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Who exactly in going to negotiate for Africa, President Zuma or Mugabe,
or is it South Sudan that will be able to see beyond their conflict to
challenge the west intellectually?
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The statement outlined the Government’s priorities in the G20 as follows:
· Strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth
· Decent employment
· Efficient and responsive economic infrastructure and increased investment in infrastructure
· Reducing illicit financial flows through coordination of
international tax, coordination of international financial regulatory
developments and international coordination on development.
Compare that agenda to the UK’s Agenda
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- The Hikley Point nuclear project –
Mrs May has delayed approval for the French-built power station amid
concerns over China’s involvement. A specific project with a specific
outline and outcome as well as targeted.
- Brexit – World leaders are likely to quiz her about the aftermath of Brexit ahead of any formal trade deal negotiations.
- The European migrant crisis – will also be a key topic of conversation after the recent debate around the Le Touquet agreement.
- Calais to Dover – French politicians have called for the agreement to be scrapped and British border checks to be moved from Calais to Dover.
These are clearly articulated objectives that are dedicated to
specific participants and will be followed by clear unambiguous options
as solutions to the key points. Compare it, if you will, to the African
Agenda and it becomes clear that African Governments went to the G20
summit clueless.
My issue with the African Agenda
My biggest issue with this agenda is that the African Governments
have missed the biggest challenge to the G20 summit, the environment,
which Africa has the best solution to, has been left out. Hence my
saying, African Governments show up to the G20 summit clueless.
The solution to Africa’s problem is not political but business or
commercial and it is very clear that African Governments haven’t the
faintest idea of the subsistence of a problem, let alone the solution to
it. If our leaders are in the dark, it is not surprising that the
entire continent is in the dark, both figuratively and literally.
Here is the problem with the approach that the African Governments are going with:
Strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth
A baseless, ambiguous and evasive agenda, China, the host of the G20
summit is fully aware that it cannot afford to let Africa have a strong,
sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Such an initiative is not
in anybody’s interest but Africa’s and if the representatives of Africa
do not have a concrete agenda, no one is going to do the heavy lifting
for Africa. As a result, this is a solution that the world has never
wanted Africa to have and Africa having no clue about what it wants,
means history will keep repeating itself. Since the beginning of
records, Africa has not suggested a concrete solution to the problem and
the international community has never offered one, what do these
African Governments think G20 2016 would bring?
Decent employment
Another silly and baseless agenda. Employment cannot be created by
IGOs but rather by national Governments or businesses, this approach
clearly shows African Governments running out of ideas. African
Governments have the highest levels of unemployment in the world and the
solution to creating employment, is to create businesses that employ,
thereby creating sustainable employment.
Efficient and responsive economic infrastructure and increased investment in infrastructure
As it is usual with African Governments in the so called foreign
trips, they often just say, generically, we have lots for you to invest
in, come and invest. This, to the investor, screams, Africa is too lazy
to do its homework or come up with any qualitative assessment of the
issues and challenges and as a result, the supplier is expected to carry
all the heavy load. Any supplier that carries the heavy load is
determined to make sure the relationship is 95% in their favor and 5% in
Africa’s favor. The ambiguous definition of the objective is already
doomed to failed, there is no one to target, no details to support it
and with 54 African countries, you can be rest assured there is no list
of investment opportunity. Therefore, this is another task that will
fail by definition, needless to say, no one will have time for Africa’s
lack of planning.
Reducing
illicit financial flows through coordination of international tax,
coordination of international financial regulatory developments and
international coordination on development.
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This has got to be the funniest objective of them all, primarily
because, every single African Government attending the G20 is considered
by many in the West as having various degrees of corruption. This
obviously begs the question, why would the western countries address tax
laws when Africa is heavily invested in corruption.
What Africa ought to have taken to the G20 summit?
The governments of more than 190 nations gathered in Paris to agree a
new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing global
greenhouse gas emissions and thus avoiding the threat of dangerous
climate change. There is no doubt that Africa has a massive solution to
the emission problem and it ought to have taken its assets as solution
proposal to the countries facing the challenges in meeting up to their
climate goals.
The lowest hanging fruit for Africa is the climate change, its
solutions hold the most realistic solution for Africa but intellectually
we are clearly not remotely close to the obvious opportunities that lie
before our very eyes.
