EDITORIAL: Same old, same old G8

This past weekend G8 leaders again met to discuss the weighty matters of the world. Gathering in Heiligendamm,Germany the globe's economic powers spoke on everything from Hedge Funds to Global Warming.

But, from an African perspective the words uttered by these politicians bring to mind the classic English play "MacBeth". In the play, Shakespeare"s title character speaks of a tale "Full of sound and fury./Signifying nothing".

In MacBeth’s case he’s talking about the futility of life in light of his wife’s suicide. But Africans can look at the G8 nations’ continuing inability to effectively aid the continent in the same light.

Or, to put it another way, it seems as if the G8’s most recent talks in Germany were very similar to the ones two years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland - all talk, no action.

The nations pledged to raise spending on foreign aid to 0.7-percent of GDP – to date only two, the UK and Japan, are on target.

Think on this: the central complaints regarding the latest $60 billion aid package proposed by the G8 are a) a great deal of the money targeted at fighting diseases like HIV/AIDS and Malaria has already previously been announced, so it’s not the windfall that it first seems, and b) the G8 nations have somewhat conveniently neglected to construct any firm timeline on how this money is to be spent. Or, for that matter, exactly where or precisely on what.

It looks to this paper as if the developed world wants to say the right things, but avoid actually making the tough choices involved in both finding the money, and deciding who’ll get it.

And with G8 nations already behind on the pledges made to Africa two years ago in Gleneagles can the continent wait for the world’s "leading lights" to get organised?

Even a nation like Canada, once considered a leader in African Aid matters, was accused by international activist/singer Bono of playing a "blocking" role at the most recent meeting.

While this paper agrees with the Foreign Minister’s assertion that these events are always valuable, and that by keeping "Africa" on the agenda some progress is being made, it is nonetheless a disappointment that despite our politicians’ best efforts, the topic of African Aid was left until the last day of the Summit.

Certainly The Statesman acknowledges the rest of the world may not always see the fate of our peoples as the number one global priority – but that very realisation brings into sharp relief how important it is for Ghana and the whole of Africa to look inwards for solutions.

In addition to the developed world’s unwillingness to say when and how money will get to Africa there are other warning signs pointing very strongly towards the need for the continent to at least partially disentangle itself from international donors.

Currently the world economy is in growth mode. Many of the globe’s major stock-markets have been steadily rising over the past three-to-five years. Prices for commodities from oil, to nickel to copper to uranium have hit multi-year or all-time highs in the past 24 months. And economic growth has been solid in almost every region of the globe, including here in Ghana.

So, what happens when the salad days end, and the world economy slows? If the G8 nations can’t put their money where their mouths are now when things are good, what happens to Africa when money is tight?

The Statesman fears the continent and its needs will become an afterthought, as foreign nations (naturally) scramble to take care of their own. A sharp warning of how close this scenario could be came during the summit. There Rodrigo Rato, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund warned of the "massive rise in risk appetite in financial markets". In other words investors are getting greedy and perhaps stupid. Combine that with Rato’s belief the world’s central banks would be justified in raising interest rates as a pre-emptive measure against rising inflation and you have a classic picture of a world economy ready to burst.

If this is indeed in the cards Africa needs to be ready to push forward with its own initiatives aimed at eliminating poverty and disease.

And finally The Statesman feels that it is important Africans realise that any message gets old. Tales of the plight of our brothers and sisters, no matter how dire, lose their impact when they are repeated over and over again. New problems rise in ascendancy. The fact the topic of African Aid was held until the last day in Germany may be a quirk of scheduling, or it may be evidence that for many in the developed world Africa has lost its status as a cause celebre – perhaps to be replaced by global warming – or by intellectual property rights – or a resumption of hostilities between Russia and the NATO powers (all of which were discussed in Germany this past weekend).

Regardless of the morality of this possible shift in thinking (if indeed there is any) the fact remains Africa must be able to look after itself. And while it is unrealistic to think our people can accomplish this overnight, it is high time we made it the continent’s key goal.

The Statesman urges our own political leaders to make sure the upcoming AU summit here in Ghana serves as the platform to properly launch this unifying idea.