Development Jamboree in Ghana.
The quest for Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I believe is the dream of every well meaning African, especially those of the South of the Sahara (Black Africa), indeed an end to Genetically Induced Poverty, Chronic Corruption, an end to preventable Diseases, famine, Starvation, an end to Child and Maternal mortality, an end to gruesome domestic violence against women, active participation of women in decision making , an end to deliberate environmental degradation, an end to a Senseless wars , conflicts, dehumanization and indeed continental and global harmony among nations, in Africa and beyond is indeed a welcome development, which we all yearn for as well meaning people .
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, leaders of all United Nations member states (Heads of States) agreed on a set of eight (8) goals with a target year date of 2015 to guide global development in the 21st century. What have become known as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, include: halving extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and gender equity, reducing under-five mortality and maternal mortality by two-thirds and three-quarters respectively, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and ensuring environmental sustainability.
Unfortunately, after this humble declaration, Africa has resort to achieve the MDGs, through series of Conferencing, Workshops, Talk-shop Chop-shops etc, indeed so far Africa, has the best of Theoretical Action Plans on beautiful papers, geared towards achieving the MDGs, however lacks the Practical Actions Plan (Field World). In other wards I believe that very few African countries are attempting to do better than majority of their peers, not even to talk of the Maghreb, in the North of Africa, they are quiet better off with their Oil wealth. It is indeed frustrating to the extent that in Addis Ababa, 3 April 2007: A Sudanese economist participating in the Economic Commission for Africa's Conference of Ministers, Dr. Wani Tombe Lako , said in Addis Ababa on Friday that at the current pace, it was unrealistic for African countries to imagine that they could achieve the MDGs, "even in 100 years".
Initially I thought he was pessimistic but considering the current trend in government, civil society and the so-called youth front, I am convince to agree charitably with him, In an interview with the Information and Communication Service of ECA, Dr. Lako said that poverty and hunger in Africa might double by 2015 and that until "we change people's thinking; the thinking of ministers and decision makers, nothing will progress". He said most African countries had not made progress in gender equality and women's empowerment, and that Africans were still living "in an ocean of poverty" "Social transformation and attitudinal change take a long time," said Dr. Lako, adding that it took Europe over 1000 years to influence European thinking and to be where they are now".
He called for a redefinition of Africa's indicators of growth. "We should be modest and define our growth based on what happens to human person in Africa and to human development index like primary education, child mortality. Conversion to money should be secondary," he said. He said while conferences were good for budgets, employing more staff and increasing income, they were not good for human development. He called on African countries to put more premiums on identifying the causes of rural poverty rather than talking about Growth Domestic Product (GDP).
‘We talk of water and sanitation problem in our continent while we only use four per cent of our water due to inappropriate allocation of contracts to dubious firms, corruption and selfishness," he said Our bane as Africans is from the top leadership and down to the citizenry,
I have always insisted that is attitudinal, and not until we change our attitude we can never change what we are doing, Ghanaians have talked so much on the MDGs, organizing colorful meetings, seminars, and talk-shows, without placing much emphasis on the Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSPs) which is the practical framework geared towards achieving the so-called MDGs.
I think that there must be political will from the political leaders of our land with practical and technical approach to development with greater attention to the grass-roots, and also a serious commitment from youth groups, NGOs, and the CSOs, the earlier we collectively start doing something in our humble corners the better, we are all guilty and to be blamed should we failed to achieve the MDGs which in all honesty without any prejudice whatsoever, am quiet pessimistic of.
One of the solutions is to do away with the series of unnecessary conferencing in the name of MDGs, though I agree that we need brainstorm so as to arrive at a consensus, build a road map towards development, but then the talking has been long overdue.
Personally, I have vow to attend any so-called workshop or conference on MDGs, because my conscience does not allow me to engage in this unrealistic developments, we seems to be deceiving ourselves here, and we are also contributing in looting the limited state resources by attending this charade. At these meeting we talk big, eat and drink big, receive big applause's for making sugared inputs.
I believe that the funds wasted on Accommodation, Feeding, Transport reimbursement for both Resource persons and Participants during these meetings can be used to buy School uniforms, Bags, Pair of shoes, for thousand of destitute children in the deprived rural communities in an effort to creating an enabling environment/conditions for them to enroll in school, since capital grant seems to be working now, all around Africa, when this is done I believe would partly go along way to achieve Goal 2 of the MDGs, this is practical and workable, and is quiet easy to be done, also why can’t we buy farming tools and equipment's for our poor farmers in the villages, to boost their harvest, to partly achieve goal 1,this action when continued would make a headway in our efforts to achieve the MDGs, which I can consider to be a dream.
Am not being simplistic on this assumptions in anyway, but then I see reality in doing so. After all these meetings, it ends there, the only thing that comes up is developing of Memorandum, and Communiqués, 100s of which is lying on the shelves, of various the Ministries ,Agencies and Department (MDAs) gathering dust, the Briton Woods Institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s) must seize funding project in Africa which has no practical developmental impact to the people.
This is really a test of time to African government and citizens to prove their lots, nobody would come and do it for us, for once we should also do our own thing and be proud of it, we are all involved, President, Emperor, Carpenter ,Mason, Architect, Farmer, House wives, Youth, Women ,Children, Physically challenged , all and sundry must contribute in their small good way for the betterment of Africa. We have exhausted the paper work a lot; let’s start the practical action now.
Posterity would never pardon us should we fail in this cause of renaissance, and we would be highly indebted to coming generations.
