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Journal of Peace, Conflict and Military Studies Book Reviews One Africa One Destiny: Towards Democracy, Good Governance and Development, By Bingu Wa Mutharika, Sapes Books, Harare, 1995. At a time when African societies are being juxtaposed with traditional
and modern values and issues like democracy and development, sovereignty
and conditionalities of donor funding, Dr. Mutharika’s book
succeeds in provoking one to think aloud on Africa’s destiny.
The title ‘One Africa One Destiny’ strikes an optimistic
note on African nationalism and regionalism bringing back the relevance
of Pan-Africanism. The book endeavours to foresee a common African
destiny in which regionalism, democracy and good governance form
the basis of sustainable growth and development. As it attempts
to challenge existing styles of leadership and governance in Africa,
it underlines the superimposition of foreign ideologies on traditional
African societies as a principal cause of underdevelopment. What emerges as the main crux of the book is an emphasis on the
ability of the Africans to design and determine their own sense
of direction and to reaffirm faith in their traditions and institutions
and as a corollary to this, the hegemony of the west to be broken.
Tracing back to the time when Africa was referred to as the ‘Cradle
of Mankind’ and to the glory and fame of the African kingdoms,
and highly developed trade, commerce and technology which were dissipated
to other countries of the globe, the author wonders why then Africa
did not build upon the past. Although the exogenous influences have
formed a substantial part of the African thinking, the traditional
values still remain the cornerstone of African civil society and
thus Africa need not accept the hegemony of the west, while asserting
the ability and potential of Africa to oppose this hegemony. The author seems to expect a change of heart from the donors, in
terms of fully opening up assistance for developmental programmes.
He poses a question: “What type of political reforms, multi-party
democracy and good governance would seem logical to the donor community
to demonstrate their goodwill and commitment to Africa?” This
question makes one wonder if Africa has overhauled its social, economic
and political structure only to please the donors. If it is so then
it only confirms Africa’s dependence on the donors. While arguing
that the donors’ attitude continues to be that of the benevolence
of the north, the author could have also taken time to introspect
the attitudes of the African leaders. If the expectations of the
African leaders for greater assistance from the north is legitimate,
then is it not a legitimate expectation of the donors from those
African leaders for some genuine steps towards democracy? [ Back to the top ] The chapter on Political Marginalisation focuses on how Africa
has been marginalised in all major global, political and economic
aspects. The industrialised countries, without formal consultation
with Africa, take important decisions critical to Africa’s
development. The author discusses quite at length, the marginalisation
of Africa, which started from the time of the Scramble for Africa
in 1844. Africa was degraded to the level of an economic tool for
colonial exploitation by deliberate policy. This reduced Africa
to an exporter of raw materials and importer of manufactured goods.
One would certainly agree with the author that Africa has been reduced to this by deliberate policies. He correctly states that no proper foundations were laid down to ensure that the African countries would ever effectively develop their own economies without external support. Unfortunately the author has not answered the question: From where
is the foundation supposed to come? Should the Africans be so naïve
as to expect it to come from the same countries which made them
dependent and reliant? This section identifies ‘surrogate’
economists as a prominent feature of marginalism. The surrogate
economist is an expatriate who is assigned to an African country
through former colonial connections or bilateral or multilateral
aid and technical assistance programmes. The author comes down heavily
on the surrogate economist who is generally cunning, aiming to please
the ruling elite. He holds much of the research work of the expatriates
as shallow and their analyses as not applicable to the African situations.
What is interesting is that these findings do not worry the African
policy makers. The author has discussed at length the futility of
the surrogate economist but conveniently escaped to discuss the
indifference of the African policy makers to African problems. For socio-economic transformation of the African economies, planning
does not provide a clear mix between development philosophies and
political consideration that could lead to an adequate solution
of mass poverty. The author holds the choice of a capitalist or
Marxist oriented development philosophy. The implication of this
statement is not clear. The author is probably trying to refer to
the way the ideology of socialism has been used as a pretext by
some of the African leaders for personal economic aggrandisement
and power. Perspective planning has been defined as that requiring foresight
and carefully drawn strategies to be met over an agreed period of
time. No country can emerge from a ‘zero-growth option’
without adopting and implementing deliberate policies towards demarginalisation.
