Issues

The Conglomeration Of The African Union (AU), Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, And Energy Vectors

• Print
• Email

Details

Category: Issue No. 88

Published: Friday, 22 June 2018 12:07

Written by Super User

Hits: 6284

Dr. James A. Harris. Sr.,

The Conglomeration Of The African Union (AU)
Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, And Energy Vectors


Abstract
This article assesses the Conglomeration Of the African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, the African Petroleum Producers Association [APPA] and African petrochemicals {petroleum derivatives} conversion and adaptation processes In centralization, the increased degree of industrial concentration and consolidation, and the maximization of unified management decision making that influence and are, in turn, affected by the growth of huge and global aggregate energy demand-pull components.

These enormous global aggregate energy demand-pull components, in effect, have galvanized the global production and the massive global demand for energy into the self-generation of large magnitudes and direction certainties.
The Conglomeration Of the African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin is undergoing mobilization and expansion generated by the huge global energy demand-pull aggregate components that have forged opportunities and threatening outcomes, and the vast acceleration of large global investments. The growing global energy demand-pull aggregate components have given substantial impetus to and have ignited the worldwide increasing momentum that, in effect, set forth multiple alternative directives.

Conglomeration Effects
The conglomeration meaning and practice is indicative of and is connected with the distinguishing characterization and utilization in the book, Cartels, Concerns and Trusts by Robert Liefmann(1), and he refers to the undertakings and operations of numerous combines, enterprises(2) and concerns organized and coordinated under unified management. Robert Liefmann applies conglomeration in the assessment of German Economic Federations(3) Associations and Companies of German Economic Federations, Associations and Companies, the Interest-Group (Interes sengemeinschaften), and Examples of Concern-Formation.
Conglomeration seeks diversified enterprises that are engaged in cross subsidization and reciprocal selling and, as noted by Professor Willard F. Mueller(4), consolidates the degree of concentration of inter-firm organization and business behavior in industries as a result of the performance of the huge enterprises, corporate bigness diversification and integration; conglomeration expansion and conglomerate bigness have formed industrial sources of power(5), The pervasiveness and overriding influence of global conglomeration ensures the acceleration of the rapid rate of increase in the size and level of financial and banking consolidations, technological diffusion and advancement, economic growth and industrial mergers, which have converged in depth and scope(6) as the engine fuelling the multi-dimensions of global conglomeration.
The reliance on the rising high rates and levels of huge global energy consumption aggregates and the increasing large buyer-concentration framework have engaged The African Union [AU) in the operation of a type of two-person non-zero sum non-cooperation game of strategy in which the loser faces the choice of ruin in the outcome determination.
The African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin is a separate and distinct Petroleum Basin. Africa, including its continental shelf and outer continental shelf, is situated in The African Union [AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin. The total land area of Africa is 3.2 times that of the United States( 7). The growing population of Africa has exceeded 800 million people and it is increasing at an estimated rate of about 2.7 percent annually.
The African Union (AU)] Transcontinental Petroleum Basin consists of resources and reserves of petroleum, gas, hydrocarbons and or hydrocarbon indications of origins(8). The sources, verification and confirmation of the origin and location of the African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin resources and reserves of petroleum, gas, hydrocarbons, and or hydrocarbon indications have been collected, extracted, obtained, and provided from numerous references, e-commerce communications and a variety of sources and documentation that are available in the public domain( 9) .
The energy reserves and resources of Africa are huge and possess enormous potential for the elevation and rapid acceleration of the rate and level of transcontinental economic growth, industrialization and diversification, but obstruction has an underdevelopment face on it. In this respect the United States Department of Energy has reported that Africa has poorly developed commercial energy infrastructure including pipelines, electricity grids, and experiences massive and severe poverty, environmental pollution, inadequate clean water thereby making it difficult for people to buy, purchase or obtain "conventional" energy resources(10).

