Entire Africa is resonating with a new drumbeat. NEPAD is the name of the tune wafting across the airwaves. Will this new mantra transport Africa into higher realms of growth and prosperity? Ramesh Kumar examines

Dated: May 2003

There comes a phase in the life of every nation when it realizes the time is ripe to engage in some kind of soul-searching or introspection and draft a blue-print for a better future. If prosperity can be attained through self-help, it's all the more better. The United States had its New Deal, after the Great Depression. Post World War II, Europe and Japan came under the spell of the Marshall Plan, courtesy the benevolent Americans.

The African Continent feels that moment of reckoning is knocking on their collective doors right now. Result: the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), that came into existence July last. It is no exaggeration to declare that NEPAD has excited the imagination of everyone - ranging from African leaders and its 680 million populace spread across 57 nations to prospective donor nations including the United States. It is touted as "a framework for advancing the progress" of Africa, once declared as the Dark Continent.

What NEPAD is all about?

"It is a new vision for Africa in the 21st century. Its fundamental purpose is to re-launch Africa's development and put it on a path of lasting peace, poverty reduction, and sustainable development," declares Omar Kabbaj, President of the African Development Bank group. NEPAD's vision is to address in a clear and coherent manner the key social, economic and political challenges facing African countries.

Yet another objective is to build a renewed global partnership between Africa and the international community, based on a shared purpose, agreed responsibilities and mutual accountability. Or to put it differently: "To reverse the increasing marginalization" of Africa and promoting instead the full integration of Africa into the global economy. Simply put, NEPAD reflects the full recognition by African leaders that peace, security, democracy, good governance, human rights and sound economic management are necessary conditions for Africa's development.

What sets NEPAD apart, opines Kabbaj, is the acceptance of African leaders of their responsibility to address these issues and their collective pledge to work towards meeting NEPAD goals. One of the key and unique element is the setting up of the Peer Review Mechanism binding its members to promote, collectively and individually, the fundamental principles of "good political and economic governance".

It is easy to understand the African concerns because close to half of its population continue to live on less than one American Dollar a day. Therefore the need of the hour is to accelerate broad-based economic growth and to reduce poverty. As far as the international community is concerned, their acceptance of the Millennium Development Goals goads them to come to the rescue of Africa, euphemistically labeled as a "risky continent". A Great Dream, indeed.

Hosannas from everywhere

The United Nations has its own point of view on the new African initiative. Says Secretary General Kofi Annan: "The launching of the NEPAD reinforces Africa's resolve to chart its development course. The confluence of African leadership and ownership of the New Partnership, the strong expression of support by the international community for the New Partnership and the commitment of the United Nations system to offering a coordinated and coherent response to the needs of the New Partnership provides fresh momentum for Africa's development."

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the subsequent termination of Cold War it was speculated that the United States will have no interest in the huge African continent. It turned out to be a genuine fear, but only for a short span. Suddenly, Africa is on the centre stage. It is proclaimed as the Destination with a capital D. NEPAD, naturally, is a buzzword in the international circuit.

The appointment of career diplomat Princeton Lyman to the Ralph Bunche Chair for Africa Policy Studies at the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations is no coincidence. Lyman is an ex African hand - he was the United States envoy to South Africa between 1992 and 1995. Right now, he is busy developing the program and looking at a number of issues and NEPAD does figure on his antennae. What is his take on NEPAD? It has a fair chance of success because "it was developed by African leadership." A sense of ownership is what Lyman is trying to drive at. "If you look at it closely there is a reasonable amount of overlap between the principles behind NEPAD and the principles behind US President George W Bush's Millennium Challenge Account. This means both Africans and donors are talking about many of the same things," adds the ex-diplomat.

