It was a moment of truth telling and reality check at the just-concluded 5th Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa when former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan insisted that African countries must stop begging, cap-in-hand, for assistance from foreigners to address challenges confronting the continent.
Annan, who gave the keynote address at this year’s forum in Addis Ababa, said the solutions to the problems the continent is facing must come from within. He added, however, that the continent must build up its ability to do so, including in financing its institutions.
“We cannot always pass a hat around and insist we want to be sovereign, we want to be independent. We should lead and get others to support us, that support will be much more forthcoming when they see how serious and committed we are.” ~ Kofi Annan
The former UN scribe also noted that the African Union (AU) has struggled to get members to pay their dues, which will allow the organisation to run its operations and programmes efficiently, a recurrent theme addressed by leaders at the forum. He further observed that such budgetary concerns were constraining the work of the continent in strengthening stability and required creative ways of resourcing.
“I was happy to hear them [African leaders] say ‘we must be prepared to pay for what we want; we must be prepared to put out our own money on the table and fund issues that are of great importance to us’,” he added.
Annan’s warning touched on a growing concern amongst African scholars, economists and African affairs commentators who have been involved in controversies and debates trailing the issue of overdependence on foreign aid and donations by African countries over the years.
At one point, it was estimated that a huge percentage of the national budgets of most countries in Africa was dependent on foreign aid. While apologists of the trend say African countries need such support, critics kick against it, saying that such aid amounts to a Greek gift that is invariably making African nations indolent and prodigal in the public spending.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and current chairman of the Tana Forum, shared the same sentiment recently when he spoke at the Commonwealth Day Service and Commonwealth Africa Summit in London. Chief Obasanjo was a Keynote Speaker at that summit, where he harped on the need for Africans to look inward and help themselves.
“We as Africans should remember that nobody will do anything for you unless you do it for yourself. In my part of the world, when you want to carry a load, you put a pad on your head and stand by your load, then they will see you need help and come to help you. We need to put our pad on our head as Africans and stand by our lead ready to carry, then they will help us.” ~ Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
Annan, the Ghanaian-born, renowned international diplomat, expressed optimism, however, that the ex-leaders have what it takes to brainstorm and proffer solutions to the challenges militating the growth and development of the continent.
“I think it is a very good idea that ex-leaders come together with current leaders to share experience and try to talk very frankly about the challenges facing the continent and also about our relations with the international community,” he further stated.
Annan also urged African leaders to leave office when their mandated time is up and to avoid excluding opposing voices if elections are to cease contributing to conflicts on the continent. While unconstitutional changes to government on the continent had reduced, he cited exclusionary politics that threaten to reverse the gains made.
“I think Africa has done well: by and large the coups have more or less ended, generals are remaining in their barracks, but we are creating situations which may bring them back,” he stressed.
The Nobel laureate posited that if a leader does not want to leave office and the stays on for too long, elections could be seen as being gamed to suit that leader’s personal desires. The longer such a leader overstays his elected terms, the greater the likelihood that people will believe the only way to get him out is through a coup or people taking to the streets.
“Neither approach can be seen as an alternative to democracy, to elections or to parliamentary rule. Constitutions and the rules of the game have to be respected”, he added. Annan was the first to advise the AU not to accept coup leaders among their midst during an OAU heads of state summit in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2001.
The winner-take-all approaches to elections on the continent also came under scrutiny, with Annan stating that they leave out citizens who hold an opposing view and raise tensions around elections.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Togo’s Faure Gnassingbe, Somalia’s Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Sudan’s Omar al Bashir were among the heads of state and government present. Former leaders Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Festus Mogae of Botswana, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Pierre Buyoya of Burundi and Joyce Banda of Malawi and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria were also in attendance.