The African Union (AU)(11)
The Constitutive Act of the African Union enumerates the Union objectives and the following three have been selected and currently given priority ranking.
i. Achieve greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and the people of Africa
ii. Defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States
iii. Establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations.
The African Union (AU), through the achievement of its stated objectives, has embraced and emboldened its unity and its "oneness" makes bringing into existence this pillar of diversification. The Conglomeration Of The African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, The African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) and African petrochemicals {petroleum derivatives} operate technically under the global conglomeration umbrella.

The African Petpoleum Producers Association (APPA) /The African Union (AU)(12)
With its headquarters located in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, The African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) is an intergovernmental organization that is made up of the following 12 out of 53 African Union (AU) countries: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Nigeria. The African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) Bulletin is the only authoritative African oil and gas industry's information channel that is produced in Africa, even though the 53 African countries comprise the African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin.
The APPA, under the direction of its Executive Secretary Dave Lafiaji, is actively pursuing international transactions dealing with the long-term goals of energy integration in Africa, regional power generation, electric power projects, industrial technology advancement, improved financial services, and vast contribution to value-added for African oil and gas producing countries.
The African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) adaptation of the "conscious parallelism" courses of action strategies respectively with regards to the origins and histories of (a) the old Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Inc. (today ExxonMobil), (b) the International Petroleum Cartel, and {c} the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) form the essentials for the institutionalization of competitive advantage and, through the adaptation of historical conglomeration behavior, pervades the conduct of the Conglomeration Of The African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) and African petrochemicals (petroleum derivatives).
The old Standard Oil Company of New Jersey(13) par excellence rests in its huge corporate holdings and accumulation of over 500 companies that conducted operations in every country on earth, and that old Standard Oil Company of New Jersey has organized the processes of production, manufacturing and marketing of all of the company's products in every corner of the world. Recognizing the importance of operating a global corporation at the outset, the old Standard Oil Company of New Jersey owned railways, pipelines and oil tankers, oil tanks and wagons(14) in every country in the world, and owned refineries in many countries of the globe.
Within its diversified and multi-dimensional formula or blueprint for the formation of its institution of conglomeration, the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) network of networks behavior could be interwoven into international institutional arrangements, agreements(15) and ties that are embedded in the old International Petroleum Cartel that provides international industrial organization conduct behavior and "conscious parallelism" techniques of control. The utilization of two techniques of control, (a) joint ownership and (b) long-term contracts for the sale of crude oil indicate the dominant practices and processes that are in use by major global oil companies that have successfully exerted control over foreign oil reserves.
The International Petroleum Cartel-Staff Report Submitted to the Federal Trade Commission, which is informative as a comprehensive examination of the control of oil in the world, issues the following statement, for example, that is also enlightening today.
"In the Middle East, the interest of the seven international oil companies have been woven together by joint ownerships of subsidiary companies, each holding interests in one or more of these joint enterprises. This interlacing of control is revealed through the history of the political and private diplomatic negotiations preceding the organization of the jointly owned subsidiary companies and by an analysis of the management and operational policies of these subsidiaries after their organization. The interests in the Middle East of five of the seven international oil companies have been still more closely interwoven by the execution among them of long-term contracts for the sale of crude oiI(16)."
Another variation on the frame of reference surrounding The African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) growing mobilization of the conglomeration transcontinental petroleum basin relates directly to the author's recently released GLOBAL CONGLOMERATION United States Megaholding Companies, Japanese Megaholding Companies-Zaibatsu/Keiretsu, German Megaholding Companies/Combine of Interest-Groups, and Supradominance and Opportunities(17), which is an assessment of the centerpiece of global conglomeration and a necessary condition for the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) in calling into service the evolution of the holding companies movement, and the granting of charters for forming corporations for the general purpose of the ownership of the stocks or other assets of other corporations.

