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STATEMENT
BY K. Y. AMOAKO
UNITED NATIONS UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL AND EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
AT THE NGO/CSO REGIONAL CONSULTATION FOR GOVERNANCE
ON AFRICA ADDIS ABABA, 23 MAY 1997

Ato Dawit Yohannis, Speaker of the House of the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,

Mr. John Tesha, Representative of the Organization of African Unity,

Mr. Aalieu Sallah, United Nations Resident Coordinator,

Representatives of United Nations Agencies,

Distinguished Conference Delegates,

Welcome to the Economic Commission for Africa and to the United Nations Conference Centre. This conference is the first in a series of consultations on governance in Africa co-sponsored by the ECA and UNDP in the context of the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa. The Special Initiative on Africa, or the SIA as it has now come to be known, was launched in March 1996 to maximise the support provided by the UN system to Africa. In so doing, the Initiative has identified and developed a set of concrete programmes that would give practical and co-ordinated expression to the support of the UN system for Africa's development.

You might ask what makes this initiative different from the numerous earlier calls for UN and international action in support of Africa. This Initiative is not merely a call for action by the UN on Africa; rather it is a call to support Africa-determined priorities and efforts and to galvanise international support for their successful implementation. The SIA's thirteen programme clusters focus on:

Human resource development and poverty reduction - through the provision of basic services in education, health, and water, and the promotion of informal sector employment generation;

Urgent survival issues - including food security, drought management, as well as equitable and sustainable water resource management;

Governance issues - including peace-building, conflict resolution, and civil society participation in development;

Structural transformation issues - focusing on internal resource mobilisation, sustainable debt relief, trade access and opportunities, and south-south co-operation; and

Issues dealing with the development of information technology for Africa's development.

For each cluster, specific leadership roles are taken by agencies across the UN System. The Bretton Woods Institutions are full partners in the sharing of responsibilities under this arrangement. As a group, we share the view that there can be no growth and development without peace, and no sustainable peace or growth without the participation of the people.

Our principal aim under the SIA is therefore to foster growth, through sound and effective governance, based on the full input of all segments of society. To this end, the SIA includes three components for strengthening the capacity to govern:

Expanding the capacities for transparent, responsible and effective governance;

Strengthening the capacity of civil society in development, including peace-building; and

Strengthening OAU's capacity for peace-building, conflict resolution, and national reconciliation.

It is within this framework that we are initiating with this conference a series of consultations on governance on Africa. A unique feature of the planned consultations is the emphasis on building partnerships among stakeholders through consensus.

The outcome of the current consultation together with that of the African Governance Forum, planned for 14-15 July 1997 in Addis Ababa, will feed into the International Summit on Governance for Sustainable Growth and Equity on 28-30 July 1997 in New York.

At the mid-July Forum, governments will present programmes and also exchange information and experiences on putting policies and institutions in place for good governance. Representatives from the donor community will also take part in this Forum. We hope that you have the opportunity to share the outcomes of this conference with your government representatives prior to the July Consultations.

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to focus on governance issues as they relate to Africa's economic development challenge. Weak professional and institutional capacity is at the heart of this challenge. And, poor governance is recognised as the root cause of Africa's capacity problems. Here, I am using the word "capacity" to refer to the human resource base, institutions, and practices that enable countries to achieve their development goals.

In general, the social and political upheavals and economic crises in Africa can be largely attributed to these weaknesses. In most countries:

Narrow political considerations have taken precedence over the public interest and broader issues of development;

Power is personalised rather than imbedded in rules and institutions; and

Patronage and corruption pervade administrative and political cultures.

With the increasing number of African countries embarking on economic reforms and political liberalisation, the kneed to address these issues of governance has gained urgency. There is now recognition that good governance is an essential ingredient for democracy and for sustainable development.

What is exciting here is that the wave of democratization, as well as the opening of political systems to greater citizen participation, now offer all of us an opportunity to rethink the approach to capacity building. In fact, many African countries are already trying to redefine the role of government and improving its efficiency, as well as implementing innovative and systematic approaches to capacity building.

