be produced and sold locally. See the attached photo.

Although a global effort to roll out improved household energy programmes poses a number of challenges, relatively speaking, it is not an expensive project. The IEA, in its recently published World Energy Outlook estimated that universal access to clean cooking facilities could be achieved through additional cumulative investment on $56 million in 210-2030 (IEA, 2010). This investment is equivalent to 0.2% of the total projected global energy investment to 2030.

There is now widespread consensus among policy makers and the development community that addressing the energy access problem is a matter of urgency. In September 2010, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was officially launched by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. This is a $60 million dollar public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The Alliance’s goal is for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020.

2010 also saw the launch of the Energy for All 2030 Project, an EU-wide initiative aimed at raising policy and public awareness about the issue of energy access for meeting the MDGs in SSA. In Sweden, Energy for All 2030 is being led by the Stockholm Environment Institute which is playing a leading role in highlighting these issues for Swedish and European Policy makers and supporting a platform for dialogue between African and European civil society. The SEI, together with UK partner, Practical Action recently met with the EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs to push for more policy focus and financing at the EU level for the goal of universal energy access. This political momentum is set to continue over the coming years and particularly in the run up to 2015 and the deadline for meeting the MDGs.

It remains to be seen if the energy access targets can be met within the given timeframes. But there is hope. Prioritizing energy access as a key driver of social and economic development is undoubtedly the first step towards achieving universal energy access and there, at least, we have agreement. Now we need to see this consensus and support translate into action for the worlds’ poorest.

Energy for all 2030 is a Europe-wide project calling for more and better funding from the European Commission for energy access projects in Sub Saharan Africa. Support the Energy for All 2030 Project. Go to http://practicalaction.org/energy-advocacy/makethecall and pledge your support to make universal energy access a reality by 2030.

The authors are Associate Researchers at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in Stockholm Sweden. They can be contacted through their e-mails: Fiona Lambe (fiona.lambe@sei.se) and Patricia Tella (patricia.tella@sei.se)

Corruption in Africa: Where Does the Buck Stop?

*By Lord Aikins Adusei

Corruption is an endemic cancer that has devastated African societies and impoverished millions. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants every year. The 2006 Forbes’ list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa. According to Global Financial Integrity (GFI) a US based anti-corruption group, the continent of Africa has lost more than 854 billion dollars in illicit financial outflows between 1970 and 2008. GFI director Raymond Baker says the amount of money that has been drained out of Africa—hundreds of billions decade after decade—is far in excess of the official development assistance going into African countries.

The illicit flow of such huge amount of money is not the work of African leaders and their associates alone but also that of multinational corporations from Europe, America and Asia doing business in Africa. For example the multinational corporations understate their profits and falsify profit documents. They also undervalue their goods, indulge in smuggling, theft and the falsification of invoicing and non-payment of taxes, as well as and employing kickbacks and bribes to public officials. They also overprice projects; provide safe havens for looted funds, all of which affect the financial capability of countries in Africa to fight poverty. In 2002, Halliburton, a US company, was accused of establishing $180m flush fund with the intent of using it to bribe Nigeria officials in order to secure a $6billion Liquefied Gas Plant contract in Nigeria. The company fired Mr. Albert Jack Stanley, its executive. A report by the company later named a British called Jeffrey Tesler as the middleman behind the bribery. In 2010 Nigerian authorities brought charges against former US Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton for their role in the bribery scandal. The charges were settled out of court after the defendants agreed to pay 35 million dollars. On 17th September 2002 for example, a Canadian Engineering company called Acres International was convicted by a High Court in Lesotho for paying $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract in Lesotho. Achair Partners, a Swiss company and Progresso, an Italian company have been accused of bribing Somali Transition Government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the waters of Somalia.

But the corporations and foreign politicians and business executives are not the only ones in the game. The governments in Africa have been doing their best to loot their countries’ coffers with impunity. The recently released US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks indicate how corruption has become part and parcel of President Ben Ali’s family and government in Tunisia. And the worse thing is that it is getting worse by the day. Part of the cable states that: “According to Transparency International’s annual survey and Embassy contacts’ observations, corruption in Tunisia is getting worse. Whether it is cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali’s family is rumoured to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants. President Ben Ali’s extended family is often cited as the nexus of Tunisian corruption. Often referred to as a quasi-mafia, an oblique mention of “the Family” is enough to indicate which family you mean. Seemingly half of the Tunisian business community can claim a Ben Ali connection through marriage, and many of these relations are reported to have made the most of their lineage. Ben Ali’s wife, Leila Ben Ali, and her extended family — the Trabelsis — provoke the greatest ire from Tunisians.”

The Cables point out that the corruption at the presidency has trickled down to all aspect of Tunisian society. “Beyond the stories of the First Family’s shady dealings, Tunisians report encountering low-level corruption as well in interactions with the police, customs, and a variety of government ministries. When a contact was asked about whether he thought corruption was better, worse, or the same, he exclaimed in exasperation “Of course it’s getting worse!” He stated that corruption could not but increase as the culprits (Ben Ali and his cohorts) looked for more and more opportunities. Joking about Tunisia’s rising inflation, he said that even the cost of bribes was up. “A traffic stop used to cost you 20 dinars and now it’s up to 40 or 50!” The economic impact is clear, with Tunisian investors — fearing the long-arm of “the Family” — forgoing new investments [abroad and] keeping domestic investment rates low.” Tunisians openly talk about how corruption is destroying their country and bemoan the lack of effort by the authorities to tackle it. “Corruption is the elephant in the room; it is the problem everyone knows about, but no one can publicly acknowledge. The lack of transparency and accountability that characterize Tunisia’s political system similarly plague the economy, damaging the investment climate and fueling the culture of corruption” says the Cable.

Despite years of exports of oil, gold, diamond, bauxite, tin, coltan, uranium, manganese timber and other minerals, the continent is ranked the poorest. Revenue from the minerals finds its way into the bank accounts of corrupt government officials, civil servants and their allies.

Nigeria has consistently featured in the top 1% of the most corrupt nation on the planet. The nation has also featured on the Foreign Policy Failed States Index. The index shows that Nigeria has featured consecutively over the last four years among the top 20 failed states on earth. Since oil was first discovered in Nigeria about 50 years ago, over $400 billion have been realised from its sale but today more than 70% of Nigerians continue to live in abject poverty. The country has nothing to show for its petro-dollars except poverty, corruption, violence and anarchy. Only corrupt politicians and the big oil companies such as Shell, Mobil, BP, and Chevron have benefited. As a result, able men and women are battling dangerous seas to enter Europe and try their luck. Others have resorted to 419, a popular scam used to trick people into giving out their money and valuables. A visit to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria shows that majority of the people especially the youth are unemployed. According to Nigeria’s National Population Commission 2000 about 44% of young men between the ages of 20 and 24 are unemployed. The Niger Delta region which produces about 90% of the total 2.2 million barrels produce everyday, but over the past 30 years, poverty rate has been rising steadily and living conditions remain one of the poorest in the country. Life expectancy, literacy, and infant mortality all compare unfavourably with the national average. According to Okechukwu Ibeanu only about 27 per cent of households in the Niger Delta have access to safe drinking water. At the same time only 30 per cent have access to electricity and both are below the national average. There are 82,000 people per doctor rising to 132,000 in some areas more than three times the national average of 40,000. While 76 per cent of Nigerian children attend primary school only 30-40 do so in parts of the delta. Thus despite being the goose that lays the golden egg, the Niger Delta remains one of the most deprived areas in Nigeria.

According to Paul Collier of Oxford University’s Centre for the Study of African Economies, past and present leaders in Nigeria have managed to steal about 280 billion dollars of the country’s oil proceeds, stashing it abroad with the help of financial firms like, Barclays, Lloyds, and UBS. Between 2005 and 2007, several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotland Yard in London on corruption and money laundering charges. Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their $35m asset frozen by the English court. Mr. Ibori earns about a thousand dollars a month but during his eight years as a state governor, he acquired wealth to the tune of $35m, financed the campaign of late President Umaru Yar’Dua and owns a private jet and a lavish London home.

Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering. When Police conducted a search in his London home, they found one million pounds worth of cash. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been linked to a corruption scandal involving former US Congressman William Jefferson who is serving terms in prison in US. In 2007 Atiku Abubakar was accused of diverting $125m from Petroleum Development Trust Fund into his personal businesses. Okey Ibeanu and Robin Luckham note that a mechanism that was devised by Nigerian leaders for stealing oil revenue included: “diversion into special funds controlled by the president; bribes or taxation paid on oil contracts; extensive smuggling across Nigeria’s borders called bunkering; as well secrete account held by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) (six such accounts were uncovered in 1997)”.

Years of oil spills have made the soil unfit for any agricultural activity. Their streams and wells are polluted and the people have no access to basic necessities of life because their leaders have enriched themselves with the money. In the 1990s, abject poverty and destruction of the environment forced the people of Ogoniland in Nigeria to demand a say in Shell operations but the Abacha regime repulsed them and had Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists executed. According to available data, Abacha stole $4 billion of Nigeria’s oil money and stashed it in several secret bank accounts in Switzerland, Britain, Luxemburg, Jersey Island and Liechtenstein.

Every effort to get the Nigeria government to develop the oil rich areas fell on death ears until the unemployed youth took up arms against the government and oil companies, kidnapping foreign oil workers and demanding ransom and disrupting oil production. Eventually, the companies had to reduce their output by 25% in 2007-8. These disruptions affected supply of oil on the world market forcing the price to skyrocket to $140 a barrel in the summer of 2008. In 2010 Sanusi Lamido, governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank lamented over the corruption and economic mismanagement in his country saying:

“As an economist, I have done and looked at the input and output content of the Nigerian economy, and I have never seen an economy with a kind of black hole like that of Nigeria. We produced cotton, yet our textile plants are not working; we produce crude oil, we import petroleum products; we produce gas and export, yet we don’t have power plant. We have iron ore, we don’t have steel plant; and we have hide and skin, we don’t have leader products”.

In Equatorial Guinea for example oil export has earned the country billions of dollars since 1990 yet most of the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability. His looting of Equatorial Guinea’s assets became public when it was discovered that the US banking firm Riggs had written to him encouraging him to loot his oil rich but economically impoverished country. Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of Teodoro Obiang Nguema has made news headlines about how he and his associates steal and misuse E. Guinea’s funds. Obiang once hired Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s 300-foot yacht Tatoosh for $700,000. His property portfolio includes a $35m estate in Malibu, California, purchased with cash, as well as a couple of estates in Cape Town, South Africa. His fleet of cars includes Bentley and a Lamborghini. The New York Times reports that “the boy king” also owns a Gulfstream V jet. Riggs Bank a US based bank is known to have helped the Obiangs steal their country’s oil proceeds and hid it in US. A 2004 US Senate investigation into the activities of Riggs Bank found that President Obiang’s family had received huge payments from US oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Amerada Hess and laundered the money in US. In 2004, George W. Bush issued Presidential Proclamation 7750, barring corrupt leaders and their associates from entering the US but the proclamation doesn’t apply when it comes to the Obiangs. John Bennett, the United States ambassador to Equatorial Guinea from 1991 to 1994, told the New York Times that “Washington has turned a blind eye to the Obiangs’ corruption because of its dependence on the country for natural resources”.