The author is supportive of the idea of adopting long-term plans
covering a period of 20 years instead of the conventional three
to five years. This would provide time to assess meaningfully the
results of development investments. There could also be mid-term
review or evaluation of projects under the long-term plans in every
five years or so. Planning requires effective marshalling of domestic
and external investment resources, mobilisation of resources for
development and reduction of heavy dependence on external factors
for initiating development processes with far-reaching political
implications. [ Back to the top ] The author completely disagrees with Ragnas Nurkse’s1 portrayal
of ‘vicious circle of poverty’, as a monster that cannot
be dislodged by internal reorganisation of the economic system.
Nurkse sees external capital as a necessity to break the vicious
circle. A vicious circle of poverty is not an intrinsic characteristic
but a state of mind. And the vicious circle can be broken by changing
the internal structures of production and distribution as Zimbabwe,
Mauritius, Egypt, Morocco, and Nigeria have done. It would have been helpful to dwell more on this point and look
at these states closely and see how they broke the vicious circle
through internal reorganisation. Instead, what has been pointed
out here is the influence of development philosophy from the North
and the imposition of the belief that foreign resources, technology
and institutions alone can help Africa to develop. Growth models like the Ricardian model, and the Harrod and Dommar
model as applied to African situations, have been discussed. The
Ricardian ‘limits to growth’ theory suggests that unless
food is obtained through imports from other countries, limits to
growth would be quickly reached which would be a great disaster.
This does explain the present African development crisis. However,
the concern of African economies is not to import food and drain
the hard-earned foreign exchange but to increase food production
domestically by increasing foreign exchange savings, increase domestic
incomes and expand employment opportunities. The Harrod and Dommar model states that the marginal propensity
to save determines, at equilibrium level, national incomes and the
rate of investment. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan,
which attained high levels of domestic savings attained high growth
rates. This model again does not apply to Africa where 70 to 80%
of the population lives in rural areas under the ‘informal
sector’ or subsistent economies. The general belief is that
no one model can generally be applied to resolve the complex nature
of the African economies. According to the author, attempts are
being made to develop integrated trade and development models. [ Back to the top ] A pertinent issue that the author addresses here is whether growth
by itself leads to development. An increase in per capita income
does not constitute advancement. An increase must generally be accompanied
by structural changes in the economy as a whole. The application
of growth theories in Africa has not taken into account this aspect
of structural change. The pursuit of growth without equity has caused
inequality of incomes and imbalance in levels of development. The chapter on Democracy and People’s Will hinges on the dichotomy
between the conceptualisation, perception and scope of democracy
as perceived by African leaders on one hand, and the donor communities
on the other. Democracy equated with good governance by the western
world is being used as conditionality for foreign aid. Will democracy
as a form of managing the development process guarantee sustainable
growth and development? The scepticism here about the relevance
of liberal democracy in the context of African societies, heterogeneous
and traditionally bound as they are, is evident. The author identifies ‘leadership’ and ‘human rights’
as two key elements in good governance. Developing a dedicated and
efficient ruling class to carry out programmes for the transformation
of economic systems from neo-colonial to truly national perspectives
is identified as the most difficult aspect of democracy. The author
believes that the institutions for development that a nation can
establish depend upon how the leadership utilises such institutions
towards the overall development of the nation. In the emerging African
democracies the author finds a misunderstanding in the operationalisation
of democracy between the masses and the elite. On the part of the
masses democracy is seen as exercising freedom of expression, freedom
of economic pursuit or freedom of choice of profession, or religion
and of political affiliation and along with this also the freedom
to criticise the leadership. This has caused a phenomenon by which
the leader, having acquired political power, tends to ascribe to
himself extraordinary powers of social, economic and political control
over the means of production. This has been justified by the rulers
