Building Bottom-up Democracies

How do we evolve grassroots democracy with regional characteristics? Hierarchical systems within most of Sub-Saharan Africa have proven to be almost completely removed from the citizens they claim to govern, the following statements/initiatives offer varying perspectives on the subject, firstly Fred Foldvary suggests that:

Democracy must start small. Each village and city neighborhood elects a local council. These would be the cells of the political body. Where a traditional clan leadership is in place, it would be recognized as the local authority. The cell would be small enough so that the people can hold meetings and know the candidates personally. There would be no need for large amounts of campaign money.

While an effort in Puntland Somalia, emphasizes the devolving of power:

Decentralisation of government by devolving decision making down to the lowest constituencies is a fundamental principle of the Puntland administration. Evidence shows that smaller, more local bodies are generally more efficient, but also that taking the process of decision making down to the community level gives rise to a more responsive organization on the one hand, and greater community involvement and buy-in on the other.

Hu Jintao building on the "Democracy with Chinese characteristics" model proposes that:

The most effective and extensive way for the people to be masters of the country is that they directly exercise their democratic rights in accordance with the law to manage public affairs and public service programs at the primary level, practice self-management, self-service, self-education and self-oversight, and exercise democratic oversight over cadres. Such practices must be emphasized and promoted as the groundwork for developing socialist democracy.

In summation we can postulate the need for indigenous, adaptive, fractal governing systems that are imbued with continuous reactive input from a representative citizenry.

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Evolution of Governance

In Africa Unbound John Mulaa writes about the evolution of governance. He asks:

How long will it take countries that have sharp divisions to move to the next stage of more “normal” democratic practice where winners take the reins of power and losers wait their turn? That will depend on whether or not the coalition-forming elite recognize the importance of institutional development as a bulwark against arbitrary rule. Because coalition partners mistrust each other, they are more likely to push for “neutral” institutions that do not give advantage to the other side. With time, the institutions will develop constituencies of their own and could become the protectors of national interests. Then political competition will no longer be a life and death struggle...[continue reading]

President Obama and Western civilization.

Tunku Varadarajan writing at Forbes states that:

The most important effect of an Obama presidency would be to sunder the connection between "Western-ness" and whiteness--or, at the very least, to ensure that such connection is no longer viewed as contingent. I use Western-ness as a portmanteau word for the following: democracy; scientific reason; respect for, but not servitude to, religion and hence a belief in religious tolerance and pluralism; sexual equality; secular education; individual autonomy, including a right to privacy and personal identity; and a belief that governments are subordinate to citizens...This severing (or fraying) of the "West-white" connection would make it easier for the U.S.--and the West, more broadly--to take its ideas into those corners of the world that have been most resistant to them. Whether we like it or not, vast swaths of Africa, Asia and the Middle East still live in varying degrees of post-colonial confrontation with the West, and with whiteness. This makes it difficult (often impossible) for the West to get the non-West to embrace its better ideas...[continue reading]

photo courtesy of Forbes

Quick Hits

Bernard Hours writes about the NGOs and the victim industry.
Webometrics releases a continent-wide rankings for universities. Nigeria's ramshackle tertiary sector lives up to its expectations-Terrible. via Mootbox
African Loft highlights an IMF survey, that showcases the emerging market status of a number of African countries.
Mark Mobius discusses emerging opportunities in frontier markets.-FT
Mimicking the private sector or not? A question for Development Agencies-via Mootbox
Untying red tape-Doing Business 2008 a video report.

University Spinoffs & Wealth Creation

Scott Shane's research on university spin-offs highlights their criticality to the entrepreneurship-innovation space:

Drawing from his seven years of research, Shane—who is also Case's academic director for the Center for Regional Economic Issues, a group that ignites new ideas to boost at economic development—defines the university spinoff as a company founded to exploit the intellectual property created in the academic setting.As he tracked the rise of these ventures, Shane found that university spinoffs are remarkably high-performing companies. His research shows that a spinoff from a typical university is 108 times as likely to go public as the average new company.
He also uncovered that most university inventions are embryonic stage, or what he describes as two stages before the traditional venture capital seed stage. He found that transforming the invention into a commercial new product or service takes an average of $4 million in investments—and as much as four years of additional development beyond the university findings.The spawning of these companies has impact on local and national economies, benefits to society and the university's ability to raise income and move forward its teaching and research missions...[continue reading]

The Obama Victory-Lessons for Africa

In the Guardian Wangari Maathai writes about the Obama victory:

Earlier this year Kenya was riven by ethnic conflict. Now Obama has shown us all that a society can elect its best person as leader, and reject the ethnic labels we are so often stuck with. So many leaders across the world, in Africa especially, have exploited these differences to divide their people and bring misery and conflict. Right now that is happening on a catastrophic scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I hope that leaders across Africa will be inspired: here is a young man who could have been one of their own people, but who may have found it impossible to overcome his ethnicity in the continent of his father...[continue reading]

African Bubbles

The BBC reports:

Nigeria's banking sector has only been open to international trade of wholesale debt for a short time, and so its exposure to the global credit crisis is limited.But last year, just as banks were waking up to their problems in the US, Nigerian investors rode a rapidly expanding stock bubble as the value of shares went through the roof.Money being counted in Nigeria in July 2008 Some shares doubled in value in a matter of week.s Now the bubble has burst and the stock values have reduced to a saner level, but some people have been burned by their experience...[continue reading]

photo courtesy of the BBC
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Resurrection of Tyranny

Emmanuel Franklyne Ogbunwezeh writes about the arrest of Jonathan Elendu in Nigeria:

Mr. Jonathan Elendu, one must remember is a Nigerian-American online journalist and internet blogger. With his website Elendureports.com, this guy was among the pioneers who took it up themselves to liberate Nigerians from the massive dosage of falsehoods that our governments and men of power dish out on Nigerians on a daily basis. These online frontiersmen took their passion for their country seriously. The ferreted information that asked hard questions about the outright lies that the Nigerian government have been feeding Nigerians. That was his only crime...[continue reading]

Update: Read related Global Voices report.