You might think that given the history of corruption, poverty, instability and violence in oil producing countries (like Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and Cameroon), incoming oil producing nations like Uganda would take time to make sure there is complete transparency and zero tolerance for corruption in the oil sector. If what is happening in Uganda’s young oil sector continues unchecked then there is no doubt that the country will end up being labelled another resource curse country. The recently released US Diplomatic Cables by Wikilieaks indicate that the country’s leaders are engaging in massive corruption and back door dealings that are slowly adding to the dire corruption situation in the country. One case involves Security Minister and National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretary General Amama Mbabazi and Energy and Mineral Development Minister Hilary Onek who the report says have “benefited from the sale of production rights by Heritage Oil and Gas to Italian oil giant ENI”. Security Minister Mbabazi and Energy Minister Onek “received payments from Heritage and/or ENI in exchange for their support”. According to the diplomatic cable the Italian multinational firm “ENI created a shell company in London called TKL Holdings – through Mark Christian and Moses Seruje (who acted as frontmen) to funnel money to Mbabazi.

In Ghana, officials illegally charge 15 and 150 Ghana cedis for a birth certificate and a passport respectively. Police officers openly solicit bribes from bus and taxi drivers before they are allowed to cross mounted road blocks. Customs officials adopt all manner of tactics in order to collect money from importers and exporters before their goods are allowed to leave the ports.

Africa’s political parties pledge to combat corruption with deadly force but when elected, change nothing. Ghana’s former president John Kuffour pledged “zero tolerance for corruption” in his government but his party lost power for failure to tame corrupt officials.

In South Africa, Jacob Zuma battled it out for his part in the multi-billion arms deal in South Africa in 2001 until he was cleared by the court on the grounds of technicalities. In 2006, former president of Malawi Bakili Muluzi was arrested for pocketing $12m donated to his country by foreign governments. Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba was arrested and charged with 11 counts of stealing money meant for the Zambia’s development.

Guinea has large deposits of gold diamond, iron, nickel and uranium yet poverty is so severe that the country was ranked among the top 1% of most corrupt countries in Africa and 160th out of 177 in the UN’s Development scale.

Gabon and Angola are no different. The late Omar Bongo of Gabon is known in the world for the way he and his family looted Gabon’s oil revenue and used the proceeds to buy expensive and luxury properties in France. French Police investigation into the Bongo’s illegal looting of Gabon’s oil revenue established that the Bongo have 39 expensive apartment, fleet of luxury cars and owned 70 bank accounts in France. Similarly Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville also has 112 bank accounts in France with hundreds of millions of euros stashed in them. He also has mansions and fleet of cars similar to his father-in-law (Omar Bongo) all with the full knowledge of French authorities.

On Friday 31, 2007, the Guardian newspaper in Britain published a report by Kroll, an international risk consultancy firm, that Daniel Arap Moi, Kenya’s former president and his family banked £1 billion in 28 countries including Britain. The family used shell Companies, secret trusts, front men and his entourage to siphon the money away. Moi’s family also bought multimillion pound properties in London, New York, South Africa including 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia.

In Sudan the recently released US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks show that Omar Al Bashir has been able to loot 9 billion dollars of the country’s oil proceeds and stashed it in UK and other jurisdictions with the help of British banks especially the Lloyds Banking Group. According to the US cable leaked by Wikileaks Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court prosecutor contemplated going public with Bashir’s loots which has turned Sudan into a desert of poverty. “Ocampo reported Lloyds bank in London may be holding or knowledgeable of the whereabouts of his money”.

In countries such as Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia and Libya, a kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. Leaders amass wealth at the expense of their poor countries and continue to mismanage whatever remains of their corrupt activities. Because most of the leaders are former military officers or former rebels with no grasp of economics and management, they are unable to formulate any good economic policies that will transform and grow their economies hence poverty has become a part of the people but their leaders know not what poverty is.

In DR Congo it is estimated that gold and diamond deposits alone could fetch the country 23 trillion dollars not to mention the abundance of timber and other several minerals that are found in large quantities such as columbo-tantalite (coltan) and cassiterite (tin ore) yet years of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts and foreign involvement have made this resource rich nation one of the poorest in the world. Western nations cannot maintain their current level of lifestyle without Congo. Most corporations in the west can easily go bust without Congo. If Congo is the bloodline of the west and the west is rich because of Congo, why is Congo so poor?

Where are the billions of dollars from the sale of these minerals? The answer lies in the history of the nation which is endemic corruption, armed conflict and foreign involvement. Mobutu in his 32 year reign is believed to have taken several billions of dollars from the treasury and deposited it in his numerous Swiss bank accounts.

Everyday in Walikale, about 16 aircraft fly out of the city with loads of minerals bound for Rwanda. These stolen minerals further find their way in the western mineral markets in London and Switzerland. The proceeds are shared by the Generals, politicians, western companies the businessmen in Rwanda, the warlords in Congo who use part of their share to acquire weapons that are used to terrorise the people and prolong the war.

Western governments are quick to preach good governance to Africa but they fail to preach the same message to their banks who act as save havens for these corrupt leaders. Even though these countries like to portray themselves as civilised and cultured, they have failed to recognise that keeping monies that are dishonestly obtained from the poor people on earth taints whatever reputation they might have. How can a continent develop when monies meant for her development are stolen by her leaders and kept by countries who praise themselves as civilised, cultured, loving and democratic?

Africa is poor today because Swiss and other western banks collude with African kleptocrats to loot the continent. Corruption is rife on the continent because those who steal the money never lack a place to hide it. The dictators are able to steal so much because Western governments particularly France, Britain, Switzerland and the United States often turn a blind eye to the adulterous relationship between their governments, MNCs and the dictators in Africa. On 21 June 2010 Christine Lagarde, French Finance Minister and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of World Bank wrote an article titled “No Safe Havens for Dirty Money”. In their article they urged all countries to play by the rules, fight corruption and end safe haven practices. They argued for “better regulation, good governance, and accountability. “No safe havens for tax evasion. No safe havens for money laundering and terrorism financing, and no safe havens for cozy financial regulation” so they wrote but Ms Lagarde and her government have done little if not nothing to practice what they preach. Ben Ali of Tunisia, the Bongos in Gabon, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Nguesso and Dos Santos have become very corrupt because of their closeness with successive French governments, politicians and the business elite in France.

The impact of the large scale rampant corruption is that people who should not live in poverty are living in poverty. Roads, hospitals, schools, electricity and other social and economic infrastructures that should be provided with the money are never provided. Children die because of lack of food and lack of essential medicine in the hospitals. Unemployment becomes high because money does not circulate for people to have access to loans that could be used to establish their own businesses. Inflation becomes high and prices of food are put beyond the limit of the ordinary people. In the end the entire economy suffers. People harbouring grievances are no longer willing to sit quietly. Their frustration turned into despair and demonstration and sometimes violence uprising become the order of the day as current situation in the Niger Delta shows with consequences for everyone. Vandalism and looting of properties built with the stolen money becomes the target of the people who have been denied the opportunity to benefit from the economy.

Fighting corruption should not be left to the poor countries alone. Western countries have a duty to stop their nations being used as safe havens for stolen monies from the African continent. They should return all looted money put there by corrupt African leaders to the African people. There must be an international coalition dedicated to tracking all stolen monies on the face of the earth with Africa given to priority.

*The author is anti-corruption campaigner and the author of “Switzerland: A parasite feeding on poor African and Third World countries?”

Land: The New International Strategic Asset. How Africa is losing big time

By Lord Aikins Adusei

There are credible reports that big multinational corporations like Biofuel Africa Ltd in cahoots with corrupt politicians and traditional leaders and with the backing of global financial institutions are buying large tracts of land in parts of Africa, under bizarre circumstances, displacing rural farmers, destabilising rural communities and slowly building up chaos that is further aggravating the poverty situation in Africa.

The international craze for a reduction of carbon dioxide emission from fossil fuel guzzling cars and industries has led to an intense focus on biofuel as the solution to the pollution and associated global warming. But the production of biofuel is not taking place in the sky, it is taking place on land and is leading to a new social cancer that is slowly beginning to emerge. The focus on biofuel as alternative to oil, gas and coal has put new and unrealistic demand on land, and it is on record to make land the most strategic commodity in the 21st Century. The history of land as a strategic asset dates back to the 18th Century. During that period Physiocrats considered land the ultimate source value and all attempt was made to secure it. However, in the 19th Century labour became the most important factor of production as new factories competed aggressively for that resource. Then the importance of labour as the most important factor of production was replaced by capital in the 20th Century. Access to money was considered the ultimate source of value in production. However, in the 21st Century land is coming back as the most strategic asset.Evidence of this can be seen in the scramble for land not only in Africa but also in Latin America and Russia [1]

Driven largely by a global cartel of land speculators, many energy and agro-multinational corporations are strategically acquiring agricultural lands in poor countries of the global south particularly Africa at a rate never anticipated by land economists. The 2007 and 2008 food crisis and its associated price hikes have forced rich but food insecure countries in the Middle East and the Gulf Region to scrounge for lands in Africa further complicating matters. Jeffrey D. Sachs of the Earth Institute in a recent article entitled ‘Need Versus Greed’ notes that “The rise in food prices is leading to a land grab, as powerful politicians sell foreign investors massive tracts of farmland, brushing aside the traditional land rights of poor smallholders. Foreign investors hope to use large mechanised farms to produce output for export, leaving little or nothing for the local populations.” [2] Meanwhile the belief in some countries in Africa like Sudan and Ethiopia that heavy injections of foreign capital will enhance agricultural technology, boost local employment, revitalize sagging agricultural sectors, and ultimately improve agricultural yields has given the corporations a field day with serious social, economic, political and environmental consequences, [3]

The land grabbing statistics worldwide and Africa in particular is not only overwhelming but is also extraordinary shocking. According to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) a US-based policy think thank, since 2006 between 15 million and 20 million hectares of farmland around the world have been secured for biofuel and grain production, while between US$20bn and US$30bn has gone into investment [4].

