Bush's Special Assistant Talks at Africa Day Ceremony

In a lecture that was provoking on a large canvass, Dr. Jendayi E. Frazer, Special Assistant to President George W. Bush Jr., said while there was no doubt about the continental ownership of the New Partnership for Africa's Development(NEPAD), it should go beyond a talking shop with Africans being seen as departing from dependency on development assistance.

Whether from the United States or elsewhere, development assistance should be 'used to move out of such relationship.'

Before an audience that included African ambassadors, academics and media people, Dr. Frazer, who spoke on The African Union and its Intiative on the New Partnership for Africa's Development at the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, DC also requested the elite congregation to re-define what the 'Partnership' in NEPAD 'means in terms of its effects' on United States' relationship with Africa.She confessed discomfiture with the word's ambiguous usage.

In a rhetorical sense she asked, 'Is it a partnership where Africa sets up a vision and America is supposed to fund it?'

'If so', she explained, 'it will not fly on the basis of partnership.' Developing her arguments to a level of mutual benefits, Dr. Frazer, who is also the Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council went on to say that Africans and Americans should rather pursue common interests among which are : placing the individual in the centre of development, promoting health and education, the right of livelihood which leads to economic development (and endorsing what she said he learnt from the First Lady of Ghana Mrs.Theresa Kufuor) 'an independent adult.'

Even as she admitted the damage of colonial rule on the African economy, Dr. Frazer's opinion is, 'it is time Africa took control of its own natural resources and think more of the present. The Bush Administration is looking more at the present then the past.' However, not all of her arguments and exhortations went unchallenged. Mr. Charles L. Fields, President of International Business Development in Sub-Sahara Africa has over 40 years experience doing business in Africa. He, like other ambassadors thought the ambiguity that underlined Dr. Frazer's definition of 'partnership' in NEPAD in relation to the United States ' is a lack of fairness in international trade.'

While Africans are being advised by the IMF and World Bank not to subsidize farmers, the West or developed countries do that to their farmers making it difficult for African farmers to compete in the global market. The Africa Growth and Opportumity Act which is often cited for good intentions, is only an oppotunity which does not work without fairness.

These dissenters argued that the actions of the developed countries in determining the prices of Africa's raw materials and the finished products they acquired from these raw materials do not help Africa in anyway.

Speaking on The African Union and NEPAD: A Congressional Response, The Hon. Donald Payne, Ranking Member, House Sub-Committee on Africa of the U.S. House of Representative was more optimistic. Africa, Dr. Payne, who is celebrated in the African political community in Washington, DC and beyond , said, 'is beginning to show up in the radar screen of the United States more then before'. Africa needs to take advantage of this new U.S. found interest in the world because of the problems afflicting all.

' The $15b given to Africa to combat HIV/AIDS is a window of opportunity. We should make good use of it since a window of opportunity is good as long as it is an open window but we know windows can also close' he explained.

These views did not end the Africa Day celebration on May 22 a day declared by the African Union to reflect on events and strategies for Africa's development.The day, which is observed as a public holiday in many African countries including Ghana, was used by The African-America Institute, one of the oldest American non-governmental organizations working on African policy issues and The African Ambassadors Group, to do just that.

His Excellency Amaddou Kebe, Ambassador and Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations said NEPAD has since its inception evolved into three phases:

a)Finalization of the vision and policy framework document adopted by the OAU summit in 2001 in Lusaka.

b)Establishment of Heads of State and Governments Implementation Committee(HSIC) with the mandate of further developing the program. The HSIC prepared the NEPAD Initial Action adopted by the African Union Summit in Durban in July 2002.

c)The implementation of sectorial plans that had been prepared which apart from good governance include combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and strengthening of the health system; agriculture along the lines of sustainable land and water management, improvement of rural infrastructure and access to markets as well as development of food security and technology; access of African products to the global markets; necessary actions to ensure free primary education for all by 2015; acceleration of construction of main, national and trans-border infrastructures covering energy, transports, water, sanitary installations and information communication and technology.

In an overview of the African Day, the Dean of African Ambassadors Corps, His Excellency Roble Olhaye, Djibouti's Ambassador to the United States said ' Africa represents the next great market.'

Mr. Isaac Aggrey, Acting Ghana's Ambassador to the United States and Deputy Chief of the Mission who welcomed the audience to the Embassy led a minute silence in memory of Walter Sisulu, the South African freedom fighter who passed away in early May and also the hundreds of people who lost their lives in Algeria last week to an earthquake.

Other topics treated included Civil Society Participation in NEPAD by His Excellency Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanike, Zambia's Ambassador to the U.S.; The African Peer Review Mechanism by Dr. Michael Nwanze, Director, Seminars in Diplomacy, Howard University; Conflict Management, Prevention and Resloution:The Peace and Security Council by Dr. Jeremy Levitt, Director, Program on International Law; Policy and Africa, Depaul University and NEPAD Infrastructure Projects: Opportunities for Doing Business by Dr. Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard, lead specialist, Infrastructure, The World Bank.