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Mkapa tells Africa to overcome historical legacy
2007-04-21 09:19:30
By Patrick Kisembo
Former President Benjamin Mkapa has said Africa cannot forever hold its history responsible for its current levels of poverty or as an excuse for bad governance and lack of reform.
The former Tanzanian president made the remarks when presenting his paper tilted `Leadership for Growth, Development and Poverty Reduction: An African Viewpoint and Experience` at the World Bank’s Commission for Growth and Development in New York, US, recently.
In his speech, which will be part of the collections of the commission that will be published when the commission finishes its duties, Mkapa said Africa must not forget its history, but African resolve and African spirit must not be imprisoned by it.
``Fifty years after Ghana`s independence, Africa can and should now seek to conquer the negative legacies of its history and engender a new trajectory of its development towards a more prosperous era,`` he noted.
Mkapa said: ``I believe that a discussion of leadership and governance in Africa will be seriously deficient if it fails to put previous and current leadership, and the developmental challenges they faced and continue to face, in their proper historical, cultural and sociological context.``
The Tanzanian Third Phase Government President noted that he holds no brief for those African leaders who looted or tyrannized their countries.
``I hold no brief for those African leaders who looted or tyrannized their countries. Africa`s historical legacy is not an excuse for such things; but it provides an explanation.
For instance, there is no doubt that the mess that is beginning to be sorted out in the DRC is the direct consequence of King Leopold II, of Belgian colonialism and of the Cold War. Likewise, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was a direct consequence of certain aspects of Belgian colonialism,`` he noted.
Mkapa said there had been considerable debate about how much European colonial legacy impacted on post-colonial Africa; and what influence the legacy continues to have on the African continent.
He said the debate had gone further to discussing how helpful and constructive, or unhelpful and destructive, was the colonial legacy in terms of the development of post - colonial Africa and how responsible was this legacy for the quality and character of post-colonial Africa leadership.
He said democratic values which were maturing in Europe in the 19th century were not spread to Africa and any efforts by Africans to demand democratic rule and civil rights were ruthlessly suppressed.
``Should we have been surprised when post-colonial leaders also incarcerated their opponents?
They learnt from colonialism that this was the way to deal with dissent and opponents.
Mobutu was King Leopold II redux, not only in terms of dealing with dissent, but especially in treating the Congo as a personal fiefdom,`` he noted.
The former Tanzanian leader said his paper presented the context in which most African countries became independent.
He mentioned very low levels of education, and hardly any preparation for leadership, whether political or economic and very low governance resources, financial and human; and weak, if any, institutions of independent governance and economic development as part of the problems the continent faced.
He also included a hostile external environment, as clearly the colonial powers were not happy to leave their ``possessions.``
The domestic environment, especially with regard to the settler and colonial commercial interests, were equally obstructive, if not outright hostile.
But Mkapa warned: ``Africa`s colonial legacy is not the only reason for Africa’s poor economic performance, but it is an important one.
These realities have to be factored in any objective analysis of Africa`s leadership of development and poverty reduction during the early years of independence. It is not enough to look at economic statistics.”
He said Africa needs strong, bold, capable and effective states. ``We cannot on the one hand lament `failed` or `dysfunctional` states while, on the other hand, we impose or pursue policies whose ultimate result is the weakening of what are already very weak states.``
He noted that it is naïve to see African democracy with the lenses of western democracy.
Mkapa said: ``Italy can afford to change governments almost on a yearly basis. It does not undermine the state. In Africa, a similar scenario would be a recipe for `failed` or `dysfunctional` states.``
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