No African country immune from collapse - Asante

Accra (Greater Accra), 23 Nov. 1998 - No country in Africa is immune from the threat of collapse, Nana Dr S. K. B. Asante, a renowned international legal expert, has stated.. He said there is no room for complacency for African states currently enjoying some amount of stability since "the situation is so fluid and complex that the process of collapse, retrogression and reconstruction can never be properly differentiated." Dr Asante was delivering an address in Accra on : "Beyond state collapse in Africa: lessons for the future", to round-off a five-day lecture marking the 39th anniversary of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. The lecture was under the theme, "The notion of the state in contemporary Africa". Dr Asante mentioned failure to maintain law and order, provide national defence and establish a framework for managing economic transactions as the major causes of ''state collapse''.. Dr Asante said state collapse is not a sudden malfunction but a slow degenerative disease which may be arrested and reversed if appropriate remedial action is taken. "On the other hand, if unchecked, the process may proceed inexorably until the stage of total collapse which poses formidable challenges of rehabilitation, reconstruction or restoration", he added. He noted that state collapse in Africa has led to disintegration and a halt in development which bear heavily on stability, productive capacity and human life. More alarming is its effects on neighbouring states including refugee pressure and population displacement. Dr Asante stated that state collapse is worsened by forces that acquire vested interests in the perpetuation of anarchy through looting, protection rackets, drug trafficking and plundering of natural resources. He was of the view that globalisation and regionalism cannot reverse state collapse since "the underlying causes of state collapse will not evaporate with the proclamation of a regional structure." Dr Asante pointed out that the only way to avoid state collapse is through "vigilance, resolution and a sustained programme of reinforcing statehood." He called for pluralism where nationalities, ethnic or religious groups, classes or regions will be granted equal attention and access to state resources. "Maintaining legitimacy, which derives from good governance, is also crucial to the prevention of state collapse", he said. Dr Asante said there is also the need for a strong civil service immune from the excesses of political partisanship and well-placed to continue important functions of government even after the collapse of a particular regime. There should also be a formidable civil society that can rally to rehabilitate a faltering state.