It is weird how one can be given power but
still has the inertia to wield it
Political will remains a particular challenge for
developing countries today. Though often invoked as a
concept, political will refers to the desire and
determination of political actors to introduce as well
as embark on reforms that will bring significant and
persistent changes in the society. It is difficult if
not impossible to divorce political will from
sustainable development.
The Brunt Land Commission in its 1987 report
“Our Common Future” defined sustainable development as
“development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their needs”. Political will is the steering that
is needed to turn the wheels of developmental reforms
that do not only meet present needs but also secure
the capacity of future generations to meet their own
needs.
Political will in developing countries rest in
the hands of the government and ruling political
parties. As a result therefore, a lot of incentives
have been offered by international organisations to
tilt political commitment in the direction of
realising both the present and future needs of
developing countries. However the political commitment
of most governments today still hovers around the same mantra-exploit
the little you have today for the brief time you have
it, because that is the only way you can feed your
self and your family today. Tomorrow, the next
generation must look after
themselves.
Sustainable development cannot survive on this
concept. Even with all the necessary economic
assistance, sustainable development will be a charade
if political actors continue to operate on this
paradigm of development.
For example, a political leader who wields
great power may decide to construct a hospital in
region “X” and instead of making the people understand
that it is his duty to do so, he makes it seem like a favour, and even when he
completes the “favour project”, its durability is only
short lived. He does not bear it in mind that the
people concerned pay their taxes and other revenue
owed to the government for it to be able to carry out
meaningful and sustainable projects. The development
of civilized societies should not be perceived as a
favour from their home government. It is an obligation,
which is an expression of the deep-rooted love for
the homeland and they that live therein. If power
wielders do not make an effort to change the conception
of development in their societies, they will be
contributing in slowing down the efforts of
sustainable development. Political will is the central
energy that can encourage meaningful development in
developing countries. Therefore investment in
political will should be of major concern to
industrializing societies today.
Developing countries face obstacles to development not
necessarily because they lack the resources for
development but because the orientation of political
will is not habituated towards sustainable development
for all, irrespective of region, culture and political
attachment. This is to say that most of the
development projects undertaking by governments and
other civil actors are not sustainable. Things are
done to temporarily satisfy specific groups and
interests.
Political will that centers on nationwide
sustainable development is genuine and does not cater solely to a particular regional, cultural, religious or linguistic interests.
Politicians and policy makers have to
understand that every decision they make has systemic
repercussion. There will always be consequences,
negative ones of course, when policies are made to
disadvantage other minorities in the society. But the
truth stands till this day that; whatever a political
actor sows in the fields of developing countries
he/she hall reap it when it has fully matured.
Developing societies, particularly within Africa, can benefit from a change in attitudes - what Africa needs for its development are true sons and daughters:
people who see themselves as Africa itself and not as
passive citizens of Africa. The hopes of the continent are not the loans
and debt cancellation schemes of Advanced Nations that the leaders are scrambling for. Africa’s hope is
that someday Africans will harness their God given
material and human resources with all sincerity and
like-mindedness for a glorious development of each
component that makes up Africa.
Sensible, collective and judicious use of what
we have from within the continent and the Diasporas
will restore hope to the African population. We are
our own hope and future. Loans, even their
cancellation cannot solve our problems. Leaders simply
have to carry out projects that are sustainable. It is
hard for political actors to sow in that which is not
sustainable and reap that which is sustainable.
Have African governments ever asked themselves
why the United Kingdom, the United States, France,
Japan and Germany do not ask for loans and debt
cancellation from the IMF? Have they quickly forgotten
that it is the structural adjustment and privatization
of young economies that has climaxed the poverty level
of developing countries today? Why is the West
“getting on” even with the capitalist model of free
enterprise?
The answers are:
* They have understood the political and economic
stability that are harvested from sustainable
development actions.
* They go for the best human and material
resources so as to realize the best results in the
economic social and political sectors.
* They embark on projects that have long-term
capacities and which are useful and productive for the
society.
* They ensure that the projects they indulge in
are able to sustain themselves without necessarily
burdening taxpayers to raise money for subsidy and
subventions.
* They take serious precautions to make certain
that the projects they agree to do will also benefit
future generation.
* The existence of their projects is linked to it
ability to sustain the community both in the short and
long-term periods.
* They minimize any possibility of development
projects being motivated by political interest.
* Lastly, they do nothing without giving the
future a careful thought.
The missing ingredient in development policies
in developing countries is sustainability. And who are
those to take responsibility to ensure this? I will
tell you again that it is our leaders.
When the leaders are bad and narrow-minded,
policies will be poorly made and loans will be
defectively managed, as was the case in Zaire under
the dictatorship of Mobutu. When the leaders have no
genuine political desire to equally distribute socio
–economic and political advantages, they create
artificial difficulties in the lives of the population.
Political will that is selfish, egocentric, myopic
parochial and careless of the feelings and future of
others is a serious antithesis to any fundamental
initiative towards sustainable development. Such a
political will can:
* Stop the flow of capital investment in a
particular region.
* Kill industries and drain financial
institutions.
* Hinder the development of rural areas that have
the potential to become cities.
* Tighten reforms and waste resources.
* Frustrate the ability of societies to cope with
the challenges of the future.
* Provoke civil strife and, at the extreme end, genocides.
* Make it difficult to envisage democratization.
On the contrary, when political desire looks at
the future and shows no bias in the redistribution of
national benefits, it becomes a sufficient condition
for sustainable development.
Without political will it will be difficult to
tell how the future will look like for developing
countries. This is the epoch to choose leaders putting
aside sentiments and cultural ties.
