WEAN THE NATION OF WORLD BANK CONDITIONALITIES-OFFMAN

9/27/07
Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
A former President of Mauritius, Mr Karl Auguste Offman, has urged the government to wean Ghana from the conditionalities of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rely on the country’s natural resources and expertise to develop the nation.
He asked the government to tell the WB and the IMF not to impose any conditionalities on the country whenever they were extending financial assistance to the nation, since the conditionalities mostly went contrary to the country’s development needs.
Mr Offman, who was delivering a special public lecture at the University of Ghana, Legon, on Wednesday, said the success story of Mauritius was made possible by the firm decision of that country’s government not to accept any conditionalities from the IMF and the WB whenever they were offered financial assistance.
His 50-minute lecture on, “Outlook for Africa: Possibilities of Social and Economic Development for Our Time and Future Generations”, which he delivered extempore, was greeted with a standing ovation by the students and dignitaries, including the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who was the guest of honour; the former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings; the Chairman of the University of Ghana Council, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi; the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Clifford N.B. Tagoe, and the Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies, Prof Joseph R.A. Ayee.
Mr Offman is being hosted by the University Of Ghana as part of the African Presidential Archives and Research Centre (APARC), a Boston University-based research centre which brings together former democratically elected African Heads of State, public and private sector experts, as well as faculty and students of selected African and US universities to deliberate on issues affecting Africa’s democratisation and free market reforms.
Mr Offman noted that God had blessed Ghana with mineral and natural resources, as well as fertile land, fish-endowed sea and educated people, and wondered why the country was still underdeveloped.
He urged Ghanaians not to be doubtful about the future of the country, saying, “You have everything that God can bless a country with.”
Besides, Mr Offman said, the country was enjoying political stability and economic growth, while the conflict situation on the continent had also reduced significantly.
He asked the government to invest in education and small-scale industries.
Mr Offman said Ghana and Africa as a continent could take the good aspects of Western democracy but should not necessarily adopt the whole system, since Africa’s system was different from that of Europe.
He asked Ghana to take a cue from the rapid development of China, with its huge population of about 1.3 billion, based on its communist ideology.
Mr Offman said recent trade agreements, such as the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, had no “hope” for Africa.
He, therefore, called for the strengthening of South-South co-operation between Africa and Asia, which he said was significant for propelling the socio-economic development of Africa.
Touching on Mauritius, Mr Offman said his government offered partially free education and totally free medical care to the citizens, created avenues for people to own houses and cut taxes on items such as washing and grinding machines and television to ease the burden on citizens.
He said the government encouraged teamwork for the creation of wealth and shared the wealth among the citizens, indicating that 44 per cent of the national cake was given back to the citizens.
Prof Tagoe, who chaired the function, said the success story of Mauritius could be described as a miracle and noted that Mauritius was about 10 years ahead of Ghana in terms of development.
He stressed the need for Ghanaians to identify their potential and focus on developing that.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi asked the students to be guided by discipline in all their dealings, since that was one of the secrets behind the success story of Mauritius.
Prof Ayee said since its inaugural meeting in 2003, APARC had organised annual conferences, during which a wide range of issues had been deliberated and recommendations made available for the consideration of African governments and their development partners.