Speech:-
The Official Launch of the Book- Kamugisha E.T., Why Africa Fails: The Case of Growth Before Democracy (NB Publishers, 2012)
19th December, 2012- Kampala Uganda
My dear friend Elly Kamugisha
My fellow East Africans and Africans here
Representatives of Diplomatic community here in Kampala
Comrades
Before
making these remarks, I heartly send to all Ugandans in general,
Parliament of Uganda and the family of the late Cerinah Nebanda, MP my
condolences for the shocking loss of the latter. As young legislator
from Tanzania the death of Cerinah reminds us the death, in unexplained
circumstances, of an outspoken young MP Ms. Amina Chifupa in 2007. Amina
and Cerinah shared one fundamental principle, telling the truth as it
is. As Amina, Cerinah has died very young. Uganda has lost one of its
future leaders. But struggle must continue. The struggle for a
transparent and accountable government shall be the cause all
legislators in the region must carry. It is not an option. It is a duty.
On
the 7th of December 2012, I landed at O R Tambo International Airport.
As it is my routine, I went around bookshops and saw a book titled Why
Africa Fails. I smiled, picked it and turned to its back. I quickly
glanced at it. The Author was an African from East Africa. I bought it
immediately. When I started reading it I could never stop. The next day I
was travelling to Germany and there I met the author. I didn’t hide my
happiness. Within a week today I am here in Kampala to officiate the
launch of this very critical book about our own development, Africa’s
development. Thank you Elly for making this possible as through this we
are enhancing the spirit of East African Community.
It
is unfortunate that Africa has been struggling with economic,
political, and social issues. The continent is extremely rich in natural
resources and potential for competent human resources. However, this
richness has only remained on paper and inside the pockets of some few
individuals connected to the powers. The continent, as we all know, has
been experiencing poverty, civil wars, epidemic diseases, corruption,
dictatorships, and coups. All these have led to the labelling of Africa
as a ‘poor continent’ ‘black/dark continent’ and ‘a scar on the
conscience of the world’ among many other negative phrases. The
continent forms largest part of what Prof. Paul Collier calls The Bottom
Billion.
Since
late 1960s there have been many scholarly and political attempts to
explain the poor state of Africa. These include academic theories such
as the World System Theory (which blames Capitalism and the Western
World - as responsible for Africa’s poverty). Walter Rodney, for
example, published a masterpiece titled ‘How Europe Underdeveloped
Africa’, which analysed the adverse impact of slavery, colonialism, and
other European intervention on Africa. Other explanations focus on
inward problems including corruption, undemocratic regimes, and failing
states. The World Bank and IMF, for example, link the problems of Africa
with ‘poor’ policies that do not comply with the market economy and
democratic ideals. Of late, Prof. Acemoglu and Prof. Robinson published a
book ‘Why Nations Fail’ which attributes success and failure to the
type of institutions a state has in place. Thus, from their arguments,
Africa fails because of African states have institutions that are
extractive and exploitative to its people. By and large, the kind of
policies that Acemoglu and Robinson recommend are those that conform to
the market economy or in modern times, we can call them neo-liberal
policies- These, according to them, are inclusive institutions.
All these explanations for the failure of Africa are apportioning the blame to different actors.
The
attempts to explain the failure of Africa are often attached with
recommended policies that often comes with strings attached- which, at
best, perpetuate the same issues. The World Bank and IMF, for example,
came up with the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs), which, by and
large, did not work. Efforts to solve African problems have been
numerous and most of them do not result in sustainable improvements.
Thus the question remains - Why Africa Fails?
This
is why Dr. Kamugisha’s book is timely and of extreme importance to the
development of our continent. This is especially so because Dr.
Kamugisha is an African, full of insight into what the African problems
are, hence he is equipped with all rounded knowledge to recommend
relevant and sustainable solutions. As a result of his education,
research, and experience as an economic adviser, Dr. Kamugisha brings us
an analytical book that, if taken seriously, can help Africa to change
its status from ‘a scar’ to ‘a beacon of hope’.
Dr.
Kamugisha stops the syndrome of ‘apportioning the blame’ and call upon
Africans (ourselves) to deal with our problems. He argues that African
malaise is due to our own blunders. Indeed there are a number of
mistakes made by African governments that cannot be attributed or blamed
to external factors. These are such as corruption, illicit money
transfers, unfair contracts, and brain drain.
Many
a times, as a Member of Parliament and a Shadow Finance Minister, I
have moved private motions in Parliament as an attempt to deal with
issues that are stagnating our economies. The latest motion I moved was
on the illicit money transfer. This issue, for example, has nothing to
do with external intervention, and so we cannot blame anyone apart from
ourselves. Millions of money are transferred from the government/country
to private accounts abroad by our fellow Africans. Such malaise actions
are facilitated by poor policies and corruption that is rampant in our
governments. We can correct this ourselves through right legislations
and policies.
Studies
have shown that billions of US dollars are illicitly transferred from
Africa annually. Recent study published by Global Integrity Report shows
that around USD 560 billions are transferred from Africa annually. If
we compare this figure with the total amount of foreign Aid as well as
Foreign Direct Investments flowing to Africa it a factor of 1:7! UNCTAD
reports that Africa receives an average of USD 37 billions every year as
FDI. Similarly around USD 37 billions flows into Africa annually as
foreign aid. Therefore, in every one US dollar coming to Africa, seven
US dollars illicitly leaves Africa.
It
is our duty as Africans to end this through strengthening institutions
that oversee our economic sectors especially extractive sectors like
minerals and Oil and Gas.
I
have learnt that in Uganda, the Parliament has just passed a
legislation to govern its Oil wealth. It is very disappointing that
Ugandan Parliament has vested the management of the sector to an
individual in the name of the Minister. In Tanzania, the move is towards
establishing an Authority to regulate licencing and the whole upstream
and midstream as well as downstream sections of the hydrocarbons.
The
sub-title of the book ‘The Case for Growth Before Democracy’ is the
catchiest. I asked Dr. Kamugisha if he advocates growth before
democracy as I didn’t find this argument in the book. The sub tittle is
supposedly a question mark rather than an argument. Democracy and
economic development have to go together. Most of the African countries
tried dictatorship for almost three decades and it didn’t bring people
out of poverty. I always tell my colleagues in Tanzania that our
country is poor out of choice. We have chosen to be poor. Africa’s is
Optional Poverty.
In
light of the above, Dr. Kamugisha challenges us all to look inward and
come up with the right policies that will make Africa a success story.
The meagre state of Africa is not natural, it’s optional and we can
change it. Again, I am grateful for such a timely book. I urge
everyone to read it so as we can be a change we want in our continent.
Thank you very much for listening and I wish you a good read.
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