Despite carping criticism from several quarters - the powerful church, among others - what is unique is the unusual and collective African wisdom. Former World Bank President John Wolfensohn is one such admirer of the present crop of African leaders. Says he: "(NEPAD) is an important statement because it is a statement that applies to your country (Rwanda) as well as to other countries in the continent. And it says very simply: we want a partnership, but we want a partnership which is based on us having strengthened capacity, on having a legal and judicial system that is honest, that is straight forward, and that gives justice to all, a financial system which is clean and transparent and solid and a system which fights corruption, which does not stand for corruption - in a continent that has been racked by corruption for too long." Now comes the clincher: "These are not conditions that have been imposed by Western donors. This is not an outside prescription. This is the prescription given by African leadership itself about its desire for its future."

Necessity, but murmurs within

If most countries in Africa were stable, peaceful places, trade within Africa would increase and more investment would be attracted as per NEPAD pledge. This is an accepted fact but some quarters in Africa surmise NEPAD alone is insufficient and inadequate. It is argued that NEPAD has been sold to a select group of African leaders and to the Group of Eight industrialized nations, but yet to get a mandate from Africans at the grass-root level. Verily true. Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit points out that it was up to western companies - not governments - to invest in Africa. These companies often decide on the basis of stability rather than good political governance or sound economic policies.

South African churches are one of the strongest critics of NEPAD. "The church is no expert on social, economic, political and social development. It does however have a rich history in human development," is the raison d'etre for assessing NEPAD. The Churches lobby proclaim that NEPAD is not the first developmental plan put forward by African leaders and issues addressed are not entirely new. Lagos Plan of 1980 was one of several African plans that did not meet global sanction for a variety of reasons. It is alleged that NEPAD takes a particular approach to various issues that is characterized by an effort to "transform North-South relations into one of partnership."

Then, what is NEPAD, according to the Churches group? Conditionality from below, poverty reduction strategy papers, creation of an African negotiating bloc, a tool to ending wars, building solidarity and the establishment of free market fundamentalism. "NEPAD may be seen as Africa's attempt to present itself in an acceptable manner to participate in the globalization wedding feast. But the kind of garments NEPAD chooses are telling of whose feast it is, who its guests will be and what the quality of the marriage will be," declares the Churches in a single voice.

Briefly put, the South African churches rebuke NEPAD for failing to offer any alternative to the dominant market fundamentalist development model. Social spending - healthcare and education - will be forced to depend on special global funds and other unreliable measures; Debt cancellation strategy is inadequate. On the issue of poverty alleviation, it is felt, NEPAD strategies are intended to deliver long term and indirect poverty alleviation programs. Privatization is not an ideal route for the creation of investment opportunities in the context of widespread poverty and inequality in Africa.

On the issue of reparations, the churches come down heavily on the architects of NEPAD. It accuses them of giving only passing mention to Africa's history of slavery and colonialism with no mention of the need for reparations. NEPAD presents itself "in many ways as a post-colonial Marshall Plan for Africa's recovery" says the churches.

Professor Mike Oquaye, High Commissioner of Ghana in India, puts it succinctly: "Africa is in need of a new paradigm. Globalization is a challenge and it is helping Africa to usher in democracy. I am not happy with the debt management program. Many African nations pay almost 55 per cent of their GDP towards debt servicing. It is unfair."

Success or failure?

Like it or not, NEPAD is here to stay. So, how to ensure that the new African initiative succeeds? The UN Secretary General, himself a prominent African occupying a global position of authority, has a readymade prescription for African nations as well as the international community that luckily desires a better-off African continent (See box above) in the 21st century.

In the final analysis, it should be remembered that the NEPAD blueprint is only a starting point. A rough business plan, if one may say so. As an Algerian Professor said: "NEPAD is currently the debate of the political class. For it to gain broader acceptance, we need more deeds, less politics and fewer speeches." If there is a will - sufficient proof is emerging that the stock of this invaluable characteristic is raising in several African capitals - there will be a way. God willing, nay, the African leaders willing the Dark Continent may repudiate Doubting Thomases and turn it into the new El Dorado of the 21st century. Any takers?