as the most effective way of ensuring continued and widespread economic
development and as a means to ensure that external forces do not
interfere with the political and economic machinery of the state. Two important aspects of African leadership have been brought out:
Firstly, power wielded by one person without regard to any norms,
opinions and principles or needs of the masses leading to oppression,
tyranny and disregard for fundamental human rights has become the
rule rather than the exception in some countries. Secondly, anti-intellectual
campaigns have been prevalent in many African democracies and continue
even today. For instance, statesmen like Nkrumah who did much for
African politics became highly intolerant of intellectual opposition
and new ideas. Some leaders insulate themselves by ensuring that
no-one among the ministers or civil servants has access to the cross-section
of the people so that the leadership is not threatened. Having identified the qualities of leaders who negate the very
basis of democracy, the author ignored the issue of consciously
cultivating a democratic political culture but has gone back to
the issue discussed earlier, of internalising African policy framework
and the need to depart from economic doctrines that do not acknowledge
local conditions. What is the cure for a leadership which has become
power hungry? Constructive intellectual opposition can be attained
only by political tolerance and this has been overlooked by the
author. [ Back to the top ] The section on Human Rights has not been adequately dealt with.
Human rights have been defined in terms of securing adequate standards
of living for every individual. This definition is fine but that
is not all. Civil and political rights are as important as economic
rights. History bears testimony to the fact that the basic economic
rights of the underprivileged sections have been fought for by the
exercise of freedom of expression by those who took the lead to
fight their cause. Economic inequality has been identified as a major obstacle to
the enjoyment of human rights, which could be corrected by relating
growth with equity. There can be no mass participation without the
basic democratic institutions being put in place, like access to
unbiased information. Linking traditionalism with governance has
been suggested as the way to bring about the enjoyment of human
rights, but what aspects of traditionalism can be fitted with governance
and in what form has not been discussed. Traditional societies need
to be modernised to suit the changing circumstances. If the political
elite choose to ape the west and deliberately fail to draw a distinction
between modernisation and westernisation, either due to their blindfoldedness
or for personal convenience, then traditionalism will have nothing
to offer towards good governance. Accountability and Social Justice constitutes a section in this
chapter, where the author affirms the high level of accountability
in traditional African societies as far as the utilisation of resources
is concerned. Dialogue was employed as a means of disseminating
information of any kind affecting the community. Why did this emphasis
on dialogue not continue under modern democracy? In fact, the advancement
in communication technology should have only paved the way for better
dialogue. In most African states today governments are not accountable to
any institution or to the people for their actions. What are the
reasons for this? The answer is an unwillingness on the part of
the ruling elite to share power which again the author has not discussed.
Accountability deals with the responsible use of power — political
and economic, whereas social justice deals with the distribution
of resources. Growth and trade models have been discussed in the
context of development but theories of distributive justice have
not even been mentioned. How could one place such great emphasis
on economic rights of every individual without placing corresponding
emphasis on securing social justice? People’s Empowerment is a section emphasising the strong roots
of African traditional democracy. Empowerment implied the individual
possession of wealth, especially livestock, not in the sense of
the exploitation of people by a few, but by an intricate system
of communal arrangement through which the most important property
of all time —land — was held in trust by the chieftaincy
for the good of all. The political leadership of the day ensured
that subjects had a share of the wealth of the nation each according
to his or her needs. The author believes that this rich traditional
form of empowerment can be developed to form an integral part of
modern Africa. The continuous intermingling of African cultures
with other cultures has enabled the evolution of a rich mixture
of traditional values, which places Africa ahead of Europe in democratic
ideals. [ Back to the top ] African culture is bound together by ethnocentrism by which there
is a universality in which the people’s will can be viewed.
