|
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
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Stephen N. Asek
Stephen Asek is a Cameroonian with a multicultural perspective in development, justice and social responsibility.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