Indeed, Africa is today experiencing great opportunities and processes in terms of:

How the frontier of political liberation has been extended;

How the whole issue of accountable and transparent systems of economic management has been placed high on the development agenda;

How the rule of law and fundamental human rights have become topical subjects on the continent; and

How democratic structures are being created across the continent.

These opportunities and efforts are critical to the process of enabling Africans to fulfil their political, economic, and social aspirations. But the can also easily slip-by unless we are ready to exert vigorous and dedicated efforts to ensure that the process of change would be irreversible. That is what this meeting is all about - sustaining this process!

Mr. Chairman,

Let me highlight a few issues of governance related to the capacity to manage the core economic functions of government that merit the attention of your deliberations.

First, good governance requires effective public sector management systems and practices:

Let me take for instance, public expenditure allocating practices. It is not uncommon to observe that budgetary authorizations as sanctioned by cabinets and legislatures generally reflect the relative powers of the line ministries and various levels of government. Yet, it should be a matter of good governance to demand that these authorizations reflect the economic priorities of the society at large.

Another public sector management is the whole issue of civil service reforms. It is generally recognised that a professional civil service is essential both for good governance and as a prerequisite for better economic performance. Active NGO dialogue with government on merit-based recruitment and career growth, security of tenure, political neutrality, and meaningful training and career development could help achieve the required professionalism.

A thorny issue of discussion related to civil service reforms is the whole question of public sector job retrenchments. what is interesting to note form the empirical evidence is that the development impact of improved resource mobilisation and tax administration could far outweigh the gains through traditional retrenchment programmes. Such improvements can be achieved at substantially lower social and political cost than those associated with retrenchments. The consideration of alternative policy options such as this one should also be taken up a governance issue.

NGOs and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) also have a responsibility to require systematic data on the state of the civil service. And in turn, they should make it their duty to review and analyze these data and flag the relevant issues in their dialogue with their governments.

Second, establishing appropriate legal framework for development is also an essential issue of good economic governance. This is a prerequisite for a predictable and stable environment for economic transactions. Important in this regard are objective rules and functioning institutes, which ensure the proper application of such rules.

Third, systems that ensure both economic and financial accountability are also good economic governance requirements. A sound accounting and auditing infrastructure an appropriately trained professionals are crucial prerequisites for such systems.

Fourth, ensuring transparency is also paramount for good economic governance. This can be achieved through rules and regulations that are clear and applied even-handedly, lines of authority that are clear, and information systems that ensure the availability of, and access to, accurate data about the economy, market conditions, and the intentions of government. Such information systems offer the added benefit of improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the private sector, as well as the transparency of decision-making.

I know that many of these issues are interwoven in the agenda for this meeting. In all these areas, NGOs and Civil Society Organizations can advance capacity building by acting as a watch-dog on the state of affairs, requiring systematic collection of information and reporting by government, and advocating for improvements. NGOs and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) should also make it their duty to review and analyze these data and flag the relevant issues in their dialogue with their governments.

In conclusion,

Mr. Chairman,

The United Nations has long recognised the significance of the potential gains for pace and development form active and effective participation of civil society organizations. For our part, we at the renewed ECA are actively integrating NGO affairs into our work programme. Indeed, we are planning to establish a regional centre for the development and networking of NGOs. The centre:

Will provide training and technical assistance in such areas as organizational capacity-building; leadership development; donor linkages, liaison and advocacy with policy makers; networking among local and international NGOs; and dissemination of technical information;

It will issue policy papers and analyses on the state of civil society in Africa; and

It will offer national, subregional, and regional training workshops.

This centre is being established in the context of the UN effort to strengthen the role of civil society in the development process in Africa. Through the activities of the Centre, we hope to foster constructive dialogue between government, NGOs and civil society organizations around the shared objective of serving Africa better. This would be particularly opportune in light of the emerging difficulties in government and NGO relationships and the concerns being articulated about the role, capacity, and effectiveness of NGOs.

We at ECA strongly believe that NGOs and civil society organisations in Africa, if properly nurtured and directed, could play a pivotal role in determining Africa's transition to the twenty-first centaury.

Thank you for your kind attention