© Copyright The African Times Publications 2008

“The African Times/USA” and “Africa, Inc.” are trademarks of The African Times Publications.

All U.S.A. and international
rights reserved.

Aid or No Aid

Most, if not all, the reviewers and commentators of Ms. Dambisa Moyo’s book Dead Aid focused on the two extremes for solution of Africa’s going forward – one championed by Jeffrey Sachs (More Aid) and the other extreme position by Ms. Moyo (No Aid).  In our opinion either sides of the argument, be it Dr. Sachs or Ms. Moyo will not resolve Africa’s future without getting rid of the debt that the African people did not ask for or signed for! 

Just released report “A New Debt Crisis - Assessing the Impact of the Financial Crisis on Developing Countries” by the Jubilee Debt Campaign provides a good and well documented look into the true problem of Africa and all other indebted countries – the carry over of dubious loans that have less than credible beginnings. In fact the only beginnings many of us from the 70’s and 80’s will remember are the lavish celebration dinners by the bankers responsible for those loan closings – with tabs then of $10,000 and $20,000 for six or eight; we should note that more recently, last year we believe, a group of UK bankers celebrated a closing of an Africa loan with a dinner tab of $60,000 or was it $80,000 for eight at one of London’s finer eateries.

The way forward is not to debate the “Aid or No Aid” but rather to eliminate all these dubious, if not fraudulent loans and the high interest that is robbing Africa and her people of their future.

Returning to Ms. Moyo’s and Dr. Sachs’ urgings; both are correct and both are wrong, only Africa and her managements can and will determine the correct path of their future, and do so with new verve and knowledge and controls.  A good example of exemplary new financial and economic institution is the new management of the African Development Bank, and the hundreds of now seasoned professionals at Africa’s service who know what to do and do not need to be manipulated into non-productive financial and economic exploits as those of the past.

Doing The People’s Business

The African Times will be focusing more and more on the concept of governments, organizations and the world doing “The People’s Business.”

Let us define what we mean by “People’s Business.”

It means that government and organization actions must be based on what the People need and desire, that the “leaders” whether in government, organizations or corporations, and that includes NGO’s and the Aid Orgs, are not in their position for their own benefit, but are answerable to the People and not their cronies or associates or dictates, and we should add organizational and personal greed.

It means full transparency, the ability of the People, mostly through a free press (that is also where we at The African Times come in) - to see and review what the “leaders” are doing and if they are doing it to benefit the People or themselves.

And who are the People?  They are the families, the villages, the clans, the tribes and in greater context the nations and ultimately the continents and the world.  Conversely, it is each one of these, including ourselves, that must become answerable to each one of us - the People.  It means to have more organizations and governments subscribe formally to anti-corruption and accept the concept that their job is to improve the conditions for achieving individual well-being and lifestyle (what and which ever it may be) the individual People aspire to.

Debate - knowledge - opinions - ideas are all part of the AFRICA DIALOG. This is your opportunity to debate and come under the traditional village tree and become a part of the community.

We look forward to your comments...

President Obama in Africa

In the first few months of his presidency, in comparison to other American presidents, President Obama will have visited Africa twice.  On June 4, he did the first one with a speech in Cairo, Egypt.  His speech was an outreach to the Muslim World of which half the billion people in Africa are Muslim, including 11 nations where Islam is the state religion.  The posting on our Africa Watch page presents Africa’s perspective of his Cairo speech. And this July 4 and 5, the American Independence Day, will be his second Africa sojourn.  The President and his wife Michelle are scheduled to visit Accra, Ghana for meetings with President John Atta Mills.  The African Times/USA correspondents in West Africa will keep you posted on all the political and business implications of his West Africa visit; including bypassing Kenya and how Abuja and Luanda fit into any America-Africa developments.

SOUTH AFRICA

Africa is an emerging continent with hopes that have never been experienced in any other continent, declared former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, in a convocation address to the America University of Nigeria, based in Yola.  "Africa is rising gradually but steadily, notwithstanding its many challenges. Africa is a continent that will bring hope to the whole world," the Nobel laureate said.  Tutu used his speech to apologize for last year's xenophobic outbreak in South Africa, including attacks on Nigerians, calling it "a totally shameless thing to do." Nigeria, he recalled, had led the struggle against Apartheid as the Chair of the Committee on Apartheid of the United Nations. "We showed that we are ungrateful. Forgive us", he said.  But he cautioned those who criticize Africa to recall the misdeeds of the western countries. "Have you forgotten the holocaust? Have you forgotten the gulags in Russia? Communism, Nazism, fascism did not come from Africa. … A western country was the first to use weapons of mass destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those countries have been able to rise. Africa, there is hope," he assured.  The 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the ceremony.

