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Just hot air

  • 14/10/2002

Just hot air
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (nepad) has become something of couture show for political and economic elite across the globe. At an intergovernmental and business level, nepad has guaranteed diplomatic license to those who circumnavigate the world attending summits and conferences in the disguise of addressing Africa's developmental challenges. At the civil society level, nepad has become the point from where Africa's second-generation leaders and their counterparts in the industrialised countries can be hauled up for failing to understand Africa's development crisis.

But what is it about nepad that invokes the romanticism that this is Africa's last real shot at addressing its developmental crisis? Is nepad the answer to Africa's development challenges? In one word, the answer is "no'.

A realistic reading of the nepad document reveals that it could mean anything to everybody. This is reinforced by the meandering rhetoric of the document, which tries to say too much without saying anything.

For instance, there is a mention that aids (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) has caused immense damage to the continent. But there is little more. In a similar vein, the mobilisation of capital flow is steeped in an ideological thinking that is devoid of any serious understanding of the structural distribution of power at a global level, nor how this influences the distribution of resources in the world economy. To assume that foreign direct investment (fdi) is suddenly going to avail itself to Africa because this is what is needed to sustain the objectives of nepad is na

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