Dialogue Of "Trade Or Commerce"
This utilization of the voluminous global scale of "trade or commerce" activities by The Conglomeration Of the African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) and African petrochemicals (petroleum derivatives) have the effect of employing and bringing into question the status of controlling influences that energize the formation of the degree of concentration of resources and reserves that are situated in The African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin.
The essential and particularly defining characteristics of the global scale of "trade or commerce", which is determined so long as the global effect is found, represent the origin and innovation mechanism, and are delineated in the following institutional arrangements, strategic alliances, and uniformity in management tools of control, thereby leading to demand for an expanded APPA framework of general guidelines.
a- Control of World Crude Reserves: The control of reserves means control over future oil supplies
b- Control Over World Crude-Oil Production: Only a relatively small quantity of crude oil is available from any source other than one of the dominant global oil companies
c- Control Over World Crude Oil Refining Capacity: High concentration of the world's crude-oil refining capacity is prevalent
d- Control of World Cracking Capacity: Cracking capacity is potentially of greater economic significance than control over crude-refining capacity. The cracking process enables a refiner to obtain a greater quantity of higher-valued products (for example, gasoline compared to residual fuel oil) from a given quality of crude that can be obtained by the straight-run distillation method of refining. The cracking process also enables refiners to vary the proportions of products produced, thus giving greater flexibility to the refining operation.
e- Control of World Petroleum Transportation: Facilities in trade High concentration petroleum and petroleum products are usually transported by tanker; pipelines are in areas where extended movements over land are necessary and feasible
f- Control of Marketing: Highly concentrated - global petroleum companies market, either jointly or severally, petroleum products through various subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. The major international petroleum companies are integrated, from crude production through refining, transportation, storage terminals, and docks, to wholesale and retail distribution and dispensing equipment.
g- Petrochemicals(18) (petroleum derivatives) Frame of reference: The 1998 Worldwide Petrochemical Survey contains Feed-stocks and production capacities for more than 90 types of petrochemicals at 1,400 plants worldwide(19).
h- Petrochemicals(20) Raw materials - building - derivatives - blocks - end uses
I- Strategic Alliances(21) : Global market demand propels the increasing utilization and operation of joint arrangements, joint efforts, and joint ownership of long-term contracts, or strategic alliances, that perpetuate the growth engines of global conglomeration.

