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Africa: Governance and Law

My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, for introducing this important and timely debate with his customary passion and concern. There is no dearth of examples of poor governance and weak rule of law in Africa: from the south, where Zimbabwe as a state has all but collapsed, to the west where Guinea-Bissau has come to a standstill after the killing of President Vieira. Somalia is producing a generation of people who have never known of life under a Government and the Democratic Republic of Congo is now known as the "world war of Africa". This is not to say that the continent is devoid of good governance and a strong rule of law. The new South Africa is a functioning government with a proud record, so far, of democracy. When the ANC lost its faith in former president Thabo Mbeki, he quietly stepped down from office. In 2003, Liberia entered its first period of relative calm in 14 years with the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to the presidency—the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa. The rule of law was further strengthened with the arrest of Charles Taylor and his extradition to the Hague where he is being tried for war crimes committed during the Sierra Leone civil war. Botswana remains a stable constitutional democracy. The 2005 Commission for Africa report concluded that: ""without progress in governance … all other reforms will have little impact"." Good governance, rule of law and development are interlinked and interdependent—without development, government and the rule of law are set to fail and without good governance and a strong rule of law, there will be no worthwhile development. What distinguishes the stable states from those with weak governance and no rule of law? There are external factors, both in colonial times and now: Western corporate complicity in resource-rich developing countries; harmful trade policies; and, among internal factors, there is corruption and leaders more interested in enriching themselves than their people. The imposition of artificial boundaries and borders by colonial powers cut across ethnic divides, produced unequal access to resources and quarantined land-locked countries from development—as a result, competition for resources in many parts of Africa remain rife. The Cold War has also disrupted African development where realpolitik led western countries to support dictators. UK corporations are powerful and many do a great deal of good for the African states in which they operate. However, there is a link between the activities of some of our corporations and the fragility of rule of law in some African states. We need to recognise and address that link. Resource-fuelled wars in Africa have caused the deaths of millions and destabilised entire regions. In Liberia, for example, Charles Taylor funded his political and military ambitions through the Liberian diamond and timber trade. It is essential to make all our multinational corporations partners in Africa’s pursuit of good governance and the rule of law. We also need to address the impact of European and USA trade policies on government and the rule of law in Africa. Trade tariffs, farming subsidies and commodity dumping have made it increasingly difficult for African states to generate healthy and stable economies. Many African states are not able to sell their produce even to their own neighbours who can import products more cheaply from Europe and the USA. This has a crippling effect on African economies and inevitably weakens development and with it good governance and the rule of law. Many African states have to use international aid to subsidise their own agricultural markets, but even then, they cannot compete. In fact, the financial loss caused by farming subsidies is greater than the aid donated by the same subsidising countries. An intelligent reform of subsidies is required: reform that improves the economic viability, both for European and African farmers, and puts an end to the current artificial protectionist market. This was set out in the seventh report of EU Sub-committee D on the future of the common agricultural policy. The UN defines "governance" as the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a company’s affairs at all levels. Corruption is an important part of the governance agenda and tackling the issue is key to improving the way governments in Africa function. Long-term good governance and the rule of law are the main ways to beat corruption. Domestic institutions that are transparent, representative and accountable are the key. These include institutions such as a functioning system of parliamentary committees, a strong audit office and transparency of budgets to ensure that citizens can actively access information, as well as ensuring the participation of civil society, trade unions and parliaments in policy-making processes. Finally, a free and independent media and judiciary are essential. Our Government can contribute to the fight against corruption through vigorously investigating and prosecuting contraventions of our anti-corruption legislation. There has been very little evidence of such vigour in the last few years. More generally, improved institutions will only work if based on a culture of accountability and if active citizens are aware of, and demand, greater transparency. Donors like the UK should provide more financial assistance to civil society groups and parliamentarians to hold their governments to account for decision making. There is no easy or speedy answer to Africa’s many governancy issues and certainly not a simple blueprint of institutions that can be pushed on a country by outside agencies. Good governance took hundreds of years to be achieved in rich countries and is still far from perfect. When the UK was at a similar level of development to many African nations, only one in 10 men were allowed to vote, and these were the richer property owners, and schooling was a distant dream for the majority of children. In Africa, institutions of democracy already are far in advance of this in the majority of the poorest countries. The African Union is moving into new areas which have the potential to augment the rule of law through the establishment of the first pan-African court—the new African Court of Justice and Human Rights innovates in important ways, including its ability to enforce socio-economic and "group" rights. We need to support this court as a nation and show our commitment to the strengthening of the rule of law in Africa. One African country recently demonstrated how strengthening governance can lead to a peaceful transition of power and a more stable political culture. I am referring here to Ghana, a country that last year conducted elections in which the ruling party conceded defeat without violence in a knife-edge election. In Ghana, the steady spread of civil society organisations, along with other checks and balances on state powers such an independent media, is paving the way for a transition towards more accountable and effective government. Through strengthening civil society, taking action on corruption and improving the way donor countries provide development aid and remove obstacles to free trade, Africa will see the emergence of more countries like Ghana.