In Africa the past five years has seen more rich agricultural lands being taken over by food insecure but rich countries in the Middle East and rich multinational firms in Europe, US, and Asia particularly China, Korea and India. Some of the land acquisitions have occurred under bizarre and non-transparent circumstances making experts to warn of the consequences if the practice is not stopped. In Mozambique for example China has US$800 million investment to expand 100,000 to 500,000 metric tons of rice production in the country and Skebab (Sweden) and Sun Biofuels (UK) have acquired more than 100, 000 hectares of land for biofuel production in the country. In Ethiopia, a country noted internationally for its food insecurity and its dependence on handout from the World Food Programme, the government has set aside around three million hectares of farm land to be used to produce grain and biofuel for export. Flora EcoPower (Germany) has acquired 13,000 hectares for bio-crop production while India is investing US$4 billion in agriculture, flower growing and sugar estates in that country. In Tanzania Sun Biofuels (UK) has acquired 5,500 hectares of land for sorghum (biofuel) production while the Chinese firm Chongqing See Corp has secured 300 hectares of farm lands for rice production. In the same Tanzania the Gulf State of Saudi Arabia has requested a lease of 500,000 hectares of land. In Southern Sudan Jarch Capital (USA) has signed a 400, 000 hectare deal with a local army commander while the Middle East and Gulf States of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt together have about 1.045m hectares under their thumb in that country. In the same Sudan, South Korea is running away with 690,000 hectares of farmland secured for wheat production. In Nigeria, Trans4mation Agrictech Ltd (UK) has secured 10,000 hectares of land. In Angola, Lornho (UK) has 25,000 hectares leased to her for rice cultivation and is negotiating for a further 125,000 hectares in Malawi and Mali. China has requested 2 million hectares for jatropha production in Zambia; and in Democratic Republic of Congo the Chinese firm ZTE International has secured 2.8 million hectares for biofuel oil palm plantation [5].

These figures do not only reflect the unequal power relations between rich multinational corporations and governments of rich countries on one hand and poor African countries on the other, but it also reflects the vulnerability of African countries to the predatory activities of rich multinational corporations and governments of these rich countries. It has been argued elsewhere that the global assault on Africa has the tendency to produce the same negative effects that colonialism produced on the continent.

A major problem is that many of the corruption-ridden governments in Africa are rushing to make land deals with multinationals without proper consultation with the people and without proper studies as to the economic, social and environmental cost of such deals. Another issue is that the lands being giving to corporations by the nonchalance governments in Africa are not empty lands. They are lands that rural farmers farm on and depend on for their livelihoods. That means the farmers whose lands have been taken over by the multinationals are being denied the opportunity to make a living. They are being dispossessed of the only asset that helps put food on their tables.The lands of the poor farmers are being handed over to rich multinationals to meet the needs of populations elsewhere to the detriment of the local farmers. The local farmers are being pushed away by multinationals that are increasingly seeing land as strategic asset that must be acquired at all cost to meet their own greedy, selfish and opportunistic ambitions.

Many who support corporate land grab efforts in Africa point to Asian-style Green Revolution. Their argument is that allowing the land grabbing to go on will allow benefits such as revenue, employment, and technology transfer to be bequeathed to countries in Africa. But there are many unanswered questions regarding the so called benefits of land investments in Africa. For example what happens to displaced farmers whose lands are taken for food production to feed populations abroad? What happens to food production and food security in countries where agriculture lands are being auctioned to produce biofuel and food to feed economies elsewhere? In some of the countries where land is being taken for food and energy production people already spend between 60-75% of their income on food so what per cent of income of these poor people will be spent on food when it becomes unavailable in the local market? Most importantly what happens to communities when scarce water and other scarce resources that they depend on and which are currently being channeled into food and energy production for export abroad are depleted? What happens to farmlands that are degraded after the food is produced and exported? What happens to the polluted environment after the food and biofuels have been shipped abroad? Little is known of the environmental implications of committing hundreds of thousands of hectares of farm lands into jatropha production. New pests and diseases may emerge to confront poor farmers, who may not have benefited from the jatropha production with serious consequences. For example the use of chemicals to process the jatropha into biofuel may not only lead to contamination of soil, but also the poisoning of shallow groundwater with serious health repercussions for both humans and animals.

As Hornborg (2009) notes: “Generally speaking, social scientists will probably not get too involved in discussions about ethanol with all those engineers, agronomists, and economists who are committed to keeping the global technomass going by feeding it with corn or sugar cane. But we can listen attentively to the debate. We are told, for instance, that the conditions of people harvesting sugar cane for ethanol production in Brazil are appalling. We are told that ethanol production might in fact generate more greenhouse gases than the combustion of fossil fuels. We are told that it will accelerate tropical deforestation and loss of biodiversity. We are told that it will probably yield less horsepower per hectare than just simply growing fodder for horses. And what undoubtedly worries us the most, we are told that it is making food more expensive and contributing to malnutrition and starvation among the global poor” [6].

In Ghana for instance while the Ministry of Agriculture has allowed over 20 companies from around the world, including Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Norway and The Netherlands, to acquire land to produce biofuels, the ministry has not conducted any study to establish the social, economic, political and food security implications of such land deals to Ghana as a whole and the affected farmers and the communities in particular.

Current estimates by the World Food Programme (WFP) put the number of people in Ghana who are food insecure to 1.2 million; almost half the number is people living in the Northern Region of the country where the corporate land grabbing is taking place. In a paper presented during the World Bank Annual Bank conference on Land Policy and Administration in Washington, DC, April 26 and 27, 2010,Kwesi Ahoi, Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture admitted that on the whole Ghana remain food insecure. He stated that “Ghana is self-sufficient only in roots and tubers but deficient in cereals where it produces 51% of its needs, fish, 60% of its requirements, meat 50% of requirements and less than 30% of the raw materials needed for agro-based industries. The output of vegetables such as tomatoes and onions, the most widely used, is rather erratic and vacillates between scarcity, sufficiency and glut depending on the vagaries of the weather”. [7] Yet, in spite of the food insecurity in the country, Kwesi Ahoi and his ministry are busy supervising the handing over of the same land that could make Ghana food sufficient to non-food producing multinationals.

The acquisition of 23,700 hectares of Ghanaian land by Biofuel Africa Ltd in the northern part of the country has already forced the inhabitants of seven villages that depend on the land for their livelihoods to move to Tamale, the regional capital in search of non existing jobs. These 23,700 hectares of land were taken away from the people without adequate compensation and without viable alternatives. For example Steinar Kolnes, Biofeul Africa Ltd chief executive officer (CEO) in Ghana admitted that the company did not pay compensation to farmers whose land his corporation has seized. “We don’t pay compensation…We gave the farmers two options: To stay and farm their crops alongside the jetropha or leave to other more fertile lands we had provided for them” [8] The question is if there are fertile lands as the chief executive claims why doesn’t he use it for his jatropha business? Why is he seizing the poor farmers’ land and not use his so called rich land for his jatropha business?

The findings of an in-depth study sponsored by the World Bank on the impact of corporate land grabbing in Ghana have implicated the biofuel corporations in the country. According to the World Bank study published in 2010 [9] “The most direct and immediate impact of biofuels relates to land loss… Some 70 households from three communities were involuntarily vacated from their lands, without any form of restitution, following the harvest of yam (the primary cash crop) from the 2008 growing season. For two of the villages this equated to between 40 and 50 percent of households. Of those households that lost land, on average nearly 60 percent of their total landholdings were acquired by the company. Only 20 percent of households were able to obtain some replacement land, with most households unsuccessful in recovering both the quantity and quality of land lost to the plantation. These households cited increasing land scarcity and land quality concerns as key obstacles.”

The World Bank study concludes: “In all the plantations assessed households were required to relinquish landholdings for the purpose of plantation development. At the majority of plantations, directly affected households were not consulted by the company, nor did they formally acquiesce to transferring their land. With the exception of one company that promised to pay approximately US$ 1 per acre per year to those losing land, no formal compensation measures have been proposed by other companies or by the relevant Traditional Authorities” [10]. These findings which corroborate Steinar Kolnes’ statement that his company does not pay compensation show that the corporations are paying close to nothing for their robbery. The question is how many Europeans, Americans, and Koreans will accept approximately US$ 1 per acre per year as compensation for not farming on a land that acts as the source of livelihood? Instead of Africans benefiting from the new international status of land they are being handed peanuts by the corporations who have are making money the crudest way by dispossessing the farmers without compensation.

Meanwhile similar reports of people losing their livelihoods are being reported in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mali, Zambia and war ravaged Sudan. Thus the commodification of land is threatening rural farmers whose lands are being seized by these greedy multinationals acting in cahoots with local politicians and traditional leaders. The consequence of such blind land grabbing by bio-multinationals is that food security efforts of a continent frequently scarred by food shortages, hunger and starvation is being compromised. Such acts are creating unnecessary tension and chaos in many farming societies and helping to destabilise the cohesiveness of rural communities. The peace and stability that many communities have enjoyed for decades are being breached as a result of the land grabs especially in communities where farmers have been left without compensation and without alternatives. The danger is that the carving up of rich arable farmlands for production of non-food commodities such as biofuel if not checked will worsen the continent’s food security efforts and force already poor people into hunger and starvation. That warning has been issued already in the GRAIN Report of 2008.

The Report by the Spain based NGO-GRAIN states that: “Food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world”. [11]

The true value of that warning cannot be underestimated because the danger is already appearing. That is the leasing of these lands to multinationals under circumstances that leave much to be desired, as indicated by Ghana’s example is forcing many rural farmers to move into the cities and towns in search of non-existing jobs. That is the commodification of land is pushing already poor farmers out of farming and into cities that have little to offer them. These cities are already overburdened with populations and face major problems as discussed by Mike Davis in his book the “Planet of Slums” [12]. In effect the seizing of the poor farmers’ land is destroying their only hope of survival on earth.

Governments in Africa that think major agro-multinationals securing large tracts of land under dubious means could help initiate Asian-style Green Revolution in Africa must know and understand that in Asia the Green Revolution was largely successful because of the role played by smallholders [13]. These smallholders who played pivotal role in making Asia economies food sufficient are the very people being displaced by the multinationals and the rich countries and their hedge fund managers. Such displacements will produce nothing but a backlash with serious economic and political consequences.

Dangerous consequences are always in the pipeline when corporate interests coincide with that of corrupt and insensitive governments as we have seen between oil giant Shell and the corrupt federal government in Nigeria. Niger Delta crisis was largely created when the interest of Royal Shell Corporation coincided with that of the corrupt regimes that ruled the country since 1966. Thus the accumulation by dispossession currently underway in Africa will definitely produce its consequences not only for people being robbed of their lands but also the corporations acting in cahoots with the indifference governments in Africa. Rich governments securing lands in Africa may altogether lose their investments when landless farmers and hungry communities begin to make claims to what has been unjustly taken away from them.

