Re: Grand Debate on Freedom of Africa in terms economics & Financial Freedom just Started...
Benin "Mwangi"
This is a great discussion Mr. Ogo Sow, AKA Mr. Africa, thanks for
inviting me. I have also invited others by adding them (in the bcc
field )to this message, so that if they would like to participate, they
can just jump in.
Lets look at a statement made by former Mali President and current
Chairman
of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare,
"This
speech was not the kind of break we were hoping for". So why was AU
Chairman Mr. Konare upset? What was he expecting to hear from the
French
President Mr. Sarkozy? Well let's look at the statement that the
French
President made for a possible answer.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy says about Africa
should face up to its own problems he says, "Do you want to end the
arbitrary corruption, violence? That money is invested instead of being
embezzled. Do you want the rule of law?" Ok, in and of itself, what
he is saying makes sense. However, maybe Mr. Konare felt that for a
French President to say it was a bit hypocritical. Right now if we
were
to count the Western Sahara as a country, Africa
has 54 countries. Throughout the last 15 years the continent, at any
given time, the continent has almost consistently seen six out of her
54
nations in serious trouble. If you look at some of the nations
which have had large scale conflicts over the last fifteen years, how
many of
these nations are in Francophone Africa? Let's try to find out...in
the
last fifteen years the following African nations have had serious
issues or
conflicts affecting them-Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Rwanda, Chad, Guinea-Conakry, Central African Republic, Burundi,
Algeria,
Liberia, Sierre Leone, Angola, Somalia, Zimbabwe, and Eritrea. Eight
out
of these fourteen countries share heavy French influence as a
commonality. Now this is may not be by design, but it is difficult to
ignore this trend. So if the French President says that France will be an unwavering friend,
then it
seems that accompanying that friendship would be a public policy toward
Africa should somehow address this
issue, rather than
sweep it underneath the rug. However, this did not seem to be the case,
judging
from the tone of Mr. Sarkozy's speech and French public policy. Maybe
this is why Mr. Konare was unhappy.
Me personally, I would like to say that in spite of major problems
affecting a
small group of countries on the continent, since the 1990's amazing
things have
been happening across different regions of the continent. Very notably
many of these achievements have been in entrepreneurship and
governance.
This to me signals that Africa has
already
started to take her future into her own hands. This is probably what
Mr.
Konare expected the French President to say. That is where I agree
with
Mr. Konare. However, where I have disagreed with him was on his
stance,
while serving in the capacity of AU Chairman, towards Zimbabwe.
I'll just summarize
it by saying that his approach to the crisis befalling the nation of Zimbabwe
seems
to be very "hands off". This would almost underscore at least
part of what France's
president mentions. However, dwelling here on the particulars of the
speech, appears to be a distraction.
The question of how to bring about economic freedom to Africa
is multifaceted. Therefore, the answer should also have several
layers.
The following are some of the items that I believe African nations
could focus
on to begin controlling their own economic destinies:
- Continuing to embrace and empower entrepreneurs
- Focusing on service oriented export industries
- Strong governance
- Continual investment in infrastructure
- More intra-continental trade
- Making education more accessible to economically disadvantaged children
- The continent re-claiming her own public relations and image, so that the tragedies affecting six countries don't need to dissuade investors from investing in the other 48 nations
- Finding ways to include the informal market sectors within growth strategies
- Eliminating the barriers for women in business
Of course it is easier said than done, but it is already being done by several African nations, which leads me to believe that it can be done elsewhere on the continent.
ogo sow wrote:
sowa...@yahoo.com wrote:African Brothers & Sisters please Stop the Complaining,We Can do it ...let's show the World that Africa Can compete...it's about time for the Africans in the Diaspora to Stand-Up for Africa...the Grand Debate- just Open what do you think? and what's in your mind? about Africa Issues?Mr Africa,7Days a Week 24 Hours a Daylive broadcasting from Atlanta!He proposed a "shared development, a common strategy in the face of globalisation ... to prepare for the advent of 'EurAfrica'".Konare said that while he agreed with Sarkozy's appeal for young Africans to reject corruption, violence and nepotism, "young people are aware of that and many of them have been fighting these things for a long time.""I am certain that the president wants a clean break ... I believe that to help him make that change, he needs to get to know Africa better and we are ready to help him do so."
sowa...@yahoo.com : Radio & TV Productions on Time warner cable every tuesday 2: 30 pm on www.ogosow.com www.senegalembassy-us.org/www.miraclecorners.org office 770-456-5756 or 678-571-1810
Peace & Love Each one Teach one!!!
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