Huge Aggregate Components Magnitude And Directions
The huge foreign investment aggregation designed to expand and diversify the global corporations operations, establish multiple factories, manufacture automobiles, accelerate the rate and level of vast energy consumption, and increase the degree of buyer-concentration ratios throughout the countries of China, Japan, India, Indonesia, and The association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is the largest aggregate consumption component representation in the world, directly influence the number, type and formation of interlocking joint arrangements that are essential in the Conglomeration Of the African Union (AU). Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA), and African petrochemicals (petroleum derivatives).
The world's leading and largest automobile manufacturers notable General Motors, Ford Motor Corporation, Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, and Daimler Chrysler have entered strategic alliances, international joint ventures and long-term supply contracts with Chinese partners such as the Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation, First Auto Works and the Dongfeng Motor Corporation. The Chinese rate of expansion in car production and the corresponding increase in the rate and level of consumption of fuel have attained geometric progression rates.
The soaring increase in the rate and level of the enormous aggregate production of automobiles by China, Japan, India, and the ASEAN nations, along with the accompanying vast purchases of cars have led to an even greater rise in the rate and level of consumption of oil that surpassed the current availability of the global supply of fuel.
The Chinese have unleashed their huge economic mobilization designed to create, accelerate and sustain the fastest growing economy in the world by granting priority to the expansion and diversification of the automobile industry, particularly the heavy industry manufacture of what was designated as "China's peoples car"(22) for its population of 1.3 billion people. The other three heavy industries planned for industrial diversification and economic expansion consist of telecommunications, computers and petrochemicals (petroleum derivatives).
The production of the "China's peoples car" indicates rising levels and increases in the consumption of fuel and thrusting the vital issue of the competitive demand for energy into the global limelight(23). In contrast, the global automobile manufacturers have not placed their large automobile manufacturing factories in The Conglomeration Of The African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, The African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA), and the African petrochemicals (petroleum derivatives), thereby forcing The African Union (AU)/APPA decision makers to pursue and participate in this two-person, non-zero sum, non-cooperation game in which the loser faces the choice of ruin.
General Motors and the Ford Motor Corporation set up automobile assembly plants in India in the 1920s. More recently, the automobile manufacturers, beginning from 1995, are manufacturing cars through international joint venture arrangements with India car companies(24). India has announced that it is planning to manufacture an "India peoples car". It has been reported in the Nikkei Weekly of Japan that "Like China, India's huge population and fast growing economy give carmakers dreams of near limitless growth. The ongoing economic liberalization has already spurred demand from a growing middle-class estimated at over 200 million"(25).
In a statement presented to the Nikkei Weekly, Toru Sugawara noted that automobile purchases as durable goods in China have exceeded a total of over 4.5 million vehicles produced in 2003, which has resulted in China becoming the third largest consumption market of cars following the United States and Japan(26).
The foreign automobile manufacturers have offered to supply the production designed to meet the required huge aggregate demand components for cars that are needed for China's fastest growing economy in the world(27). Germany's Volkswagen A.G. which held the largest share of China's passenger car market in 2003 has announced that it plans to sell at least 1.45 million units in 2007(28).
Japan has reported that it is in the process of manufacturing an: "Asian peoples car". The Toyota Motor Corp. has indicated that it aims to raise its market share in China to 10 percent by 2010. The Honda Motor Co., which is the top-selling Japanese automaker in China, aims to nearly double Toyota's sales volume in China to more than 220,000 units in 2004(29) the Japanese are the major producers of automobiles in China, and they have declared openly "China today is our No.1 geographic priority in terms of market development,"(30) and all of Japan's five largest automakers have unveiled ambitious plans to expand production in China, leading to the domination of huge buyer-concentration magnitude and directions never before encountered in competitive determination on a global scale(31).
The Chinese national highway network and its mass appeal to the nation's 1.3 billion people serve as an extraordinary attraction, as well as a strong incentive, to urge consumers to buy cars and thereby increase the high rate and level of consumption of fuel and traveling throughout the country(32).
Energy vectors have already soared to new heights and now have gained some supra-momentum from the gigantic growth, expansion and industrialization of the enormous Asian Highway (AH), the largest market (buyer concentration) that the world has ever known. The Asian Highway (AH) network consists of highway routes of international importance within Asia, including highway routes substantially crossing more than one sub-region such as, East and North-East Asia; South and South-West Asia; South-East Asia and North and Central Asia; highway routes within sub-regions including those connecting to neighboring sub-regions; and highway routes located within Member States which provide access to: (a) capitals; (b) main industrial and agricultural centers; (c) major air, sea and river ports; (d) major container terminals and depots; and (e) major tourist attractions.
These huge and dominating energy vectors, which are currently commanding their own ranking of the priorities of the global aggregate energy consumption components are heading in the direction of intercontinental progression, intercontinental integration, intercontinental joint arrangements, intercontinental joint ownership, and intercontinental convergence with The Conglomeration of the African Union (AU) Transcontinental Petroleum Basin, thereby resulting in the narrowing of the differences existing between excess global demand for energy and new capital formation for the production of global supply of energy.