The quest for Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I believe is the dream of every well meaning African, especially those of the South of the Sahara (Black Africa), indeed an end to Genetically Induced Poverty, Chronic Corruption, an end to preventable Diseases, famine, Starvation, an end to Child and Maternal mortality, an end to gruesome domestic violence against women, active participation of women in decision making , an end to deliberate environmental degradation, an end to a Senseless wars , conflicts, dehumanization and indeed continental and global harmony among nations, in Africa and beyond is indeed a welcome development, which we all yearn for as well meaning people .
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, leaders of all United Nations member states (Heads of States) agreed on a set of eight (8) goals with a target year date of 2015 to guide global development in the 21st century. What have become known as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, include: halving extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and gender equity, reducing under-five mortality and maternal mortality by two-thirds and three-quarters respectively, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and ensuring environmental sustainability.
Unfortunately, after this humble declaration, Africa has resort to achieve the MDGs, through series of Conferencing, Workshops, Talk-shop Chop-shops etc, indeed so far Africa, has the best of Theoretical Action Plans on beautiful papers, geared towards achieving the MDGs, however lacks the Practical Actions Plan (Field World). In other wards I believe that very few African countries are attempting to do better than majority of their peers, not even to talk of the Maghreb, in the North of Africa, they are quiet better off with their Oil wealth. It is indeed frustrating to the extent that in Addis Ababa, 3 April 2007: A Sudanese economist participating in the Economic Commission for Africa's Conference of Ministers, Dr. Wani Tombe Lako , said in Addis Ababa on Friday that at the current pace, it was unrealistic for African countries to imagine that they could achieve the MDGs, "even in 100 years".
Initially I thought he was pessimistic but considering the current trend in government, civil society and the so-called youth front, I am convince to agree charitably with him, In an interview with the Information and Communication Service of ECA, Dr. Lako said that poverty and hunger in Africa might double by 2015 and that until "we change people's thinking; the thinking of ministers and decision makers, nothing will progress". He said most African countries had not made progress in gender equality and women's empowerment, and that Africans were still living "in an ocean of poverty" "Social transformation and attitudinal change take a long time," said Dr. Lako, adding that it took Europe over 1000 years to influence European thinking and to be where they are now".
He called for a redefinition of Africa's indicators of growth. "We should be modest and define our growth based on what happens to human person in Africa and to human development index like primary education, child mortality. Conversion to money should be secondary," he said. He said while conferences were good for budgets, employing more staff and increasing income, they were not good for human development. He called on African countries to put more premiums on identifying the causes of rural poverty rather than talking about Growth Domestic Product (GDP).
‘We talk of water and sanitation problem in our continent while we only use four per cent of our water due to inappropriate allocation of contracts to dubious firms, corruption and selfishness," he said Our bane as Africans is from the top leadership and down to the citizenry,
I have always insisted that is attitudinal, and not until we change our attitude we can never change what we are doing, Ghanaians have talked so much on the MDGs, organizing colorful meetings, seminars, and talk-shows, without placing much emphasis on the Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSPs) which is the practical framework geared towards achieving the so-called MDGs.
I think that there must be political will from the political leaders of our land with practical and technical approach to development with greater attention to the grass-roots, and also a serious commitment from youth groups, NGOs, and the CSOs, the earlier we collectively start doing something in our humble corners the better, we are all guilty and to be blamed should we failed to achieve the MDGs which in all honesty without any prejudice whatsoever, am quiet pessimistic of.
One of the solutions is to do away with the series of unnecessary conferencing in the name of MDGs, though I agree that we need brainstorm so as to arrive at a consensus, build a road map towards development, but then the talking has been long overdue.
Personally, I have vow to attend any so-called workshop or conference on MDGs, because my conscience does not allow me to engage in this unrealistic developments, we seems to be deceiving ourselves here, and we are also contributing in looting the limited state resources by attending this charade. At these meeting we talk big, eat and drink big, receive big applause's for making sugared inputs.
I believe that the funds wasted on Accommodation, Feeding, Transport reimbursement for both Resource persons and Participants during these meetings can be used to buy School uniforms, Bags, Pair of shoes, for thousand of destitute children in the deprived rural communities in an effort to creating an enabling environment/conditions for them to enroll in school, since capital grant seems to be working now, all around Africa, when this is done I believe would partly go along way to achieve Goal 2 of the MDGs, this is practical and workable, and is quiet easy to be done, also why can’t we buy farming tools and equipment's for our poor farmers in the villages, to boost their harvest, to partly achieve goal 1,this action when continued would make a headway in our efforts to achieve the MDGs, which I can consider to be a dream.
Am not being simplistic on this assumptions in anyway, but then I see reality in doing so. After all these meetings, it ends there, the only thing that comes up is developing of Memorandum, and Communiqués, 100s of which is lying on the shelves, of various the Ministries ,Agencies and Department (MDAs) gathering dust, the Briton Woods Institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s) must seize funding project in Africa which has no practical developmental impact to the people.
This is really a test of time to African government and citizens to prove their lots, nobody would come and do it for us, for once we should also do our own thing and be proud of it, we are all involved, President, Emperor, Carpenter ,Mason, Architect, Farmer, House wives, Youth, Women ,Children, Physically challenged , all and sundry must contribute in their small good way for the betterment of Africa. We have exhausted the paper work a lot; let’s start the practical action now.
Posterity would never pardon us should we fail in this cause of renaissance, and we would be highly indebted to coming generations.
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