Rawlings urges African leaders to manage economic destiny

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - Former President Jerry John Rawlings has attributed Africa's current economic downturn to the corruption and unpatriotic nature of some of its leaders. He said: Africa's "lack of national tenacity, accountability and a patriotic fervour," had made the continent vulnerable to the vagaries of global economic challenges.

"Africa has been unable to stay united and assertive because a good number of us in leadership positions, rather than uphold ideals that protects the sovereignty of our countries, have fallen to the dictates of our colonial and development partners and of late through their multi-national organisations that come in with promises of employment, capital and infrastructural development.

"Sadly these investment opportunities fail to benefit the mass of our people because of the political and economic parasites who find themselves at the helm of affairs in our countries," he said.

Flt. Lt. Rawlings who was delivering a keynote address in front of a 3,500 capacity audience on the topic: "The Global Crises, An African perspective," at the 5th Africa Cities Summit in Marrakech, Morocco, said Africa could not complain about the negative effects of globalisation if it cannot improve its corruption ratings.

"Corruption is a major drawback to any developmental process that our continent embraces. Some of us have created a culture of impunity that allows us a right to employ all manner of methods to fleece our countries of its resources. If we cannot improve on the corruption index each year, on what basis do we cry about the negative effect of the global economic crisis?

"The soul of some parts of the continent has literally been sold over a 30 to 50 year period. Ironically most facets of our sovereignty seem to have gone back to our colonial and development partners and some of their corporate entities. "Some of these foreign influences even dictate what political directions we need to take and sadly we have also embraced their cultures with patronising arrogance. "I very much appreciate the fact that we do not live in a vacuum and thus cannot expect to produce everything we require locally, but we have become so obsessed with foreign cultures and regard their adoption as a sign of good quality lifestyle," he said.

Former President Rawlings called for concerted efforts at decentralisation and regionalisation on the continent. He noted that the prescriptions by international financial institutions on the management of African economies had failed the continent. "Corruption is real and if we do not factor this key failure of Africa into our deliberations these next few days and saddle ourselves only with a scientific approach to resolving the effect of the global crises on Africa, we will be doing a great disservice to the continent" he said.

The African Cities (Africities) summit is the most recognised forum for dialogue on decentralisation and local government development on the continent. The event is organised every three years, with more than 5,000 participants drawn from all over Africa and other regions of the world. The five-day summit is on theme: "The Response of African Local and Regional Governments to the Global Crises: Promoting Sustainable Local Development and Employment."