The political ramifications of outsourcing lands to multinational corporation have had its first casualty in Madagascar. The toppling of the government in Madagascar after 1.3 million hectares of land was sold to the Korean firm Daewoo and another 465,000 hectares to Varun International of India demonstrates the political cost such non-transparent land arrangement poses to the security and stability of governments in Africa. Lesson should be learnt from that and it must serve as an eye opener to all those scrounging for lands in Africa and in the process helping to destabilise the people and their communities.

When foods being produced by the multinationals and rich governments are exported the shortages that will be created and the associated price hikes will produce devastating and undesirable effects. Avoiding the shortages and its undesirable effects through the implementation of policies that give first priority to smallholders and local farmers producing food for local consumption must be the objective of governments in Africa.

Reference

[1] Hornborg, A. 2009. Zero-Sum World Challenges in Conceptualizing Environmental Load Displacement and Ecologically Unequal Exchange in the World-System. International Journal of Comparative Sociology. SAGE Publications.

[2] Sachs, J. D. 2011. Need versus Greed. The global economy is growing quickly, but too much wealth is siphoned off by well connected billionaires. http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/20113313330192433.html

[3] Kugelman, M. and Levenstein, S. L (eds). 2009. LAND GRAB? The Race for the World’s Farmland. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.

[4] IFPRI 2009 cited in the Economist “Outsourcing’s Third Wave,” Economist, May 21, 2009, available from http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13692889.

[5] Hornborg, A. 2009. Zero-Sum World Challenges in Conceptualizing Environmental Load Displacement and Ecologically Unequal Exchange in the World-System. International Journal of Comparative Sociology. SAGE Publications.

[6] Von Braun, J. and Meinzen-Dick, R. 2009. “Land Grabbing” by Foreign Investors in Developing countries: Risks and Opportunities. IFPRI Policy Brief. April 2009.

[7]World Bank, 2010 Annual Bank conference on land policy and administration Washington, DC April 26 and 27, 2010. Government’s Role in Attracting Viable Agricultural Investment: Experiences from Ghana

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTARD/Resources/336681-1236436879081/Ahwoi.pdf

[8] IRIN, 2009. Ghana: Land grabs force hundreds off farms, growers say. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86044

[9] Schoneveld, G. C. et al. 2010. Towards Sustainable Biofuel Development: Assessing the Local Impacts of Large-Scale Foreign Land Acquisitions in Ghana. World Bank.

[10] Schoneveld, G. C. et al. 2010. Towards Sustainable Biofuel Development: Assessing the Local Impacts of Large-Scale Foreign Land Acquisitions in Ghana. World Bank.

[11] GRAIN, 2008 Seized: The 2008 land grab for food and financial

[12] Davis, M.2006. Planet of Slums. Published by Verso.

[13] Jirström et al. 2005. Addressing Food Crisis in Africa – What Can Sub-Saharan Africa learn from Asian experiences in Addressing Food Crisis ITS? CIDA Report

Ghana: Making Sense of our Democracy

By Lord Aikins Adusei*

The status of Ghana as an emerging democracy has been acknowledged the world over. The opposition New Patriotic Party’s unprecedented flagbearership election on August 7, 2010 that saw the re-election of Nana Akuffo Addo as the party’s candidate for the 2012 elections has added a new and positive dimension to the credentials of Ghana as the pacesetter of Africa politics.  It is fair to say that Ghana’s current democracy which begun in 1992 has come with peace and stability that has made Ghana the darling of her neighbours and the international community. The recent outstanding performance of the Black Stars in the 2010 Fifa world cup in South Africa has added momentum to the worldwide view that Ghana is on the path of greatness.

The essence of democracy is to elect leaders who will manage the country to provide security, energy, housing, education, transport, health and telecommunication infrastructures that the citizens can take advantage of to improve their living conditions. Many who have engaged in the democratic process in Ghana have done so with the hope that democracy will usher in not only liberty, rule of law, political stability, freedom of speech and assembly but also economic prosperity. But the people who have been ruling Ghana since the day the Fourth Republican Constitution came into operation seem to have forgotten this simple meaning of democracy.

More than seventeen years since the first ballot was cast and 53 years after independence the life of many Ghanaians has stagnated if not retrogressed to pre-independence levels. A critical look at the economic situation of the people suggests that the stability and peace that democracy has brought the nation has not translated into economic and social development. The various governments that have governed Ghana since 1992 have not been able to take advantage of the peace and stability to formulate and implement the necessary policies to transform Ghana’s economy to enable Ghanaians to benefit directly. A critical look at the country’s sectors: education, energy, transportation, health and waste management reveal a state of organised disorder.

The CIA’s 2010 world ranking of countries with higher life expectancy puts Ghana at 186^th position (60.55 years) out of the 224 countries polled. Today two-thirds of the population still live on two dollars a day. The inequality and the poverty gap between those who govern and the governed is widening by year. This is evidenced in the number of people working as street vendors including children who work as head potters in our cities instead of going to school and the high number of children being trafficked to work in various parts of the country. There is a sense of anger and frustration among the populace as is indicated by the growing number of unruly behaviour of the so called foot soldiers of the NDC youth with their incessant seizing of public toilets, locking up National Health Insurance Service and National Youth Employment Programme offices and constant calling of District Chief Executives to be fired. These activities suggest that the people are not benefiting from our democracy and are getting increasingly disillusioned, a situation that can easily be nurtured to cause political instability in the country. The only people who seem to have benefited from our democracy are the politicians who go home every four years with fat ex-gratia payments while majority of the people live in squalid conditions. Take E. T. Mensah for example. Since 1992 he has been representing Ningo Prampram as an MP and going home with ex-gratia every four years while many people in his constituency can neither read nor write and lack the basic necessities of life including water, electricity and housing.

The expensive and cosy sport utility vehicles (Land Cruisers etc) that has come to represent the taste of NDC and NPP politicians do not reflect the harsh economic life being experienced by majority of the people especially those in the rural areas who live in mud houses roofed with raffia and bamboo leafs and without water and electricity. This is unacceptable and is very dangerous for the continuous existence of democracy itself. People cannot continue to cast their votes every four years and continue to live in the same pre-independence conditions without jobs, proper housing, electricity, roads, farming equipments and access to water and sanitation. People cannot vote every four years while they continue to live on two dollars a day. That is slavery, not democracy. Democracy must come with liberty, economic empowerment, social development and improvement in the overall quality of life of the people. This has not happened in Ghana more than seventeen years of democratic governance and over fifty years of self rule.

Slowly we are missing the opportunity to develop as a nation and to add quality and value to the lives of our people. Despite promises of a better Ghana and jobs for the youth nothing seems to have changed, courtesy the politicians who are trapped in their narrow view of state management and who are going round the circle unable to work out a solution for the nation’s many problems. Slowly many of the people who have placed so much hope in democracy are being betrayed not by democracy as a system but by those elected to lead them to economic freedom. This cannot continue forever.

The people who vote must have something to live up to if they can continue to support the democratic efforts of the state. Therefore, the promises and pledges that characterise our elections must be transformed into actions and deeds. The broken promises and the politics of the same on the part of those who govern must stop before apathy sets in. Those who rule Ghana must recognise that their performance is not measured by what they say but what they do. Therefore we must act now and make good use of our peace, stability and democracy if we want to avoid any cataclysmic political upheaval in future.

In light of the abysmal economic performance of the nation and her inability to reduce poverty, I strongly believe Ghana needs strategic counselling and I want to offer my suggestions here.

First of all, Ghanaians need strategic leaders with the ability to vision and ability to bring the vision into reality; leaders who can turn aspiration into reality and inspire the people to great heights and help build a new Ghana that all of us can be proud of. Those who manage state institutions must be strategic thinkers who can formulate good policies and implement them to bring positive change. The begging mentality (i.e. the focus on aid as a development model) that continues to permeate those who live in the Osu Castle must give way to a more ingenious ways of state management that has as its focus the attraction of foreign investment, promotion of trade, support for indigenous producers, farmers, the promotion of local entrepreneurial development and the building, renovating and expanding the economic and social infrastructures in the country i.e. energy, roads, rail lines, harbours, telecommunication, silos, canals, schools and hospitals. It is unacceptable that while other nations are going outer-space to discover new planets we are still struggling to feed ourselves. Therefore the politics that has come to define our education (3 years for NDC, 4 year for NPP) must give way to a non-partisan approach to problem solving.

Secondly, evidence from Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China has shown that a country’s economic growth, human development and her ability to reduce poverty are dependent on her technological development. Therefore, if we are to make sense of our 53 years of independence and over seventeen years of democracy; if we are to take advantage of the current favourable political climate and make it a force for good and a force for development, then a ground work for export-driven industrial economy must be laid through the adoption of a comprehensive export-driven industrial strategy. Such a strategy must make the development and acquisition of advanced technologies a priority so as to take advantage of the huge unexploited natural resources in the country, to increase production, and create wealth for the people. Why should our child-bearing women continue to carry their children on their back in this African heat when we can adopt technology to build pushchairs/prams for them? Why should we continue to wash our cloths with our hands when we could adopt the technology to build washers to save us precious time? Why should we continue to sleep in darkness when we could adopt the technology to convert solar energy into electricity? Why should our farmers continue to farm with cutlasses and hoes when we could adopt advanced farming technologies to increase yield and reduce hunger and poverty in the country? And why should we continue to carry things on our head when we could use technology to do it?

China and India’s development of their own technologies and their acquisition of technologies from the West has shown that it is possible to move hundreds of millions of people from poverty through technology acquisition. I believe that nations that turn away from the development and use of science and technology are bound to remain primitive and face extinction, and even if those nations survive extinction they will probably remain slave to others with superior technologies. Ghana cannot afford to remain technologically backward while our independence peers in Asia are moving forward scientifically and technologically and the earlier the policy-makers in Ghana look into technology acquisition the better.

Added to the above point is the fact that Ghana cannot continue to depend on the export of some few raw materials while the population continues to increase almost exponentially. Ghana cannot remain agrarian if we are to solve the teeming unemployment problem, eradicate poverty, hunger, malnutrition, malaria and improve the overall quality of life in the country. The policymakers must device ingenious schemes and work assiduously to diversify Ghana’s economy by shifting emphasis from the current reliance on raw material export to manufacturing, service, and knowledge based economy. The diversification of the economy will not only help the nation expand her revenue base but will also lead to increased production, create more jobs and protect the country from the shocks that always threaten the vivacity of our economy.

Lastly, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must be told in plain language that lowering inflation alone will not meet the aspirations of unemployed Ghanaians who are looking for jobs. The National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must live up to their names and build some credibility for themselves as institutions tasked with planning the nation’s development. Ghana deserves better fiscal policies/ financial management than it has been offered by Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. These institutions must think strategically and device strategies with inbuilt policy priorities to stabilise the nation’s financial market, revive the defunct firms, create jobs and put money in the pockets of the people.