ZIMBABWE

A new report from the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, donors are urged to help revive Zimbabwe’s education, health and sanitation systems, which are all in tatters after a decade of economic freefall.  Without immediate help from donors, Zimbabwe's unity government is likely to collapse, according to the ICG.  "Zimbabwe should be treated as a post-conflict society," says the report entitled "Engaging the Inclusive Government." While it would be "premature" to lift sanctions against President Mugabe and his closest supporters, the U.S., Britain, other Western countries and the Southern African region should work with the MDC and moderates in ZANU-PF "to help make the reform process irreversible."  But website of Zimbabwean activists called donor aid a long shot after the admission by Zimbabwe's central bank governor that he took hard currency from the bank accounts of private businesses and foreign aid groups without permission, saying he was trying to keep his country's cash-strapped ministries running.  When will the interim government start demanding higher standards - and acting on some of its promises? Asked the website Kubatana.

GUINEA BISSAU

Military police in Guinea-Bissau killed recently a government minister who was to be a candidate in presidential elections in what they said was an operation to foil a planned coup attempt.  Territorial Administration Minister Baciro Dabo and former Defense Minister Helder Proenca were shot dead in what the intelligence services described as a bid to prevent a coup in the notoriously unstable former Portuguese colony.  Local radio said former Prime Minister Faustino Embali, who was seized by the security forces in the operation, was also later killed. Embali was killed "by bullets", a hospital source said.  "This was about nipping a coup attempt in the bud. Among the authors of this coup some came quietly while others tried to resist, that is why they were killed," the state intelligence services said in a communiqué.  "We have material proof that this coup attempt was aimed at physically eliminating the head of the armed forces, overthrowing the interim head of state and dissolving the National Assembly," the statement said.  In March, soldiers killed President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira in an apparent revenge attack for the slaying of the army chief of the West African country.  Guinea-Bissau has become a transit point for drug smuggling, where coups and political violence have been commonplace since independence in 1973.  The United States State Department said in its annual narcotics survey in February 2009 that Guinea-Bissau risked degenerating into a narco-state.  Campaigning for the presidential elections is scheduled to start for June 28.

KENYA

Lawyers for five veterans of Kenya’s independence war are preparing a claim against the British army for alleged atrocities by UK soldiers, including castration, sexual abuse and unlawful detention.  Five elderly Kenyans - 3 men and 2 women in their 70s and 80s - detained during the 1950s insurgency are the lead claimants in the reparations case to be lodged at the High Court in London.  The case is being brought by the Mau Mau War Veterans' Association and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, through a London law firm. Earlier suits in 2006 and 2007 were denied.  If the five claimants are successful, thousands of other people imprisoned and abused during the 1950s and early 1960s could be added to a potentially huge class action suit.  An estimated 90,000 Kenyans were executed and 160,000 people detained during the insurgency including Onyango Obama, grandfather of President Barak Obama.  Gitu Wa Kahengeri, 79, spokesman for the Mau Mau War Veterans Association, who spent seven years in detention camps, said that the advanced age of the veterans meant the claim was extremely urgent. "Britain knows what it did. It would be morally wrong to deny us."  The UK government has said the claim is invalid because of the time lapsed since the alleged abuses. But Kenyan lawyers respond that it has taken long to secure justice because the so-called “Mau Mau” movement had been illegal in Kenya for 51 years. President Kibaki lifted the ban in 2003.  The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions.

LIBERIA

The annual JFK Profiles in Courage award was presented to Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee for her work with the women in Liberia to end civil war.  “Leymah Gbowee and the women of Liberia assumed personal responsibility for their national destiny, demonstrating the power of citizen activism to change history,” said presenter Caroline Kennedy.  “By bringing together women of all religions, ethnic groups and walks of life, to stand up, sit in, and speak out against violence and in favor of peace, reconciliation and progress; they played a crucial role in restoring democracy to their war-torn country."  Gbowee replied: “Sometimes in life, you have a tough decision to make… especially when you’ve been pushed so far back that you have two options: Either you fight back or you allow yourself to be pushed through a wall and the women of Liberia, including myself, decided that we would fight back."  The award was presented at the JFK Presidential Library.