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South African Journal of International Affairs

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Nepad: Questions of ownership

Mustapha Kamel AlSayyid
a a

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Countries, Cairo University Available online: 11 Nov 2009

To cite this article: Mustapha Kamel AlSayyid (2004): Nepad: Questions of ownership, South African Journal of International Affairs, 11:1, 121-127 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10220460409545452

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Nepad: Questions of Ownership

Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid*

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he New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) is still in its early stages of implementation. Enthusiasm for the implementation of the programme has been demonstrated by a number of African countries, not only the five who sponsored Nepad from the beginning South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria and Egypt but also the 16 countries which have agreed to be part of its boldest and most innovative component, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

However, the majority of African governments have not agreed to be part of the APRM and many African scholars are sceptical about Nepad's prospects of success. Arab social scientists are among those who have expressed such scepticism, with some of them going as far as to claim that Nepad is only an African version of the conditionality required by international financial institutions and aid donors to disburse limited flows of aid. The success of the programme undoubtedly depends on the support it gets primarily from African peoples and governments. It is true that support by the international community is an indispensable condition for its success, but such support is also a function of what African countries themselves do to promote a favourable environment for development. The question therefore is how to harness support by African peoples and governments for the goals and activities envisioned by Nepad. In this respect, it is surprising that while some African governments show such enthusiasm for Nepad, the general public in many African countries is unaware of the initiative. The media in general hardly mentions it.
*MUSTAPHA KAMEL AL-SAYYID is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Countries at Cairo University.

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Under these conditions, it is unlikely that African governments would be able to mobilise resources to attain Nepad's goals. Their choice is to try to support Nepad in the face of indifferent and sceptical public opinion, or make a sustained effort to gain the hearts and minds of their people. The latter approach is essential in order to mobilise a substantial part of Africa's public and private resources for the success of Nepad.

Nepad and African social scientists Nepad was a major theme of a conference organised in 2003 by the Council for the Development of Social Science in Africa (Codesria), headquartered in Senegal. The conference brought together hundreds of African social scientists, those working in Africa as well as those from the Diaspora in North America and Western Europe. Few of those who. presented papers or took part in discussions in the conference, held in Uganda, had praise for Nepad. Ownership of the programme was a controversial issue, with many participants claiming that Nepad was simply the same old ideas of the Washington Consensus presented to Africa by African leaders who had become converts to the neo-liberal philosophy of international financial institutions and aid donors. They felt all the talk about good governance, transparency and accountability had been heard before and had been rejected by critics of these institutions as terms of political conditionality that would be raised only^when countries' foreign or domestic policies did not appeal to the industrialised countries which controlled such institutions and who were also the major aid donors. They pointed out that aid would not be withheld in the case of African governments whose domestic and foreign policies appealed to aid donors, no matter how far they were from standards of good governance, accountability and transparency. The participants were also sceptical about the willingness of aid donors and international financial institutions to provide Africa with the large external resources required for the implementation of Nepad's ambitious projects in infrastructure, agriculture and industry.

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One cannot accuse those social scientists of being ill informed about Nepad or being hostile to Africa's development. The question of ownership is a real one, and the experience of the past two years has demonstrated that the high expectations concerning future flows of external resources to the continent are not likely to be fulfilled, at least in the near future. The support for Nepad by African social scientists is necessary as they are the ones who are expected to take part in designing and even carrying out some Nepad projects. They are also the ones who help to mould the minds of Africa's youth and many of them are leading opinion-makers in their own countries.
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A dialogue is the best way to get their buy in to the programme. This could be led by the Nepad Secretariat. Such dialogue could be organised primarily at national and sub-regional levels on the continent. Opinions could converge on the necessity of democracy and good governance in Africa. It is highly unlikely that African social scientists would be opposed to these principles. They are only opposed to their arbitrary use by aid donors in order to punish some African countries and reward others depending on those countries' support for the foreign policies of the aid donors irrespective of the domestic record of the countries in question. Moreover, African scholars would not be opposed to the projects envisaged by Nepad for the economic and social development of Africa. If external resources are not forthcoming, or are not coming in sufficient amounts, it is the duty of the continent's best minds to show the way for the.most effective mobilisation of Africa' s resources for the benefit of its own development.

Nepad and African civil society Support of civil society for Nepad is required for two reasons. The development of a fully fledged civil society is one of the goals of Nepad, which stresses the importance of democratic consolidation on the continent. The active participation of the society is necessary for the success of several Nepad initiatives, not only the APRM.