FOOTNOTES

1- Robert Liefmann, Cartels, Concerns and Trusts (Originally published in German under The title Kartelle, Konzerne and Trusts-first published in 1932) (Reprint edition Arno Press A New York Times Company, New York, 1977) London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1932
2- Robert Liefmann, Cartels, Concerns and Trusts 1932, pp. 6, 237, 238 and 249
3- Ibid.
4- Willard F. Mueller, "Conglomerate: A 'Nonindustry," in Walter Adams (Editor), The Structure of American Industry (6th ed.), New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1982, Chapter 12, p. 428
5- Corwin Edwards, "Conglomerate Bigness as a Source of Power", in Business Concentration Price Policy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Conference of National Bureau of Economic Research, 1955" pp. 346-347
6- James A. Harris, Sr., GlOBAL CONGLOMERATION' United States Megaholding Companies, Japanese Megaholding Companies-Zaibatsu/Keiretsu, German Megaholding Companies/Combine of Interest Groups, and Supradominance and Opportunities Cairo, Egypt: AAPSO Publication (180), 2002, p. 42
7- United States Department of the Interior. Bureau of Mines, Mineral Industries of Africa - Mineral Yearbook 1990 International Review, Volume III, Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1992,p.1
8- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, ENERGY IN AFRICA, Washington, DC, 2003, Chapter 1 http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ cabs/Africa.html
9- United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, MINERAL INDUSTRIES OF AFRICA-1990 International Review, Minerals Yearbook, Volume III, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992" pp. 1-5 (See also the following additional sources) .
a- World Conventional Oil Resources-Africa by Basin in Billions (10 to 9th power) of Barrels, pp.1-5 http://energy.er.usgs.gov/products/papers/world_oil/oil/Africa_tab.htm
b- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information administration, ENERGY IN AFRICA "http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Africa.html"
c- U. S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; Environmental Issues, Novembar 2000. "http://www..eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/subAfricaenv.html" .
d- U. S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration HORN OF AFRICA "http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html"
e- U. S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, SOUTHERN AFRICA and the SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY. November 2002 "http://www.eia.doe.gov/eemeu/cabs/sade.html"
f- USGS, USGS WORLD ENERGY Assessment Team, U. S. Geological Survey World Petroleum Assessment 2000 - Description and Results http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/energy/WorldEnergy/ dds-60/index.html
g- Sharon P. Stultz-Karin, North Africa's Petroleum Potential "http://www.times-publications.com/publications/times_articles/corporate Africa_spring199...
h- James A. Harris, Sr., The Anatomy of the Africa Multinational Conglomerate Enterprise Strategy in International Development, Brooklyn, New York, 1983
I- U.S. Senate, 94th Cong., k1st Sess. Subcommittee on Monopoly of the Select Committee on Small Business, THE INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM CARTEL-Staff Report to the Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. August 22, 1952 (Reprint April 22, 1975)
j- U. S. Department of State, Background Notes-African Countries, Washington, DC
10. U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, ENERGY IN AFRICA "http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Africa.html"
11. Organization of African Unity, CONSTITUTIVE ACT OF THE AFRICAN UNION, Lome, Togo, 12 June 2000-53 Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the Organization of African Unity (OAU)
12. African Petroleum Producers Association Bulletin, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, March 1996, (APPA Bulletin is a biannual [March and September] publication of the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA)
13. Standard Oil Co.v. United States 221 US1 (1911), pp. 41-42
14. Robert liefmann, Cartels, Concerns and Trusts, 1932, pp. 292-293
15. U.S. Senate, 94th Congo 1st Sess, Subcommittee on Small Business, THE INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM CARTEL-Staff Report to the Federal Trade Commission, August 22,1952 (Reprint April 22, 1975), pp. 45 and passim
16. Ibid.
17. James A. Harris, Sr., GLOBAL CONGLOMERATION op. cit.., pp. 12-14
18. Oil and Gas Journal Energy Database, WORLDWIDE PETROCHEMICAL SURVEY
Data as of 1-1-98, Tulsa, Ok: PennWell, 1998 (Updated annually in May-E1034-98), license Agreement
19. Ibid.
20. Donald L. Burdick and William L. Leffler, Petrochemicals-Diagram, Tulsa, OK: PennWell Publishing Company, 1996, passim
21. Tim Underhill, Strategic Alliances Managing The Supply Chain, Tulsa, OK: PennWell Books Publishing Company, 1996, passim
22. The New York Times, September 22, 1994, "China is Planning a People's Car," p. D1 (See also The New York Times, October 24, 2000, "The Race Begins to Build a Small Car for China," p. W1, and The New York Times" June 8, 2004, "G.M. to Speed-up Expansion in China," p. W1
23. Ibid.
24. The Nikkei Weekly, June 26, 1995, ":Carmakers Race Through India's Open Door,"p.28
25. Ibid.
26. The Nikkei Weekly, May 24, 2004, "Subcompacts Come Rolling Off The Lines at Nissan's Chinese Joint Venture Plant," p. 11
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. The New York Times, July 11, 2002, "Japan Carves Out Major Role in
China's Auto Future," p. W1
31. James A. Harris, Sr., "The Globalization of OPEC Versus The Dominant International Market Power of Transnational Monopsony Control by MegaBuyer- Concentration In The World Oil Market," DEVELOPMENT & SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRESS, AAPSO Quarterly, Cairo, Egypt: Afro Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization (AAPSO) Publishing, April-June 1996, No. 66, pp. 13-14
32. Clay Chandler, "Why China Won't Hit A Wall," FORTUNE, May 17, 2004, pp.28&32 (See also The New York Times, November 2. 2003, ":China's Factories Aim to Fill Garages Around the World," p. 8; and The New York Times, December 14, 2003, "When the Chinese Consumer Is King," p.5