I want to conclude by saying that if Ghanaians are to make sense of democracy, cherish its values and ideals; if indeed democracy is to thrive in Ghana, and if Ghana is to continue to serve as the guiding light for the rest of Africa, then more must be done to improve the economic well-being of the people, for democracy without economic and social development is a catalyst for chaos.

*The author is a political activist and anti corruption campaigner. His e-mail is politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

GIVE THE STX HOUSING CONTRACT TO THE ARMED FORCES

The recent report that the ruling NDC government is seeking to build houses for the country’s security forces has got everybody talking. The government according to media reports is contracting STX, a Korean firm, to build 200,000 housing units at the cost of ten billion dollars. While the government is claiming the contract represents value for money, the opposition parties, think tanks, GREDA (Ghana Real Estate Development Agency) and many Ghanaians believe it is not value for money. GREDA has argued that it could produce the 200,000 housing units at a cheaper price. Many have also argued that incurring ten billion dollars debt will amount to mortgaging the nation and sink her into perpetual debt crisis.  But the ruling government is not budging insisting that Ghanaians in general and the security forces in particular will benefit.

Nobody is saying Ghanaians will not benefit when 200, 000 housing units are built, the issue is about the cost of the contract, the terms of the contract and the fact that the government is sidelining local companies in favour of Koreans. First of all, there seems to be serious anomalies which I believe the opposition parties and Dankwa Institute have done well to point out, forcing government to withdraw it from parliament. But while listening to Joy FM’s Newsfile on Saturday 31/07/2010 hosted by Kwaku Sakyi Addo, I was so shocked that the Mr Edem Asimeh Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Water Resources, Works and Housing could not mention just one change that has occurred in the new document that he and Bagbin want to present to parliament.

There is nothing in the contract that points to the fact that government is putting the interest of Ghanaian businesses, the nation and the people first. Nobody knows why President Mills and his lieutenants are hell bent on giving the contract to the Koreans. Analyses of the government’s argument suggest that some individuals within the government and the NDC have personal interest in the contract hence their insistence that it should go to the Koreans at all cost. Why is President Mills and the NDC leadership putting their interest above the interest of Ghana and Ghanaians?

I am of the opinion that government should give the 1.5 billion dollars contract to the army. Throughout the world the armed forces are engaging in direct business as way to generate funds to help strengthen their tactical and strategic capabilities. Evidence of armed forces directly engaging in direct businesses abound in China, the US and Britain. For example the Defense & Foreign Affairs Journal reported in 1997 that “China’s top 100 military enterprises reported profit growth for 1996 of 9.2 percent. Their output value grew by 8.2 percent while turnover rose by 10.9 percent. Chinese figures in 1993 show that the declared profit of the People’s Liberation Army (China’s Armed Forces) was $ 1-billion on turnover of $ 6.9-billion, but military analysts believe its real profits were at least double that”.

The advantages of the Ghana Armed Forces building its own houses are many fold. One is that any profit that STX Korea is intended to make could go to the Armed Forces which could be used to support the funds provided to them by the government through the budget. Again the armed forces know their housing problems far better than anyone else and therefore it will in order if they are allowed to design and build the houses themselves. I am sure that the Engineering Unit of the Ghana Armed Forces has the engineering capability and technical know-how to adequately and efficiently execute the housing project if given the opportunity.

Myjoyonline.com on Tuesday, 27 July 2010, reported that Ghana’s Navy has acquired two second-hand navy ships from Germany at the cost of 37 million dollars. I strongly believe that profit from the $1.5 billion housing contract could go a long way to provide the Armed Forces with the needed funds to develop or buy new equipments to better provide security for our country.

I am of the opinion that the government should reconsider its decision to award the contract to STX. Government should listen to GREDA and the people of Ghana who have made their voices heard through radio discussions and phone ins. Government must do what is best for us and not serving the interest of foreign corporations. Whatever happens it is Ghanaians who are going to pay for the cost of the contract and it will be inappropriate for government to refuse to listen to the people and other views in the country.

We need to support and sustain our military and awarding them this lucrative contract could be a gesture in the right direction.

Author: Lord Aikins Adusei

E-mail:politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

Ghana: Making Sense of our Democracy

The status of Ghana as an emerging democracy has been acknowledged worldwide. This democracy has come with peace and stability that has made Ghana the darling of her neighbours and the international community. The recent outstanding performance of the Black Stars in the 2010 Fifa world cup in South Africa has added to the worldwide view that Ghana is on the path of greatness. However, a critical look at the situation on the ground suggests that the stability and peace that the democracy has brought the nation has not translated into economic and social development.

The essence of democracy is to elect leaders who will manage the country to provide security, energy, housing, education, health and telecommunication infrastructures that the citizens can take advantage of to improve their living conditions. Many who have engaged in the democratic process in Ghana have done so with the hope that democracy will usher in not only liberty, freedom of speech and assembly but also economic prosperity. But the people who have been running Ghana since the day the Fourth Republican Constitution came into operation seem to have forgotten this simple meaning of democracy.

More than 16 years since the first ballot was cast and 53 years after independence the life of many Ghanaians has stagnated if not retrogressed to pre-independence state. The inequality and the poverty gap between those who govern and the governed is everywhere for all to see. This is evidenced in the number of people working as street vendors including children who work as head potters in our cities instead of going to school. Again there is a sense of anger and frustration among the populace as is indicated by the growing number of unruly behaviour of the so called foot soldiers of the NDC youth with their incessant seizing of toilets, locking up NHIS offices and constant calling of District Chief Executives to be fired. These activities suggest that the people are not benefiting from our democracy. The only people who seem to have benefited from our democracy are the politicians who go home every four years with fat ex-gratia payments while majority of the people live in squalid conditions. Take E. T. Mensah for example. Since 1992 he has been representing Ningo Prampram as an MP and going home with ex-gratia every four years while many people in his constituency can neither read nor write and lack the basic necessities of life including water, electricity and housing. The expensive and cosy sport utility vehicles (Land Cruisers etc) that has come to represent the taste of NDC and NPP politicians does not reflect the harsh economic life being experienced by majority of the people especially those in the rural areas who live in mud houses roofed with raffia and bamboo leafs and without water and electricity.

Slowly we are missing the opportunity to develop and to add quality and value to the lives of our people. Since 1992 the various governments that have governed Ghana have not been able to take advantage of the peace and stability provided by our democracy to formulate and implement the necessary policies to transform Ghana’s economy to enable Ghanaians to benefit directly. A critical look at every sector of the country: education, energy, transportation, health and waste management reveal a state of organised disorder. The simple truth is that many of the people who have placed so much hope in democracy have been betrayed not by democracy as a system but by those elected to lead them to economic freedom.

This is very dangerous for the continuous existence of democracy itself. People cannot continue to cast their votes every four years and continue to live in the same pre-colonial conditions without jobs, proper housing, electricity, roads, farming equipments and access to water and sanitation. People cannot vote every four years while they continue to live on two dollars a day. That is not democracy. Democracy must come with liberty, economic empowerment, social development and improvement in the overall quality of life of the people. This has not happened in Ghana more than sixteen years of democratic governance and over fifty years of independence.

From the look of things it seems the obstacles to Ghana’s economic independence are the politicians who are trapped in their narrow view of state management. Despite promises of a better Ghana and jobs for the youth nothing seems to have changed, courtesy the politicians who are going round the circle unable to work out a solution for the nation’s many problems.

The people who vote must have something to live up to if they can continue to support the democratic efforts of the state. Therefore, the promises and pledges that characterise our elections must be transformed into actions and deeds. The broken promises and the politics of the same on the part of those who govern must stop before apathy sets in.

We must act now and make good use of our peace, stability and democracy if we want to avoid any cataclysmic political upheaval in future. I want to offer this piece of advice.

First of all, Ghanaians need strategic leaders with the ability to vision and ability to bring the vision into reality. Those who manage state institutions must be strategic thinkers who can formulate good policies and implement them to bring positive change. The begging mentality (i.e. the focus on aid development model) that continues to permeate those who live in the Osu Castle must give way to a more ingenious ways of state management that has as its focus the attraction of foreign investment, promotion of trade, support for indigenous producers, farmers, the promotion of local entrepreneurial development and the building, renovating and expanding of the economic and social infrastructures in the country i.e. energy, roads, rail lines, harbours, telecommunication, silos, canals, schools and hospitals. Therefore the politics that has come to define our education (3 years for NDC, 4 year for NPP) must give way to a non-partisan approach to problem solving.

Secondly, evidence from Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China has shown that a country’s economic growth, human development and her ability to reduce poverty are dependent on her technological development. Therefore, if we are to make sense of our 53 years of independence and over sixteen years of democracy; if we are to take advantage of the current favourable political climate and make it a force for good and a force for development, then a ground work for export-driven industrial economy must be laid through the adoption of a comprehensive export-driven industrial strategy. Such a strategy must make the development and acquisition of advanced technologies a priority so as to take advantage of the huge unexploited natural resources in the country, to increase production, and create wealth for the people. Why should our child-bearing women continue to carry their children on their back in this African heat when we can adopt technology to build pushchairs/prams for them? Why should we continue to wash our cloths with our hands when we could adopt the technology to build washers to save us precious time? Why should we continue to sleep in darkness when we could adopt the technology to convert solar energy into electricity? Why should our farmers continue to farm with cutlasses and hoes when we could adopt advanced farming technologies to increase yield and reduce hunger and poverty in the countryside? Adoption of advanced technology will help to move millions from poverty as has been done in China and in India.

Added to the above point is the fact that Ghana cannot continue to depend on the export of some few raw materials while the population continues to increase almost exponentially. Ghana cannot remain agrarian if we are to solve the teeming unemployment problem, eradicate poverty, hunger, malnutrition and improve the overall quality of life in the country. The policymakers must device ingenious schemes and work assiduously to diversify Ghana’s economy by shifting emphasis from the current reliance on raw material export to manufacturing, service, and knowledge based economy. The diversification of the economy will not only help the nation expand her revenue base but will also lead to increased production, create more jobs and protect the country from the shocks that always threaten the vivacity of our economy.

Lastly, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must be told in plain language that lowering inflation alone will not meet the aspirations of unemployed Ghanaians who are looking for jobs. The National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must live up to their names and build some credibility for themselves as institutions tasked with planning the nation’s development. These institutions must think strategically and device strategies with inbuilt policy priorities that will revive defunct firms, create jobs and put money in the pockets of the people.

I want to conclude by saying that if Ghanaians are to make sense of democracy, cherish its values and ideals; if indeed democracy is to thrive in Ghana, and if Ghana is to continue to serve as the guiding light for the rest of Africa, then more must be done to improve the economic well-being of the people, for democracy without economic and social development is a catalyst for chaos.

