Global Policy Forum

By Brighton Phiri

Global economic and trade conditions are definitely against developing countries, Zambia's first Republican president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda has said. Speaking at the Business Forum of the University of South Florida, Tampa City, USA, Dr. Kaunda who is also the first Lloyd Balfour African President in Residence at Boston University, said with unfair conditions it was not possible for Africa to compete successfully in the global economy. "What we purchase from the industrial world, we pay through the nose.

The commodities and products we produce and sell are made to be sold at give-away prices," Dr. Kaunda said. "It means we must keep on sweating and extracting very hard because the prices are poor.

When buyers and investors get our raw materials, they make money for themselves and leave Africa with almost nothing. Protectionism against us is rife." Dr. Kaunda said developing countries' economic woes were worsened by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions. He said African leaders were concerned that the advances they made on people's access to basic needs, just after independence, were regressing.

"Almost every leader with appreciative intelligence has complained about the economic policy conditions of IMF and creditor governments," Dr. Kaunda said. However, Dr. Kaunda expressed his happiness with current World Bank president Dr Wolfensohn, and the new IMF managing director's leaders saying they seem to be listening to the voices of the many thousands of protesters and demonstrators.

He said globalisation was good if it was considered as a process of the human family working across artificial barriers. "However, the reality is that so far, for Africa, what is being called globalisation has been unfair on us," he said.

Dr. Kaunda complained that Africa had been put on the margins because, like during times of slavery and colonisation, its economies were being made to serve the interests of the industrial world. He said the industrial world could not prosper at the expense of other parts of the world. "To advance, we must avoid Africa being enslaved again," Dr. Kaunda said. "The human family can only advance collectively if there are fair relations for all its members."

Dr. Kaunda said in order for Africa to be a strong and fair part of the world, it needed fair trade. He said Africa needed to be allowed to implement policies which were relevant to its needs. Dr. Kaunda said many policies being forced on Africa by the financial institutions were not sustainable for the continent and the world.

"We need to trade as you would trade with your brother and sister," Dr. Kaunda said. "Of course, as others, we need good technology. This is technology which is good, safe, relevant, and not dirty." Dr. Kaunda said Africa still held eco-systems which were vital for the world. "We must therefore, be able to do economic activities in an environmentally and socially sustainable way," he said.

Dr. Kaunda said the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and Africa's partners had big challenges of dealing with Africa's past disadvantages. He called for the removal of systems and practices that slowed down Africa's advances for a stable place in the world economy. "We must make sure that new finance and investment is not dependent upon conditionalities which, as in the past, create instability and problems that live on for long and are still with us today," Dr. Kaunda said.

"We must ensure that economic activities do not create gender imbalances as the IMF programmes have done." Dr. Kaunda said as the world implemented NEPAD, there was need to consider Africa's experiences that should include the previous economic plans. Dr. Kaunda said civil wars and their causes needed to be dealt with if Africa was to advance economically and in peace.

He said bad economies could lead to armed conflict and civil wars just as civil wars led to bad economies. Dr. Kaunda cited southern Africa's fight against Apartheid and racism as among the wars that left southern African countries' economies shattered through bombings, economic sanctions, and loss of human life. He said southern African countries were also forced into debt because of the struggle against the racial injustice.

"We lost economic opportunities. Yet we have not had sufficient practical international support for the rehabilitation of our economies because of the impact of the repression and war-machinery of apartheid and racism," he said. Dr. Kaunda said all economic policies should take into account the impact of HIV/AIDS.

"Let us have fair trade. Let us have fair economic conditions. Allow us the space to create appropriate policies. When you invest in Africa or do business with us, please think of the environment and workers," Dr. Kaunda said.

"Please think of practices that will not worsen the HIV/AIDS situation in Africa. In short I am asking for ethical business. We are all members of our one world. We are all our brother and sister's keepers. Let us advance together."

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