Prof. Haruub Othman
On Governance And Accountability.


[Discussant's Remarks at the Pan-African Forum on the Commonwealth Principles on the Accountability of and Relationship between the Three Branches of Government, organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, 4 - 6 April 2005, Inter-Continental Hotel, Nairobi}
Only last Friday I was looking at a book written by a Dutch diplomat, Roel Van Der Veen, titled 'What Went Wrong with Africa'. I was reminded of a book written some thirty years earlier by a French agronomist, Rene Dumont, called 'False Start in Africa'. In order to truly understand what has gone wrong in this continent, we have to admit first that we really did have a false start.
The struggles for independence in this continent were struggles for democracy, development, human rights and ethical governance. All the independence and liberation movements insisted throughout that they were committed to democracy. Almost all of these movements enshrined in their constitutions the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In fact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was enshrined in the OAU Charter.
But once political independence was attained, the first victim was democracy itself. To develop, we were told, we had to sacrifice the luxury of democracy. To fight imaginary enemies, we were required to forego human rights. Starting from Ghana in 1961, most African countries passed Preventive Detention Acts. In fact, Ghana copied that from apartheid South Africa, which promulgated such an Act in 1959. Ironically, the first victim of the act was Timothy Adamafio, the man who introduced the Bill in the Ghana Parliament in the first place. The scenario was repeated in Kenya, where Jaramogi Odinga who, as Vice President and Minister of Home Affairs had introduced the Bill, came to fall victim to it. In the then Tanganyika, now Tanzania Mainland, Oscar Kambona, who was the Home Affairs Minister and therefore the person who sent the Bill to the National Assembly, was lucky enough to flee to London before the Act caught up with him. But Orton Chirwa was not so lucky. As Justice Minister and Attorney General, he sent to Parliament a Bill establishing traditional courts in Malawi where the accused were not entitled to defence lawyers. When President Banda's security agents kidnapped him, his wife and son in Zambia and took them across to Malawi, they were tried in a traditional court and were sentenced to death. Orton Chirwa died in jail.
We in Africa, committed our first sin when in 1963 we condoned the overthrow of an elected government in Togo and the assassination of President Olympio. After that we could only stand and watch as several military coups and assassinations of political leaders took place.
The hopes of African masses that independence would bring development and a better life were squashed by mismanagement and misdirection of our resources. We went into grandiose projects that had no relationship to our circumstances and embarked on programmes that were of no direct benefit to our people. We borrowed heavily, and instead of investing those financial resources in productive areas, we went on a shopping spree to satisfy our conspicuous consumption patterns. We have been living in the South as if we were citizens of the North.
We must admit that the economic, social and political crises that have been facing us are of our own making. And the only one who can lift us out of this quagmire is ourselves. The thinking that the West can come with a Marshall Plan' to help us from this situation is a myth. The West cannot help us create another Japan that would compete with the United States. The hope that we can replicate the example of the so-called 'Asian Tigers' is misplaced. In any case, the last crisis had shown that the 'Asian Tigers' were just paper tigers. It has to dawn on us that we are on our own. It is to the self-interest of Western Europe to help Eastern Europe and North Africa; otherwise millions in those areas would want to cross over to Western Europe. It is understandable when Japan pours a lot of resources into South-East Asia, otherwise they are likely to witness yet again the ΠVietnamese boats'. But what would be the self-interest of Europe to help Africa South of the Sahara? Can we, in our small canoes, sail to Fortress Europe?
What can be done then? We must realize that development and democracy must go together. They are sides of the same coin. Democratic development therefore entails the following:
* Ethical Governance;