These forces have not been understood as they are shrouded in mystery
and this has caused misunderstanding and misinterpretation of African
culture and society by the western world. In the search for a new order, traditionalism and communalism have
to figure prominently in the context of empowerment. The writings
of Leopold Senghor on Negritude, Julius Nyerere on Ujamaa and Kaunda
on Humanism need to be thoroughly examined in the process of searching
for a new order. One would have expected a further discussion on
the emergence of African nation states and their tribal or ethnic
social structures. This would have been particularly relevant in
today’s context where most of the ethnic conflicts are due
to the arbitrary creation of African states by the colonial powers
which did not correspond with the ethnic groupings. Only a passing
reference has been made to this important aspect of modern African
states. This chapter concludes with a summary of the works of Nyerere,
Kaunda and Senghor and a great emphasis on their relevance to Africa
today. What is required is a reaffirmation of faith in being African,
in the African origin, identity and destiny. Under Egalitarianism and Social Justice the author defines egalitarianism
as the belief in equality in terms of political, economic and social
development of a nation. It is the unleashing of combined creative
and productive forces of the people towards sustained growth and
development. The roots of African socialism were found in egalitarianism
and the concept of classless society where the fruits of the collective
labour of man were to be shared on the principle of each according
to his requirements. In African economic philosophy the highest
goal in development simply means the removal of mass poverty. For
decades some African scholars believed that while socialism was
not the panacea for solving Africa’s development problems,
it was the most efficient way of combating mass poverty. Egalitarianism and collectivism are considered as compatible by
the author. Collectivism is taken to mean the extension of the benefits
of development to the impoverished. It is also a way of responding
to the sidelining of Africa by the international community. However,
according to the author, what modern African states have is a glaring
class distinction, and striking disparities in the distribution
of incomes and wealth. African economic management systems have
demonstrated impotence in rescuing the majority of the population
from abject poverty. By adopting socialism as a development philosophy,
African states in fact did not necessarily move towards egalitarianism
since it was not accompanied by adequate domestic resource mobilisation.
Nor did they move towards democracy. A need to invest in human capital
by providing for services and facilities that would upgrade the
standard of living for the masses has been identified. But given
the economic limitations of the African countries, how are they
going to take up these measures? Why has socialism as a development strategy not yield positive
results in those countries where it was adopted? The author identifies
industrial and agricultural production as not yet being orientated
towards the betterment of the welfare of the masses. He however,
fails to take into account ‘distribution’, which is as
important for developing countries as production. The author talks
of egalitarianism as a modus operandi of African countries, which
is not quite clear. Egalitarianism is a philosophy which has to
be translated by the governments into reality through specific policies
and measures. [ Back to the top ] The chapter on Good Governance and Liberalism begins with a statement
linking political and economic liberalisation as mutually interdependent.
Good governance requires the participation by the people in economic
and political structures, accountability of the political leadership
to the people, open and transparent economic and political systems.
However, in the chapter, economic liberalism has been defined and
discussed at length and other aspects of liberalism have been neglected.
Political liberalism has been defined in a very limited sense as
establishing the institution of government ‘of the people,
by the people, for the people’. Elements of good governance have been identified as liberalising
the planning machinery, as a management concept, liberalising the
human capital, and the control of science and technology. He identifies
the possible threat of Africa being owned by a few giant corporations
by the year 2020. This will turn African governments into mere mouth-pieces
of the transnational corporations. Chapter six on African Destiny traces the emergence of Pan-Africanism which developed into a strong unifying force that eventually defeated imperialism and colonial domination. Now the same forces are being used as economic and political tools for achieving the political emancipation of Africa from the stranglehold of neo-colonialism and corporate capitalism. The author identifies regional economic co-operation and integration as the best option in development that determines Africa’s destiny.
Dr. Nandini Patel Chancellor College, University of Malawi [ Back to the top ]
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