Africa Loses Billions in Illicit Money Laundering
By Nathaniel Daygbor
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki says Africa is losing billions each year to illicit capital outflows in development.
Addressing members of the 53rd Liberian Legislature in a joint session Tuesday in Monrovia, he said that the rate at which Africa loses development money through illegal means is alarming.
“We are losing a lot of this capital that we need as a result of everything we throw out of the continent through illegal means and there is an estimate that the continent loses annually at least fifty billion dollars through illicit capital outflow,” Mbeki notes.
“Now you can compare that to something like US$25 billion that comes into the continent as a result of development assistance.”
He said Africa loses double on what comes in as development assistance as a result of weak systems put in place by African governments and this has prompted finance ministers to start to take actions to curb the situation.
The former President, who is Chairman of the High Level Panel on Illicit Flows of the United Nations Commission for Africa is set to spend four days in Liberia to holding discussions with President Sirleaf and members of the Panel.
He also says African leaders should stop suppressing its citizens, stressing that any government that is engaged in such act might soon lead the country to serious chaos that could create instability.
On Monday, April 29, 2013 Mbeki met with Panel Members at the Royal Grand Hotel in the Sinkor Boulevard before meeting President Sirleaf at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill.
He said the organization was established as a result of a decision of the African Finance Ministers, who realized that the continent faces such development challenges that therefore require all necessary strategies to attend to them.
Meanwhile, Chairman Mbeki will also have a luncheon with the Heads of State of the Mano River Union (MRU) Summit before meeting with the Liberia Chamber of Commerce, the Liberia Business Association and the Liberia Bankers Association later at the Royal Grand Hotel.
The New Dawn (Monrovia)
Africa’s Youth On the Cusp of Change?
By Naomi Conrad
Is a new mindset and political awareness emerging among Africa’s youth? Or is the growth and glitter giving a false impression. Internet-savvy, smart phone-wielding entrepreneurs and activists look for answers.
In a converted hall in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district that once housed a transformer substation, Ghana’s Minister for Youth and Sport, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah has taken control of the microphone. “Do you know this song – The world is not my home, I’m just passing through,” he intones. When the rest of the lyrics start to elude him, he loudly but melodiously fills in the gaps with “Dadadadada.”
Yet the lyrics don’t really matter. The minister for youth, in his mid-forties, has his clear, well-prepared, message ready to deliver. Africa’s young generation should not just pass by and let others decide their lives, but to take action themselves. He raises his hands to the audience and drops them again as he wipes to the next slide on his iPad presentation.
Twin devils
Afriyie-Ankrah is one of Africa’s few youthful ministers. Key positions in politics and economics are still occupied by the older generation, which traditionally denies younger people a say in the running of their affairs.
“For me, I call it the twin devils of religion and culture,” said Yomi Adamolekun, director of Enough is Enough Nigeria, a civil society coalition that focuses on good governance issues.
Will technology and economic growth empower Africa’s youth?
“Both in Christianity and Islam, rarely do you challenge authority, and for most African cultures I know, rarely do you challenge authority. Layer that on to politics and so rarely do you challenge politics,” she said.
The Nigerian is one of a hundred or so young entrepreneurs, activists and artists from Kenya, Ghana and South Africa invited to Berlin by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to discuss the plight of Africa’s youth. On the walls of the Kreuzberg hall are photographs of young people demonstrating, clenching their fists at the camera.
Good governance
Africa’s youth – such was the consensus at the conference – are starting to rebel against the old elite, which has marginalized and ignored them for so long. “People now know, it’s OK to question the old structures,” said Adamolekun. This is because democracy has taken root in many – though not all – African states. The uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East also serve as inspiration.
Adamolekun has firm ideas about what constitutes good governance. Her NGO is launching a campaign directed at 18 year-olds telling them don’t drink and drive, don’t have unprotected sex and do vote wisely. This has not endeared her to those in authority or to those who frequent the mosques or the churches. “I’ve been told a few times that I am under surveillance and had better watch my step,” she says, shrugging her shoulders.
Investors are coming
Africa’s older generation are following the activities of the young very closely. African economies are growing quickly and young people are now better educated. They know their rights and they are demanding them both in politics and business. Mark Kaigwa is a blogger and digital art and technology consultant from Kenya. He said that if he wanted to raise 50,000 euros five years ago, he would have scratched his head and gone through a rolodex. “Today, in a day, I could have 50,000 euros in a bank account, if the idea is good enough,” he said. Investors are coming and they want to get involved early in high-risk, seed-stage companies. They’re in Nairobi, Cape Town, Lagos and Accra.
But outside these cities, it can be hard obtaining financing and the new narrative that focuses on Africa’s young dynamic mobile elite may be dangerously one-sided. “I think Afro-optimism is awesome,” said Kaigwa. “But it may be a little early, there are still obviously some very real challenges in Africa and I don’t want to pass over them,” he said.
“Africa,” he adds, “is not one country and not all glitter and growth.”
Deutsche Welle (Bonn)
Posted by