By Lord Aikins Adusei*

*The author is a political activist and anti corruption campaigner. His e-mail is politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

Africa Should Leave President Obama Alone

By Lord Aikins Adusei

The whole of Africa and Ghana in particular is in a frenzy mood because the President of the United States of America is paying a visit to Africa between the 10-11 July, 2009. Many in the continent have developed perception that Obama’s visit will change every evil thing in Africa including poverty, hunger, starvation, wars, diseases, economic depression, environmental and social chaos. Where those false hopes come from I do not know.

While his visit offers a number of opportunities for Africa, it will be wrong for people to think that all problems will be solved in the 21 hours that Obama is going to spend in Ghana. I want to urge Africans to leave Obama alone because there is very little that he can do the continent. He is yet to fulfill the promises he made to the American people to create 600,000 jobs and improve healthcare and until such promises are met there is no way he will be able to solve the economic and social problems confronting the continent. Besides, Americans nowadays depend on China for financial support so how can President Obama ignore the problems in America and starts solving the huge problems facing Africa today.

It is true Obama’s father hails from Kenya and both attended Havard but that will not have any bearing or whatsoever in his relationship with Africa. The fact that he chosen to visit Ghana and not Kenya should send a clear message to Africans that he is not in for the nepotism and cronyism that continue to mark many regimes in Africa. In fact Africans should give President Obama a break because God has given us every mineral one can think of. He has given us oil, gas, uranium and what have you so what do we want from Obama? If it is friendship then fair enough but if it is dependency on American aid then forget it.

Africans should forget it if they are looking for a messial from America. Omar Bongo, Paul Biya, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Obiang Nguema, Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Daniel arap Moi, Lansana Conte could have been messiahs for Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Egypt, Guinea, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya but they chosen to steal what belonged to their nations and banked their ill gotten wealth in foreign lands instead of investing the money in their countries.

We love to cling onto our little and insignificant tribal and ethnic groupings and wage war against one another instead of uniting to fight hunger and poverty. Our political leaders love to govern the people with impunity, barbarity, cruelty, extreme brutalities and torture instead of providing them with basic necessities of life and allowing them to enjoy freedoms, rights and democracy. Our leaders and politicians love to steal from the coffers of the treasuries and mismanage what remains of their loot and we expect Obama to pour money into our sick economies.

Like Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus Christ for silver coins the leaders have sold their own dignity and the birth right of the people to corrupt multinational corporations and foreign powers for protection betraying their own peoples for peanuts.

Look at how every leader wants to be associated with President Obama but if he had been an opposition candidate in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Togo or Cameroon there is no way he would have become president as the incumbent will do everything possible to win the election. He might have even been in detention or under house arrest or in exile as is happening in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and Chad.

If Obama wins the 2012 elections he will never be president again but just look around the continent and you will find leaders who have been in power for more than 30 years and still want to rule because they think they alone have brains to rule. Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon 26 years, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda 23 years, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan 19 years, Iddriss Derby of Chad 17 years, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia 14 years.

The 71 year old Mamadou Tandja of Niger wanted to change the constitution to rule for a third term. When the court ruled against him, he sacked the judges, appointed new ones and is now ruling the country via emergency powers. President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika of Algeria after two terms in office changed the constitution and is now in his third term as president. Ben Ali of Tunisia is no different, they have all concentrated powers in their hands taking their citizens for fools.

Go to Gambia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia and see how journalists are being killed, detained and tortured. Visit Nigeria and witness how federal and state government officials are squandering billions of oil revenue while millions of young graduates have no jobs and the infrastructures in the country are crumbling. Go to Cameroon and see how millions continue to live in abject poverty despite huge oil revenue. Go to Equatorial Guinea and see how Obiang Nguema and his circle of friends live in opulence and swimming in oil money while the 600, 000 people in that country live in squalid conditions. Go to Angola and find out who has benefited from the oil proceeds.

Go to Congo-Brazzaville and see how Denis Sassou Nguesso and his family are utilizing oil revenue. Denis Nguesso has 112 bank accounts in France alone, plus fleet of expensive mansions and cars while millions scavenge for food in his oil rich but socially and economically impoverished country.

In Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Angola, Congo, Guinea and Central African Republic the first thing you will witness as you enter the country is corruption. Customs and immigration officials openly demand bribe because that is what they see their political masters doing everyday.

What do Africans want from President Obama? Is it loans, grants and food aid? I do not think we need aid. No we do not. What have we done with all the billions of dollars that we have received from the IMF, World Bank, US, Britain, France and Germany over the years? Have our leaders not stolen and banked it in Switzerland, France, Britain and save haven centers around the world? What have we done with the trillions of dollars that we have received from oil, gas, diamond, gold, cocoa, coffee, cotton and timber? Is it not sitting in Swiss, British, French banks?

What has Nigeria done with the over $400 billion she has received from the sale of oil and gas? How about Gabon? How many medical research institutions did Omar Bongo establish before he and his wife had to die in foreign lands seeking medical attention? What did Omar Bongo do with the billions of oil revenue that flowed into his country? Didn’t he open 70 bank accounts in France for himself and bought expensive mansions for himself and his family while 30% of his countrymen live on less than a dollar a day?

Even Ghana which is being praised for her democratic credentials all is not well in that country. Corruption is rife everywhere. Almost everyday news of corruption involving current and former government officials surface in the media. Illiteracy sits deep with only 54% of the population who are able to read and write. Electricity is rationed. Waste management is a great challenge and poses great danger to the health of cities, town and communities. 30% of the population still remain dangerously poor while MPs drive cars worth $50,000 bought and guaranteed by a government that has promised so much yet has delivered so little if not nothing to cushion the suffering of the poor. How many Ghanaians know where gold and other minerals they mine go, who buys them or where the proceeds go? In Ghana cocoa exports accounts for more than 20% of GDP. But go to the rural areas of the country and you will be saddened by the appalling living conditions of farmers who spend all their time and energy farming a crop that contributes so much to the economy yet delivers so little to them. Lack of electricity, clean drinking water, good roads, schools, clinics, irrigation facilities are some of the infrastructures farmers and farming communities lack. So where has all the money gone? The answer is the politicians and their corrupt business associates.

I feel ashamed that these corrupt African leaders are crying for President Obama’s attention. Is Obama not a blackman like Yar’ Dua of Nigeria or Prof Atta Mills of Ghana, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Blaise Campore of Burkina Faso, Mamadou Tandja of Niger, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt or Gaddafi of Libya? What good have these men done for their countries except accumulating power and stealing from their poor nations? In spite of their massive failures and decades in office they still carry themselves as leaders of the people. They are like blind men driving in darkness. They behave like a child king or the proverbial pig who will always go back to the dirt no matter how well it is washed. They have no sense of shame and see nothing wrong with the poverty in their countries. What can be done for leaders who remain accountable to no one?

What do we want Obama to do? I guess to end the poverty and wars in Africa right? Do we want Obama to come and preach to us that it is time to stop stealing from the people? Do we want him to tell us it is time to invest in education, health, technology, roads and other infrastructures?

Do we want him to tell Paul Kegame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to stop invading and destabilizing Eastern Congo and stop profiting from the illegal looting of that country’s resources? We want Obama to arrest the conflict and stalemate in Somalia and Madagascar yet we have leaders some of whom have ruled for over 30 years whose incompetence is the result of hopelessness written in the face of almost every African. Political leaders in the continent have no moral justification to celebrate the election of President Obama and his visit to Africa with the people.

Nigeria could have been the United States of Africa isn’t she? She has all the resources: oil, gas, rich soil, a hardworking population but what do we see? Corruption, embezzlement, utter incompetence, political assassination, coups, election violence, environmental destruction, arm robbery, fraud, internet scam, religious conflict and tribal affiliations have eaten the better part of what should have been a great nation.

DRC a nation with a third of the world’s natural resources yet what we see in that country are chronic poverty, malnutrition, massive official corruption, scant accountability, dictatorship, destruction of infrastructure, and wars which resulted in over six million deaths between 1998 and 2009.

Gabon could easily have become the Switzerland of Africa but her leaders have turned the oil blessing into a curse with poverty, corruption, embezzlement, waste, mismanagement, dictatorship, sitting very deep in the country.

Equatorial Guinea could easily have become the Singapore of Africa but her leaders have turned it into the usual African story of corruption, embezzlement, waste, mismanagement, dictatorship, poverty.

Libya could easily have become the California of Africa but 39 years of one man’s dictatorship brought nothing but international isolation, wars, terrorism, scant accountability, coersion, fear, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, detention, force imprisonment and what have you.

Kenya was asking IMF for a $100 million loan yet the country loses over $1 billion annually through corruption. So what do Kenyans want Obama to do? To pump money into a rotten country? No way.http://africawatch1.blogspot.com/2009/06/open-letter-to-imf-on-loan-request-by.html
Instead of Rwanda and Uganda helping to maintain peace and stability in DR. Congo they have crossed several times into that country in the name of fighting rebels but we know what they are doing there stealing over $600 million worth of minerals from that country. Is this what we want Obama to come and help us to do?

Lucky Dube the Reggae legend sung in his album Prisoner that “I asked the Policeman and said how long must I pay for my freedom? He said to me son they won’t build no schools anymore, they won’t build no hospitals all they build will be prison”. How long must Africans pay for freedom, right to choose their own leaders in Egypt, Libya, E. Guinea, Angola, Congo, Uganda and Zimbabwe? How long must they pay for the corruption of the few? How long must they pay for the incompetence, dictatorship and power grabbing of the insensitive politicians? The leaders won’t build no roads anymore, they won’t build schools what they build is poverty, diseases, corruption, power grabbing, incompetence and mismanagement. Africans are now economic prisoners in a continent full of rich natural resources.

Why trouble Obama when we are own enemies and destructive forces? What do we do with our own intellectuals I mean our own scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses, bankers, planners, architects, technicians and accountants? Why are they leaving the shores of the continent in their thousands for greener pastures abroad? Obama’s father studied in US and returned to Kenya to contribute to his country’s development and what good did Kenya make of him?

What is our own Africa Union doing? Or what has it achieved so far? Has the AU been able to bring peace to Darfur, Somalia, DRC, Chad, or Zimbabwe? Look at how divided we Africans are. Just look at how pathetic the Africa Union is. A body with over 53 members that see no wisdom in unity. A body that has not been able to accomplish anything except producing documents after documents and meetings upon meetings. A body made up of and controlled by corrupt dictators who represent no one except their own interests. What does it say about the leadership in the continent?

