NEPAD: Why do the African development programs just fad and die?

The traditional cleavages that were ideological in the past, have become regional, linguistic and even religious today, and are restricting the real development of Africa. The frequency of these divisions has weakened the joint action presumed to tackle the major projects that would generate employment and review the major African issues.

These divisions have created  group dynamics among the various African countries, often between the group of Arab countries (Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Djibouti,  Eritrea, Libya) supported by the Arab League, the Francophone countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon , Gabon, Republic of Congo) and the Anglophone countries  (Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria) about the issue of Darfur, Chad-Sudan relations, the deployment of peacekeepers…

Therefore, the priorities are different, and that of the African development, supposed to constitute the framework for Africa and the international partnership, is even more.

Currently, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) appears as an ambitious program in the light of past trends and future projections. It has been the creation of some few African leaders, but did not yet reach an exhaustive public debate and some degree of consensus. It lacks credibility and legitimacy vis-à-vis the various African states and civil society actors, indeed victim of the regional, linguistic and religious divisions… The rate of growth of African economies remains poor while poverty is worsening.

NEPAD is a long-term horizon and emphasises on the contribution of the private sector through small and medium enterprises, but also the large ones. The private sector is the powerhouse of any sustainable development process, going through the identification, the evaluation and the funding of any proposed primary or complementary project. But since the 1970s, fifteen different programs (Projects) have been created, dealing with the African development, but just turned in failure, ending the life expectancy of any African development program. Specialists and experts in the fields of development and economic growth are wondering about the future of NEPAD. Their questions are reflected in the following findings:

– The targeted growth of 7% seems too ambitious and too far to reach compared to the actual growth rates of 3 to 4%.

– The priority given to infrastructure funding requires not only investment but also consideration of recurrent costs in the current budgets.

– The focus is on exports as a growth factor. However, only a significant rise in range from one side, and a diversification of exports on the other side, can foster sustainable growth.

– The annual funding requirements to ensure the objectives of NEPAD are estimated at 60 billion dollars, more than twice the annual amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and FDI’s enjoyed by Africa.

– NEPAD is supposed to be created for Africa as one  bloc; however, it is doubtful that the relations are effective between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and among the major African powers that are particularly South Africa and Nigeria, and “small” states.

– NEPAD refers to formal organisations, so that we know the many limitations that are theirs…

It becomes legitimate to wonder again if NEPAD is not only one more faded continent’s development program since its inception in 2001.

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