For Carlos Nerves, immediate action has to be
taken to ensure that government is manned by people
with expertise and desire for development rather than
individuals who think purely on electoral lines. As
for Alhaji Yahya, there are “people” who will do any
thing to be “somebody” even at the country’s expense.
Therefore the way forward towards development is in
the educational and health sectors-because an ignorant
nation cannot survive and a sick nation can never hope
to develop in this millennium. Our basic problems
stems from ignorance and an absence of political
desire to induce development. If you want to develop
Africa and get rid of unnecessary conflicts you have
to educate and heal both the people and their leaders
so that they can take the lead in their own
development and sustain them.
Take the case of Papua New Guinea for example;
in the 1990s this small country was suffering from
severe economic crises so much so that the government
refused to increase its investment in essential
programs like education and health. Its response was
that it did not have enough revenue to increase
investment in this sector. But the same government
turned around and expanded its ministries; it had
about 28 ministries and 14 vice ministers. This posed
as a tremendous weakness in its political and economic
system. The additional burden to run the newly created
ministries was placed on taxpayers consequently
slowing down PNG’s economic recovery. This is not just
a flaw in PNG`s Political system alone as the flaw is
traceable in other ACP countries like Cameroon that is
witnessing a yearly expansion in ministries without a
corresponding increase in economic growth or standard
of living.
To attain the MDGs by 2015 and to reach the
HIPC completion point there is a crucial need for
governments and political party leaders to pay close
attention to the direction in which their political
will is being influenced. In Cameroon, there are many
actions that could be taken by governments to solve
the problem of unemployment and poverty but
government’s will is under constant influence, which
stretched across ethnic and political sentiments. If we feel
the truth and we desire to change we will adjust our
lifestyles and move them from a mentality based on
possession to a mentality based on necessity. For
others to take their fill before we all refill again.
Other small actions that can be taken at
present like reducing the number of police and
gendarme checkpoints on our high ways, using the
tariffs road users pay to maintain and repair our
roads, especially as they assist in our economic
Growth, are not taken seriously. Our roads are really
reflecting the state of our economy. When roads are
bad economic performance will be poor. The
coordination of our development efforts will go a long
way to assist in solving part of the crime,
prostitution, corruption, embezzlement and poverty
problems. Any nation can function effectively when the
government wants it to. Lets break from the bondage of
–exploit the little you have for the brief time you
have it.
With the omission of genuine political it
will be impossible for government to move forward in a
very positive way. Lets take Cameroon once more as an
example, This country has been benefiting from loans
and grants from French, British, Chinese Japanese, and
Brazilian partners but the population is yet to feel
the presence of these loans and grants considering
that the poverty level of the population is not
changing. The same applies for European Union and its
counterpart’s funds, which are intended to finance
development projects. One is tempted to ask if this
money was given to increase the money supply in the
Central Bank or to assist in swelling up prices of
basic commodities?
Cameroonians are suffering from unemployment
and poverty when studies have revealed that Cameroon
can be industrialized as a tourist destination. The
revenue that could be collected from this sector can
significantly contribute in the development of other
sectors. But at present this is utterly disregarded.
The Dja Reserve that has the potential to become the
jewel in the crown of Cameroon’s eco-tourism is in
danger because of insufficient monitoring and constant
killing of wildlife by poachers. No real political
commitment exists on the part of the Ministry of Environment
and Forestry to either fortify monitoring, control or
preserve the reserve. And the Dja has a natural
potential which justifies its status as a biosphere
reserve and a world heritage site.
According to the Global Forest Watch, wide
spread corruption, disregard for forest exploitation
rules by logging companies, illegal declarations and
felling of timber accounts for the loss of significant
revenue by the state. The rate at which Cameroon’s
forest is being exploited threatens the ability of
future generation to benefit from the forest for their
own development.
Meanwhile the authorities continue to be
obdurate to invest political will for sustainable
development. It should be noted that if there ever
exist an opportunity on the part of the power wielders
to harness our natural and human resources the
government will be able to achieve the millennium
development goals by 2015.Cameroonians are lagging
behind because government and political leaders are
not serious about giving sustainability a priority in
their policy making.
If our policy makers can prioritise our
development needs objectively, putting aside other
sentiments there will be enough for every Cameroonian
in the long term. We have infrastructures, {like
Garoua airport}, which were constructed but are less
effective because of the low rate of traffic they
receive per week. Government is going into state
coffers to maintain and run a project that cannot
sustain itself. Why construct airports or
infrastructures, which cannot sustain their running
cost. Instead the government could have used the money
to renovate other infrastructures {like the Douala
airport} that generates revenue for the state and can
sustain itself. Things are not happening because most
of our projects are politically motivated, personal
and other priorities are placed before national
ones. The challenge is not just for the
authorities to address impediments to sustainable
development but to ensure that effective policies are
developed and transformed into possible realities for
the present and future good of all Cameroonians.
The acid test for the government’s
contribution towards sustainable development will be
two-fold; its vision to invest political will in the
governance system and in giving sustainability a place
in any of its development plans.
As Klaus Toepfer says “we need concrete
actions, concrete timetables and an iron will”. Hence,
he once said “I am driven by the hundred per cent
conviction that unless we change the structures and
the situations we have today, we shall pay an enormous
price tomorrow” true political will for sustainable
development can create a miracle of economic
independence in the long run for developing countries
and also in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
by 2015, without which it will be difficult to tell
how the future will look like for developing nations.
Any meaningful advancement towards sustainable
development depends on the political desire of
the home government and other political actors like
political parties and civil society organisations to
introduce as well as give it a priority concern.
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