President Obama will deliver his policy statement about Africa in Ghana and there is a lot of expectations as to what he intends to do for the continent. But with all the dictators and kleptocrats still in power in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Libya, Angola, Congo what do you think will happen if Obama should give Africa all the money that USA has? Wouldn’t it be stolen by these same corrupt leaders and their associates? No matter the policy statement that Obama gives in Ghana poverty, diseases and wars will never depart from the continent if the leaders fail to change their corrupt, power grabbing and incompetent attitude. The tumor that is making the people poor is the leaders and until the tumor is removed the continent will not be healed of poverty, diseases and wars.

I would rather want President Obama to focus his attention on nations that are prepared to change and adopt political and economic reforms and demonstrate their willingness to fight poverty, diseases that continue to plague the continent not those whose leaders are waiting to die while still president. President Obama should focus on nations like Botswana, Zambia, Mali and the rest.

The leaders cannot eat their cake and have it again. The leaders cannot steal from the people and think poverty will leave them. The leaders cannot continue to mismanage our economies and think that unemployment will go away. Until we begin to realize that manna will not fall from heaven and there is nothing like free lunch we will continue to look to foreign countries as children look to their parents for everything.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Activist and anti-corruption campaigner. He blogs at http://www.lordadusei.blogspot.com

Africa unity will remain elusive without sacrifice

For decades the dream of an African continent united under one leadership, one government with a prosperous people with shared values, shared interest, common citizenship and with a common destiny and taking their place in the world community of nations has escaped the leadership in Africa. On the 12th of February 2009 Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade is quoted as saying: “The United States of Africa will be proclaimed in 2017, to allow for the time needed to work out the different African institutions,” Source: Pan-African News Agency, 12th of February 2009.

If the United States of Africa is realized it will be a milestone for many who want to see a united Africa with a common foreign policy, trade policy, common agricultural policy, common environment, immigration and economic policy. There are many sceptics who doubt Africa’s ability to achieve unity because of the differences in language, religion, and traditional or cultural practices among our peoples as well as the various types of political systems currently evidence in Africa: monarchies, democracies and autocracies; the huge size of the continent, the high level of illiteracy, wide infrastructural gaps and different levels of poverty, however if we put the interest of the continent and its people first I am convinced these challenges can be solved no matter how difficult they are.

African leaders must first and foremost recognize that unity in Africa is in our best interest and the only option we have if we want to attain peace, stability and economic development. We all must recognize that we can only make progress if North, South, East, Central and West Africa come together as one, act together as one and speak with one voice. Unity is the only key to our economic success. We can only make progress if we dismantle the artificial boundaries that have divided our peoples for quite too long. We can never develop if we continue to hold on to the artificial colonial divisions that divided tribes, peoples and regions without considering the needs of the people. We must unite as one people if we are to guarantee the future survival of our continent, its people, its resources and its culture. We can only guarantee the rights of our children and their children’s children to be the owners of our great continent if we take steps to unite our countries.

There can never be peace and development if we are not united. Africans must remember that it was our disunity in the past that enabled Europe to exploit our continent for centuries and even today it is being exploited by the so called super powers to our own disadvantage. We have had our people carried into slavery because of disunity, we have had our resources looted by foreigners because of disunity, we have had our countries invaded, and even today we are under siege from foreign powers and their corporations who are raping the continent of its valuable resources for their own selfish gains. We are helpless because we are fragmented. We are helpless because we cannot speak with one voice. We are helpless because we are not united. We cannot act together to bring peace to Somalia, Sudan and DR. Congo because some of our leaders with the connivance of foreign defence companies and contractors are benefiting from those conflicts.

If Africa is going to make it then the leaders must act together as one, eschew their personal interests and put the needs of the continent first.
Julius Nyerere in an interview about Africa’s unity said this:

“Kwame Nkrumah and I were committed to the idea of unity. African leaders and heads of state did not take Kwame seriously. However, I did. I did not believe in these small little nations. Still today I do not believe in them. I tell our people to look at the European Union, at these people who ruled us who are now uniting. Kwame and I met in 1963 and discussed African Unity. We differed on how to achieve a United States of Africa. But we both agreed on a United States of Africa as necessary… After independence the wider African community became clear to me. I was concerned about education; the work of Booker T. Washington resonated with me. There were skills we needed and black people outside Africa had them. I gave our US Ambassador the specific job of recruiting skilled Africans from the US Diaspora. A few came. Some stayed; others left. We should try to revive it. We should look to our brothers and sisters in the West. We should build the broader Pan-Africanism. There is still the room – and the need” — Julius Nyerere interviewed by Ikaweba Bunting, The Heart of Africa, New Internationalist Magazine, Issue 309, January-February 1999.

There are many African leaders who are dragging their feet and are drowning the Africa Union initiative. Such leaders are only interested in the power and titles that they have in their own countries. They are not asking the hard question as to why Europe is uniting and what will it be for Africa if we are not united. They are not asking why Mexico, US and Canada are uniting to form the North American Union and why US is seeking to establish military bases in Africa through the Africa Command (AFRICOM) project. All these countries are strategising for the next phase of global politics which will centre on who controls what vital resources and in which area. This underscores the reason why US is seeking military bases in Africa to protect her interest and to ensure that its resource needs are met at all cost. How will a small country like Gabon respond if her oil becomes a target of US occupation? Does Equatorial Guinea have the military capability to withstand an all out invasion by Europe if they decide to take her resources by force as America has done in Iraq?

The shortage of resources in Europe and America and its abundance in Africa means in the near future Africa is going to be a battle ground for these countries for the control of the resources. US has projected that by the end the next decade 85% of its oil needs must come from Africa. China too wants Africa’s oil. India wants it and the EU is not staying idle either. How is the US going to ensure that the 85% target is met? Does the Africom project makes sense? How do we respond if we are not united? How do we ensure that Western countries will not exploit our weak and insignificant countries for their own advantage?

Currently there are signs that Africa is going to be a battle ground between Europe, US, China and Russia. All of them are vying for control and influence in Africa. It may get very nasty: it may mean wars; it may mean supporting dictators; it may mean coups in resource rich countries; it may mean civil wars; it may mean assassinations; blackmail and arm twisting all of them tools used by these super powers during the cold war. What are we going to do in the face of these threats if we continue to stick to our insignificant countries? Don’t we also need these resources ourselves and what are we going to do to protect them if we are not united?
There is strength in unity and that is why Europe is uniting, that is why North American countries are uniting.

Today Europe is moving forward with political and economic integration while it is making effort to weaken Africa with the hope that a weakened, fragmented and disunited Africa will make it easier for the resources of these countries to be exploited and looted as is currently going on in Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, DRC, Angola, Congo where American and European multinational corporations are paying close to nothing for the resources they take. Fearful of what Africa could achieve if united, Europe under the leadership of France (one of the beneficiaries of Africa’s disunity) is proposing what they term ´Mediterranean Union´ an association that encompasses all nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea including the five north African countries, a move largely seen as an attempt by Europeans to weaken Africa’s effort to unite. This is the divide and rule policies of Europe that has ensured that continental Africa never gets united to do things central to their own people.
“The Mediterranean Union project is also rife with hidden agendas, including the promotion of French national interests, while ignoring some of the biggest dangers in the former European colonies in West Asia and Africa… France’s real motive, though, is to establish a French southern sphere of influence to counter Germany’s dominant position in central and Eastern Europe”.–www.livemint.com, Fri, 1 Aug 2008.

The secrecy and the hidden agenda of the Mediterranean Union project was rightly noted by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal:
“But of course there are other obvious goals behind the Union for the Mediterranean initiative like Algeria’s oil and gas and Libyan oil,” The same secrecy and hidden agenda surround America’s Africom. It can never be about any other thing other than the exploitation of African resources and keeping Africa and Africans at the bottom of the world development ladder.

We must fight this divide and rule policies if we are ever going to make it as a continent and as a people. Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia can never be called Europe and will never be accepted as such by Europeans no matter what French president Nicolas Sarkozy says and the earlier the leaders in North Africa realise it the better. We must resist and fight every attempt to weaken and destroy our effort to unite. We must be very wary of US, Europe, China, Russia and their intentions.

Leaders in Africa who are dragging their feet and only interested in the sovereignty of their insignificant countries must recognise that a united Africa is in their best interest and those of their children and their children’s children. They may be less concerned and not interested in Africa unity because they may be enjoying power in their respective countries but how can they guarantee the future of their own countries, the future of their children and their children’s children when they are weak economically and continue to rely on foreign aid for the survival of their governments?

I believe President Abdoulaye Wade was right when he said: “We cannot be kept into a limited space by African leaders who are holding on to petty little states”. By any margin each of the countries in Africa is weak politically, economically and militarily to stand on its own and it is only by uniting and integrating our economies that we can stand on our feet and be recognized as people. We must not hold on to our small, weak and powerless states in the name of sovereignty, we must unite for the good of Africa and its people.

“Sovereignty also masks the weakness of Africans at a time when other people have pooled political power in vast territories like China, India, Brazil, Russia and the United States of America. The very colonial countries that were the “foreigners” against whom independent African states wished to protect their sovereignty are themselves building the European Union as a bigger source of power in the global arena”–http://allafrica.com/stories/200908061022.html, 6 August 2009.

We must achieve unity at all cost. There are many in East and South Africa that favour United States of Africa through the regional groupings whereas those in the North and West favour a more rapid integration. We can not allow this to delay and detract our effort to unite. Therefore I suggest we allow our diplomats, intellectuals to dialogue and negotiate as which approach suits us best but the 2017 deadline must be met.

We stand to gain if we are united. Unity has the added advantage of defeating the divide and rule policies of Europe. It has the advantage of ending the wars that continue to ravage many parts of the continent. It has the advantage of helping us to pool resources together to tackle the many challenges facing the continent. Unity will end the disputes between Nigeria and Cameroon regarding the ownership of the Bakasi Peninsula. It will end the near escalated tension between Kenya and Uganda that we saw in 2009 over the Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. Unity will end the Yumbe border dispute between Uganda and Sudan; it will end the Katuna and Mutukula border area dispute between Rwanda and Tanzania. If we are united as one people and as one country there will be no need for the many border disputes including the one between Morocco, Algeria and Western Sahara. Unity will make it unnecessary for Uganda and Rwanda to cross several times into DR. Congo to take resources for the development of their countries. It will end the border dispute between Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Unity will enable us to speak with one voice, deal with Europe, America, China, Russia and India through the government that will represent us all. We can harness the resources in Africa for the good of all us so that Niger, Mali, Rwanda, Ethiopia and other resource poor countries will not have to go to war before having access to the resources they need.

Hutus, Tutsis and other tribes in the Great Lake region will not have to fight each other for control of land and resources since they will not be bound by space. They can come to Ghana live anywhere, farm and enjoy their live. That is what unity can bring us.