"Conspiracy of Silence"

Image via WikipediaRaila Odinga the Kenyan PM recently stated:

"The African Union has fallen short, failing to condemn brutal regimes and sham elections, including the second round of elections in Zimbabwe. This has now become the norm."But we should not be surprised at the AU's failure to stand up for democracy, many of our nations' leaders have some skeletons rattling loudly in their cupboards," Odinga said...[continue reading]

via Pambazuka

Partnership for Health

An initiative of the folks behind Nigeria Health Watch the 2008 Partnership for Health objectives include:

...creating a forum where Nigerian professionals working in health roles in the UK and partners working on health issues in Nigeria meet with the Federal Ministry of Health and its partners to explore opportunities of working together for the benefit of the health of Nigerians...[continue reading]

Fastest improving Nation-Liberia

Image via WikipediaThe FT reports:

The island of Mauritius is the best-run country in Africa, Somalia the worst, and Liberia the fastest-improving, according to a comprehensive index of governance standards in the region...Liberia, which was rated as recording the fastest gains, is emerging from the legacy of a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who became Africa’s first female elected head of state in 2005, has won the support of donors for her plans to boost economic growth and fight corruption...[continue reading]

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Breaking the dependency cycle in Philantropy

Bhekinkosi Moyo writes about new institutions like the Africa Womens Development fund and TrustAfrica that seek to break the dependency syndrome in Philanthropy :

The concentration of power and resources in particular organisations and individuals affects the way they view those that they support. In the quest to address issues of social change, traditional philanthropic institutions, like venture philanthropists and other types of philanthropist, have failed to change the status quo. It is too early to tell whether the new African institutions will at last transform social relations and tackle head-on the supremacy embedded in all forms of philanthropy. It is worth noting one thing however. The very emergence of these new institutions in Africa is a step towards developing a different and unique philanthropy in the continent that also shares in the universality of other philanthropies...[continue reading]

Read George Soros's tips on how to become a philanthropist.
via Pambazuka

Getachew Alemu & Intellectual property

Yale Fellow Getachew Alemu perceives intellectual property rights and socioeconomic development as symbiotic in nature.He discusses the approach employed to build Ethiopia's IP framework.Watch him here

Brain Gain?

The IHT reports on Nigeria's reverse Brain Drain:

"There are lots of 30- and 40-something-year-olds who are CEOs in this country, and that would never be in the States or the U.K. because the experience pool is much deeper there," said Lawal. "In the States I will have opportunities, but not at the level we are getting them in Nigeria, and that's the reality."...[continue reading]

Democracy's cornerstone-Freedom of information

At Pambazuka Anne Nderi writes:

Freedom of information is important for the achievement of meaningful democracy. With access to information citizens are better placed to choose their representatives on the basis of strength of their record, hence they can hold their governments accountable for the policies and decisions it promulgates. Democracy is further enhanced when people meaningfully engage with their institutions of governance and form their judgments on the basis of facts and evidence, rather than just empty promises and mere political talk.

Let Failing African Governments Collapse

"...Many African states have been addicted to Western aid for decades. Unfortunately, Africa as a whole has stagnated and some African countries are poorer today then they were in the 1960s. In recent years, advocates of foreign aid have called for making aid more efficient, but that may be easier said than done. The problem, some critics argue, is that aid supports predatory governments and perpetuates institutions that are alien to Africa...[continue reading]" -Cato Institute
Listen to the podcast

africa failed Cato Institute Event Podcast - Let Failing African Governments Collapse: A Radical Solution to Underdevelopment
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Zuma's Populism

The FT editorial page writes about the incoming SA president, Jacob Zuma:

Mr Zuma has yet to show he has the backbone to do what is good for the country’s long-term health rather than what is politically expedient. Six months of uncertainty lie ahead before elections, a period in which he and the “new” ANC have much to prove...[continue reading]

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An Ownership Culture

At the African Executive Fred Kwoba writes:

There is no sustainable way to poverty reduction unless Africa widens the base of economic participants. When knowledgeable people speak of indigenous capital ownership as the sine qua non of sustainable development, they point to the right solution. I have in mind a specific new development paradigm, based on broad participation of the population in market driven economic activities. This paradigm is discussed thoroughly on DeniAfrica.com where it does not only postulate but provides a road map of how Africa can create millions of entrepreneurs and business asset owners and not just a handful of millionaires. The ingenuity of this concept, called Direct Expatriates Nationals Investment (DENI), is to widen the base of Africans participating in the revival and stimulation of their economies...[continue reading]

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Quick Hits

Jeremy writes about a A world without God...
The African Executive wonders if the continent is being milked dry because of aid.
An opportunity for sustainable mining?
Building the Pillars of democracy...

Concept of Ownership

Mutumwa D. Mawere writes:

If Africa needs sustainable investment from both domestic and foreign sources, it must critically interrogate its understanding of the ownership concept so as to correctly capture the kind of human imagination required to spur development and creativity.

He asks:

Who should drive the African economic agenda? Should it be the state or the citizen? What should be the proper role of the state in post colonial Africa? Does Africa need intelligent leaders or enlightened and empowered citizens? Who should own Africa’s resources? What kind of Africa do we want to see?...[continue reading]

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