Ghana in Crisis: How Emerging Africa’s Posterchild Ended up in the Arms of the IMF
Ghana Rising
Among the emerging Africa narratives, Ghana has often been touted as something of a model: over a decade of consolidated democratic institutions, economic expansion, and poverty reduction. With economic growth of over 6% for the past seven years, buoyed by high commodity prices, Ghana appeared to have avoided many of the pitfalls in macroeconomic management that afflicted other countries on the continent. When the Kufuor government discovered oil in 2007, experts believed that Ghana would use the newfound wealth wisely and avoid the economic and political malaise that had plagued many oil-exporting nations in the region. Read More —>
CONFERENCE SUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT AFRICAIN A L’UNIVERSITE HARVARD – ALLOCUTION DE SON EXCELLENCE MONSIEUR ISSOUFOU MAHAMADOU, PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE DU NIGER, CAMBRIDGE, ETATS-UNIS D’AMERIQUE, 3 AVRIL 2015
Mesdames et Messieurs,
C’est la deuxième fois que je viens à Cambridge. La première fois, c’était en 1981, il y a de cela trente quatre ans. J’y étais venu visiter MIT, dans le cadre d’un voyage d’étude de 40 jours, aux Etats-Unis, sur le cycle du combustible nucléaire, de la mine à la gestion des déchets, en passant par l’usine de traitement, l’usine de conversion, les centres d’enrichissement et les centrales nucléaires. J’étais Directeur des mines du Niger. J’étais aussi déjà membre d’un groupe politique clandestin, créé en Août 1980, le « G80 », dont l’objectif était d’apporter le changement au Niger et au-delà en Afrique. Je n’imaginais pas, à cette époque, que je reviendrai, dans cette ville, en qualité de Président de la République du Niger. Read More —>
How Technology and Innovation could Save Africa from the Malthusian Trap
By Sani Mahamadou
With recent reports from the FAO that the Ebola outbreak could threaten West Africa’s food supply, it is easy to u
nderstand why Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural sector would be in urgent need of reform. If Ebola has proven to be such a threat to West African harvests, it is mainly due to the establishment of quarantine zones and the restrictions put on people’s movements, which have caused severe labor shortages in farms. However, this vulnerability stemming from the heavy dependence on manual labor, is not restricted to those countries struck by Ebola, it extends to the entire continent. Read more —>
The Unknown Africa – Eritrea: Africa’s North Korea or African Survivor?
By William J. Azébazé
One day a Harvard economics professor asked his graduate class: “Who has ever been in Sierra Leone?” Students raised their hands, most of them non-Africans and none of them from Sierra Leone. And he continued: “Who has ever seen a cow in Sierra Leone?” This time, no more hands were raised. Believe it or not, he then went on developing a savings theory linking the civil war to the absence of cows in that country. No kidding! I then wondered: “I am in the United States but have never seen a cow here – I guess that it is due to the 1861-1865 U.S. civil war, isn’t it?” Obviously, it would have been more intelligent for that professor to first ask: “Who has ever seen a cow farm in Sierra Leone?” Read more —>
A Democratization of Development Aid
By Caroline Gimmillaro
Developing countries need a democratization of development aid. Not the democratization of giving that Bill Clinton or Jeffery Sachs called for, but a democratization that is realized through a real and balanced collaboration between international aid disbursing organizations, local organizations and local communities that receive aid; a collaboration that moves receiving organizations, communities, and countries away from donor dependency. Too often, donor imposed solutions stunt local ownership by imposing foreign goals. Aid disbursing organizations must create structures that enable and empower local actors to design, implement, evaluate and maintain development programs. Governments, multilateral institutions and private foundations that fund development must improve upon their traditional partnerships with governments, nongovernmental organizations and nonprofits to create partnerships that include the intended beneficiaries of development aid. Read more —>
Thomas Sankara and The Burkinabè: The Visionary and His Upright People!
By William J. Azébazé
I am honored to dedicate the APJ’s first blog post to a visionary who gallantly opted to sit on the right side of world history at the cost of his life: President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. This African hero was killed, dismembered and buried in an unmarked grave on October 15, 1987 during a coup which brought to power the person whom he had considered a friend: Blaise Compaoré… After twenty-seven years of dictatorship, the latter stepped down earlier today, thereby yielding to a popular revolution. Read more —>