Governments and multinationals must work together to stop illicit financial flowsMistrust between business and government is an abiding constraint on development in Africa. The African Union (AU) and other state-driven organisations often say the private sector should drive growth in African economies and that the continent’s states should establish frameworks for business to succeed – but in reality, it hardly happens this way.The AU and its member states see the state as being central to development. Meanwhile, big business, particularly western multinational corporations (MNCs), is often vilified in Africa as an exploitative and anti-development force – and a lingering legacy…
Dianna Games
The rise of non-communicable diseases in Africa adds to COVID-19 stress The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has highlighted Africa’s vulnerability to disease in an unprecedented manner, laying bare years of under investment in public health facilities and systems. As infection rates ratcheted up across the world, African governments scrambled to patch up dilapidated public infrastructure and build capacity to prepare for an expected tide of coronavirus patients. The fear among international analysts and observers was that Africa would be far worse hit than many other regions because of its fragile health systems and its high disease burden, which made Africans…
A real conundrum for a flawed project Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy in GDP terms, is one of the most underpowered countries in the world. With a population of nearly 200 million people, years of dysfunction in the power sector means that Nigeria has one of the lowest electricity per capita rates in the world at 150 kilowatts per hour. In the second-largest economy, South Africa, the per capita consumption is nearly 4,500 kw/h. About 47% of Nigerians do not have access to grid power, and those who do have access have regular power cuts, according to World Bank (2020). A combination of infrastructural decay, corruption, inefficiency and a lack…
African airlines: the good and the bad A history of government interference in African state-owned airlines has led to inefficiency and unsustainable debt levels, but Ethiopia’s done it differently Running an airline is a complicated and expensive business. Pundits argue it is best left to those who know what they are doing. But governments across Africa seem to disagree, with most refusing to relinquish the reins of state-owned enterprises and, in most cases, compromising their ability to succeed. The African aviation space has been dominated by state-owned airlines over decades, and the continent is littered with the carcasses of many…
Africa: corruption The tide of corruption that has swept the continent may be ebbing as governments and Africans are investing more in their own countries By Dianna Games The issue of corruption does not often make the headlines any more in Africa, or for that matter in South America. This is not because it doesn’t exist, but because it has become part of the fabric of society. So far as Africa is concerned, it is certainly true that of the 20 countries ranked lowest on the 2015 Transparency International (TI) Index, 10 are from this continent. Chantal Uwimana, the organisation’s…
African states and multinational corporations must trust each other in order to stop illicit financial outflows, and spur growth and development