The famous Taylor Schlitz family is making headlines once more as the youngest of the…
Sony Pictures Entertainment has appointed Tahra Grant as its Chief Communications Officer. She replaces Robert…
Meet Ashley M. Fox, the founder of Empify and the first in her family to…
Tyra Banks, the iconic former host of Dancing With the Stars, has made a delightful…
A Brazilian woman named Érika de Souza, 42, is under investigation for manslaughter after authorities…
Ghana’s Asante king Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has unveiled the long-lost treasure of the kingdom…
Deion Sanders is a retired American professional football and baseball player who currently coaches at…
Tiger Woods is set to receive $100 million from PGA Tour Enterprises for his loyalty,…
Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback, has shown his affection for the community by contributing…
It appears Shaquille O'Neal is willing to go all the way out to pamper his…
A U.S. Army Major faces up to 240 months in prison after he was found…
In her first interview about her conviction in Russia on drug smuggling charges, WNBA star…
The beloved host of This Morning, Alison Hammond, is making headlines by selling off her…
Two high school students in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have earned a place in history. The…
Derek Floyd, a 36-year-old Fire Department of New York probationary fireman, died of a heart…
View Comments
Begging from foreigners???? Africa feeds the world while it's own people starve. African countries had to let western companies keep all the best farm land to export cheap animal feed to North America while leaving their own people to scratch a living from the deserts. Africa's gold, diamonds, oil, cobalt, etc. have given western companies trillions in profits while African governments get just enough to pay soldiers and police to keep the people quiet while they starve, and stop them from 'stealing' gold from the rivers with old fashioned pans.
Africans need to take back what is rightfully their's and not ask for 'bailouts' or 'loans' or 'charity' but for BACK PAY for the resources taken and REPARATIONS for the damage done by ongoing western colonialism.
Hi joybuzzard. Great input and very well put. I copied and pasted it on facebook. If you are on facebook, would be great to connect. myfb name is: ndifor altruist
Take it back with which army?
Well thought out submissions, you stated exactly what I have in mind. Bless you!
No Problem, Sir! we should stop begging, right? All the African well thought initiatives to make African leaders come up with their own home grown strategy to combat comm ills the continent is facing, none has shown a significant change we can base on to hop for the future. If you know one, name it! NEPAD with is APRM, was not from those leaders sitting there? It is 15 years now in operation, what can we say about it? where did it takes us too? even implementing its policies, the donors have to intervene and come with their conditionalites which makes it fail because they want their money to resolve their problem, not ours! How many summits where special commissions have been formed to make things look promising? many! many ! what of them? Let us continue begging, that's make! Security, wars, conflicts...genocides... civil wars...don't we have have well thought laid down commission to deal with these things! What have we seen different?
Point
taken Sir. Yes indeed we agree with you one a number of issues you raised,
especially the one for Africa to stop begging and also the length of time these
African leaders want to stay in power for more than they are supposed to, constitutionally.
We have seen leaders forcing constitution to be altered in their respective
countries just to suit their needs. Also it is true and a concern to us that
the AU seem to be toothless and now broke. It will take a very strong AU to fix
the problems of the African continent whereby there will be rules and laws that
will force the affiliated members to respect and uphold. At the moment everyone
does whatever he/ she wants in her own country with no clear consequences.
While there is a lot of conflict, the foreigners come in and wag some cheese on
their noses and they, the leaders, fall for that and sell their soul to them
and at the end of the day they are indebted to those foreigners. If AU can
control this, Africa can become a force in the world in all aspects and we
would be taking from the foreigners and making our continent richer and not the
other way round. Really how can you be a member of an organisation and still don’t
pay your dues, come on. Let’s one Africa from Cape to Cairo and shape the
future for the next generation while we can.
Who must stop begging? African countries? Hmm, once a beggar, always a beggar!
I HARDLY AGREE .
YEAH,
WE SHOULD LOOK INWARD,
AND DRIVE DEVELOPEMENT,
EVEN SO :
Foreigers/Foreign
Governments -
Must Stop lnterferring In African
Nations..Distablizing Them/Their Governments,
Through Wars, And /Or Unfavourable Foreign/
Trade Policies - Thus Stealing Their Resources
And Raping Their Economies, And Further
PauperizingThe Nations/Populace .
WESTERN NATIONS/EUROPE -
They Are No Charity Donors Towards Us/Africa ..
Thus Favouring Us - Rather, We Are Receiving Back
Triffles Of Our Stolen Wealth !
Mr. Annan