To make the United States of Africa possible we must stop thinking in terms of Anglophone, Francophone, and Arabs or Mediterraneans. We must think as Africans not as French or English or German or Dutch, Spanish or Portuguese, or Arabic speakers and not as Anglophone and Francophone. We must think as Africans not as Muslims or Christians We are all God’s children. We are all Africans and Africa is our home and we must all work to protect its people, its cultures, its peace, its stability its economy, its democracy, and above all its unity not only for ourselves but for our children’s children. These divisions and categorisations only serve France and Britain’s interest not us. These categorisations have been exploited by those who want to see Africans poor. Those who for centuries manipulated, exploited our resources, imprisoned our leaders, overthrew our governments and assassinated our leaders and still want to control us. If we do not unite against the external forces bent on seeing us weak and fragmented then we have ourselves to blame.

The people of Southern Sudan, Northern Sudan, and Darfur must see themselves as Africans not as Southerners, Northerners or Darfurians. Those categorisations only serve the interest of those who want the wars to continue so they can exploit our resources while we are busy fighting. We must know that there is no Nigeria but Africa; there is no Egypt or Algeria, Libya or Sudan, Kenya or Tanzania, South Africa or Ghana but Africa. If we think as Africans and work together we can accomplish a lot for our peoples.

The European Union worked because Germany, France, Britain and the political leadership made huge sacrifices. Therefore some countries must make economic and political sacrifices if we are to realise the US-Africa. South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Kenya, DRC, Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola must make political commitment to bring peace and stability in Africa. The unity of Africa depends on the cooperation and the sacrifices of these countries.

We must recognise that individually we cannot deal with the United States, the European Union, Russia or China; we cannot because we do not have the strength to act and bring pressure to bear. If we want to make our influence felt as the world’s natural resource power house then we must unite and speak with one voice, unite and have one foreign policy, unite and have one economic policy, unite and have one agricultural policy, unite and have one trade policy.
Currently at the United Nations there are more countries from Africa than from Europe and North America combined yet we do not have any say on what goes on in there because we are not united, we do not speak with one voice.

China which is just one country makes a lot of impact at the United Nations than all the over fifty countries from Africa. If we want to change this unfavourable balance of power, take the destiny of Africa into our own hands, protect its people and its resources from external exploitation and develop the economy to benefit its people then we have no option than to unite.

Credit: Lord Aikins Adusei
Political Activist and Anti-Corruption campaigner

WHO WILL DELIVER GHANA?

 There is too much poverty in the country:in the cities and in the countryside. There is too much corruption in the country: in the NDC and NPP, police service and CEPS; at the harbours; in the universities, polytechnic, teachers’ training and nursing schools sex for grades and money for admission. Many people are victims. The illiteracy level in the country is very high: 44% of the adult population cannot read and write. Unemployment is very high between 25 and 50%. Many of the youth have no jobs and have resorted to illegal activities such as armed robbery, prostitution and other social vices. Graduates from our universities are without jobs either and many are doing their best to leave the country for the corrupt politicians.

Water pollution and poor sanitation is everywhere in our cities. The people of Teshie and Nungua are using the sea and the coast as places of convenience because they have no access to toilets. Many people in our cities and towns are without quality and the right quantity of water. In some communities, residents have to live without water for weeks if not months, yet there is a president and his ministers who receive tens of millions of cedis every month for not providing the people with water.

People live in mud houses roofed with raffia leaves in most of our rural areas. They are without electricity, water and social security. In the cities people have no mortgage, they face high renting and utility bills with poor services. Power cuts is everywhere in the country, yet every month the minister of energy receives millions of cedis for not providing the people with the facilities thy need.

Farmers have no access to tractors and fertilisers and have to plant using cutlasses and hoes every planting and harvesting season. They have no access to irrigation facilities and if nature fails to provide them with water then they are doomed.

There is entropy of infrastructure decay in the country. There are no proper waste management system.The traffic jams and pollution in Accra and Kumasi are unbearable.

There is food shortage everywhere and prices are beyond the reach of ordinary Ghanaians as a result malnutrition is increasingly affecting most of the children especially in the rural areas.

Poverty is driving more and more children into the streets of Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Ho, Tema and many others. Children serving as head potters are visible everywhere in the country. They are selling ice water, coconut, plantain chips and other hawking activities. They are sacrificing their education to find food for themselves. The MPs, the president, the vice president and their ministers drive by: some of them even stop to buy the stuff these children are selling without asking question why these children who are supposed to be in school and be trained as future leaders are on the street selling.

Most hospitals are without essential medicines and medical staff are in short supply in most health institutions. The minister of health says there is no money for medicines but every month taxes are paid so where does the money go?

Ghana has not modernized at all. 53 years after independence we still carry things on our head and wash our clothes with our hand. Our women still carry their children on their back.

Nothing durable is manufactured in the country not even bicycles let alone cars, computers, dish washers and heavy equipments that help nations to develop. We are a nation that depend on what others have used and thrown away.

Our economy is littered with used computers, used clothes, used cars things that most Ghanaians could not do without. NDC and NPP have been promising to build castles in Ghana, yet people are living mud houses. We cannot even device plans to help our farmers to increase food production. We have not recognised that the cutlasses and hoes they have been using since the time of slavery and colonialism cannot help us to move forward as a nation.

Rawlings and his P(NDC) spent 19 years joking and toying with Ghanaians and the problems facing them. Kuffour and his NPP spent 8 years talking more and doing little. President Mills has been in power for more than one year and has not found his feet yet, though his ministers are enjoying tax payers’ money, driving Land Cruiser while fishermen have no premix fuel.

There is corruption at the Castle where Alex Segbefia who is the deputy chief of staff at the Castle and his men are rapping Tema harbour of cars that have been seized by the state. Those at the helm of affairs are doing their best to loot as much as they can for themselves leaving Ghanaians to suffer.

Frustration, hopelessness and desperation are written in the face of many Ghanaians. Ghanaians appear to have no leader: a leader who will provide jobs for the youth; a leader who will provide infrastructure for the economic take off, a leader who will transform Ghana’s railway sector into viable transportation industry; a leader who is a problem solver and not just arm-chair president.

Come 2012 NDC and NPP politicians aided by the corrupt press and media practitioners will come with the same pack of lies, deceits and with smooth words: vote for us and we will do this and that but once they get to parliament they cannot even put a bill together to solve some of the problems. Once they become ministers they cannot even formulate policies let alone implement one.

Ghanaians are suffering not because we are poor in terms of natural resources. We are poor because we have bad political leaders who are interested in getting power without using the power to help develop the nation for all to benefit. Those entrusted with the management of the nation are simply visionless. They love to drive in convoy at the expense of the nation yet have no idea how to help Ghana become a food sufficient nation. More than 52 years after independence we still import rice from China and India and there is no sign that the importation will stop soon.

Ghana is a leading gold exporter but where does the money go? Ghana is a leading cocoa exporter but where does the money go? Rawlings couldn’t give a straight answer when he was asked. Kuffour could’nt give a straight answer either. We continue to receive grants from rich countries in the global north but the politicians and their business friends are not allowing it to have impact in the country.

Hundreds of loan agreements have signed and billions of dollars have been received by our governments (Rawlings and Kuffour and now Mills) and we are paying heavy fees for it yet Ghanaians cannot trace where all the loan money has gone or the projects it has been used to complete.

It is so sad that the leaders who came after Nkrumah have done very little to add to the foundation he laid. I don’t know what would have happened to Ghana had Nkrumah not built Akosombo dam. I don’t what would have happened to Ghana had Nkrumah not built Tema city and the harbour with all the infrastructures and industries such as Valco. Nkrumah spent 9 years from 1957 to 1966 doing all these landmark projects, Rawlings and his PNDC spent 19 years doing nothing but selling what Nkrumah built and where did the money go? Rawlings and his PNDC couldn’t even maintain the things Nkrumah did let alone adding some to it. They had to allow it to rot and decay because they did not have any idea how important those things were to the economy of our country. Kuffour spent 8 years selling Ghana Telecom and where did the proceed go?

The NDC and the NPP are toying with Ghana’s secondary school system: 3 years for NDC, 4 years for NPP meanwhile they are sending their children to be educated abroad leaving Ghanaians to suffer from their selfish and ill conceived policies.

Will NPP’s Alan Kyeremanteng and Akuffo Addo save Ghana? I don’t think so. Because they are part of the same wagon that has not deliver to Ghanaians. Can Mills save Ghana? Well his style of governance shows that unemployment and many of the woes he came to meet will worsen. He has not shown any clear policy direction as what he wants to do or achieve for Ghana.

We have been mining gold for decades yet Ghanaians cannot even buy products made from gold. We have been selling gold at the international gold market for decades and ordinary Ghanaians do not know where the money goes. No one in Ghana except the corrupt NDC and their equally corrupt NPP rivals who know where the proceeds go. Now they are happy that we have discovered oil and are seriously strategising to steal so Ghanaians will continue to live in poverty again.

If Ghana is going to be a nation for all its people then the is the need for a leadership that will aggressively implement policies and programmes that will transform the nation from its current economic predicament. A leadership that will mobilize all the resources in the country to develop Ghana for all its citizens to benefit. Ghanaians sit up and beware of who you vote for in 2012.

Credit: Lord Aikins Adusei

NDC and NPP:They know the road to power but they do not know how to solve Ghana’s worsening poverty situation

It is a fact that Ghana has huge natural resources . It is also a fact that Ghana’s current economic problems is due to lack of political leadership and absence of right policies  to utilize the resources to benefit majority of the people who are living on $2 a day. The poverty situation in the country  is the result corrupt visionless people masquerading as political leaders who since 1966 have mismanaged the country to the detriment of Ghanaians. There is no argument that the poverty situation in Ghana keeps worsening everyday despite the fact we have people calling themselves ministers, MPs, presidents and vice president who are drawing huge pay cheques, bonuses at the expense of the people yet do not know how to lead the people out of poverty.

It is so sad that despite the huge natural resources, a stabled political environment and people willing to work the country is still find itself in economic quagmire thanks to NPP and NDC  leadership who have ruled the country to enrich themselves while millions live squalid conditions.

When will the leadership of NDC and NPP recognize the harm they are causing the country and its citizens and start implementing policies and programmes that will alleviate the suffering of the people? When will the people have access to good drinking water for 365 days? When will they have electricity in their homes 365 days? When will children in the rural areas have classroom and books to study? When will those in the cities enjoy high quality of utilities?

Why was Nkrumah able to build the whole Tema city with roads, industries in nine years? Why was he able to build Akosombo Dam and other industries in the country with just 9 years? Didn’t Rawlings spend 19 years in power, what can we remember him of? If Rawlings had built another Akosombo dam wouldn’t Ghana had been better? Didn’t Kuffour spend 8 years in power, what can we remember him of? Is it not the selling of Vodafone and other national assets?