* Observance. promotion and protection of human rights. When we talk of human rights, we include the rights of women; the rights of children; workers' rights; the rights of the disabled, ethnic and linguistic minorities; and most importantly, the rights to life. livelihood, education, health and peace;
* Full enjoyment of national resources and their equitable distribution;
* Rule of law, accountability and transparency;
* Constitutionalism.
In most of our countries, we have embraced the notion of the separation of powers, though the practice indicates otherwise. How can we talk of the separation of powers when the President is part of Parliament? When an Act passed by Parliament, cannot come into force until it is assented to by the President? When the President, appoints High Court and Court of Appeal judges? When the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice are in the line of succession? When Ministers sit both in the Cabinet and Parliament?
In many of our countries, we have an electoral system that is based on first past the post. A party can get 40% of the votes and yet acquires less than 10% of the seats in Parliament. A President can be declared elected by getting 30% of the votes.
We have a judicial system that is iLL-equipped, denied of resources and overwhelmed with cases. How can we say, as we do in Malawi and Tanzania, that a constitutional case can be determined by a Bench of three judges, while you do not have the resources of bringing the three judges together, and yet a case which carries capital punishment can be determined by one judge?
We need to start afresh. Those who talk of a Second Liberation definitely have a point. We need to look again at our structures of governance. We need to redefine our priorities. We need to inculcate into our societies new values and ethics. The spirit of patriotism and solidarity that was there in the first years of independence must be rekindled.
We need to look into the following and see if we can develop a common pattern in Commonwealth Africa, if not in the whole continent.
i) The enormous powers of the President must be reduced. What we have created is an "Imperial Presidency". The President is the Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He (and there has been no female President so far) appoints Ministers, Ambassadors, Regional and District Governors, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of Departments and Vice-Chancellors of public universities. Under the Preventive Detention Act, he can put somebody in jail without trial, and he can also allow a death penalty to be carried out.
ii) Either we have a legislature fully elected under a Proportional Representation system, or we have a combination of a PR system and a first-past-the-post system. The legislature must represent the diversity of the population in their ideological/political beliefs, cultural/ethnic/linguistic composition, gender balance and class differences.
iii) The Courts must be accessible, especially to the poor and the disadvantaged in society. There has developed now in our countries a strong trend of buying rights. We keep saying that justice delayed is justice denied. But our courts are overwhelmed, and hundreds of people languish in jails waiting for the determination of their cases.
iv) Provision of legal aid to the poor must be compulsory in our legal systems.
As I said before, democracy and development are sides of the same coin. Our development must be people-oriented. We must dispel this notion that outsiders can bring development to us, or that ideas and expertise can only come from the IMF or the World Bank. In order for development programmes and projects to be owned by ourselves and be relevant to our needs, they must emanate from us. Foreign imposed solutions to our problems cannot work.
On the development agenda, we need to go back to the drawing boards, and take another look at the ŒLagos Plan of Action' and the African Common Market idea and also come up with alternative development strategies to SAPs, ERPs and other IMF and World Bank edicts.
Last year SADC came out with Election Guidelines for the Region. Before that also SADC passed a resolution that member-countries would not recognise any government that comes into power through unconstitutional means. The countries of West Africa, grouped together in ECOWAS, also produced a similar resolution; and its application was very effective in the recent Presidential succession episode in Togo. These efforts must be supported and strengthened.
The AU at its last Summit in Addis Ababa has agreed to the establishment of an African Court of Human Rights. Though no country yet has been found to host the seat of the Court, we must exert our pressure on the AU to put the Court in place soon.