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Activation of civil society in favour of Nepad is inconceivable if civil society organisations are not properly informed about the initiative. The role of the media is therefore crucial in increasing awareness about Nepad in all African countries and in offering a public space for debating the best conditions for its success. In order to stimulate better coverage of Nepad, the relationship between the Nepad Secretariat and the African media needs to be strengthened. The electronic revolution in communications, particularly e-mail, makes such contact and distribution of information an easy matter. In conjunction with ministries of information and foreign affairs, brainstorming sessions about the challenges facing Nepad could be organised, and, budgets allowing, members of the media, particularly the electronic media, could be invited to the Secretariat to exchange views with sectoral experts and other key people. Specific civil society organisations have been called upon to play a role in implementing Nepad's initiatives, particularly in the areas of human rights, and being a watchdog on government and business. They are also expected to play an important part in the operation of all the phases of the APRM. They can play a role in helping the Nepad Secretariat in selecting the most qualified experts to serve in the examination of the reports presented by the governments involved in the process and provide the experts to help with evaluations. When the report of the APR Secretariat is published, these organisations should help to disseminate it. Finally, they should be consulted about the kind of measures that the APR Secretariat would recommend, if it deems that the adoption of such, measures is unavoidable. Given the fact that only 16 countries so far have agreed to adhere voluntarily to the Peer Review Mechanism, civil society organisations should lobby their governments to agree to join the APRM initiative, if they have not done so, and to point out to the advantages of agreeing to be part of the process. Given the crucial importance of the role such civil society organisations could play in making Nepad a success, the Nepad Secretariat,

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together with the African Commission for Peoples' and Human Rights, should not spare any effort in persuading African governments to lift restrictions on the work of civil society organisations and to grant them the autonomy they require in order to carry out their functions properly. It is a well-known fact that respect for human rights and freedom of association is far from ideal in many countries across Africa. Such a situation will not help in the realisation of the lofty goals of Nepad, nor of ensuring good conditions for its functioning. Finally, the contribution of African business to the success of Nepad cannot be exaggerated. The implementation of the economic components of Nepad depends very much on the private sector in Africa. The seventh chapter of Nepad's core document stresses the importance of the private sector as the key to the success of economic development. Mobilisation of resources from the private sector in Africa and facilitating its growth should be a priority for African governments and of the relevant institutions of Nepad. One way to ensure participation of the private sector in implementing Nepad's projects is to make African businessmen aware of what Nepad stands for. Meetings with business organisations at the sub-regional and national levels could be one forum for introducing Nepad to them. Some initiatives have been taken in this respect in both East and West Africa. More meetings could be convened in these two regions to follow up on the understandings reached in previous gatherings. No such meetings have been held'so far with business groups in North Africa, although private firms in the region, particularly in Egypt and Morocco, are interested in establishing ties with their counterparts in other regions of Africa. Business groups are relatively well organised in most African countries either in chambers of commerce, industrialists' unions or investors' societies. Bringing them together to debate the prospects for Nepad's economic strategy would be a step towards integrating them into the implementation process. Rhetoric would not be sufficient to persuade businessmen to engage their firms-in such process. The call by Nepad for the removal of bar-

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riers to private sector growth in Africa and for the removal of barriers against intra-African trade is definitely encouraging, but it might not be sufficient, particularly if governments do not act timeously. Nepad's Implementation Committee should consider the possibility of earmarking a large part of the foreign aid that Africa gets from the international community for specific projects to be carried out by the African private sector.'

Role of governments

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While the involvement of all components of civil society is crucial for the successful implementation of Nepad's projects, African governments need to lead the way. They must provide the framework for releasing the energies of civil society organisations and create a favourable environment for the growth of the public sector. They must also carry out their commitments under Nepad at both the regional and national levels. The success of Nepad depends on the establishment of peace and security on the continent, on democratic consolidation in countries which are in the process of transition to democracy, and on getting countries still run by authoritarian regimes to embark on the road to democracy. Governments should also contribute to the increased awareness of Nepad through the electronic media, largely controlled by governments in most African countries, and by taking the initiative of convening meetings to bring together academics, civil society organisations and business people to discuss the programme and its implementation. Finally, and this is by no means the least important point, governments need to ensure that development strategies in each country are guided by the concept of human development. This would go a long way in achieving Nepad's goals, including attracting foreign partners, private and public, bilateral and multilateral, to participate effectively in the development of the continent. Successes of some African

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countries in this respect, such as Mauritius and Botswana, could be examples for African countries to follow.

Endnotes
1 See many of the critical reflections on Nepad in the site of Inter-Church Coalition on Africa, http://www.web.net/-iccaf/debtsap/nepad.htm

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