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Building capacity to help Africa trade better

Industrialisation needs effective pan-African parliament

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Industrialisation needs effective pan-African parliament

Industrialisation needs effective pan-African parliament
Pan-African Parliament. Photo credit: moonofthesouth.com

It is in the hands of the continent to initiate its own strategies to promote intra-Africa trade and industrialisation, writes Zwelethu Madasa.

On November 20 each year the international community celebrates Africa Industrialisation Day. It is time when governments and other organisations examine ways to stimulate Africa’s industrialisation process.

It was at the 25th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 1989, that November 20 was declared Africa Industrialisation Day.

On December 22, 1989, the UN General Assembly also proclaimed this date Africa Industrialisation Day. This is not a public holiday, but a day of global observance. This year the UN Industrial Development Organisation marked Africa Industrialisation Day for November 22 with the theme “Job creation and entrepreneurship”.

It is no coincidence that industrialisation and intra-Africa trade were both estimated at 12 percent in Africa. There would be no meaningful industrialisation without increased intra-Africa trade. All African countries, for historical reasons of colonialism, are trading with the north rather than with each other or with Asia.

Now, with the strong emergence of China as a strong global economy, that is somewhat changing.

Many commentators have correctly identified myriad obstacles to African industrialisation and intra-Africa trade, ranging from poor infrastructure to bad governance, conflicts, and so on.

However, little attention has been paid to the fragmented nature of the legal framework that is necessary to create a conducive climate for sustainable investments in Africa. Many countries in Africa either have no laws that govern how industries could be established and developed, or the regulatory framework that exists is radically different from country to country, making it difficult to establish industries with a continental market in view.

When we talk about African industrialisation we have to do so in the context of economic integration and not look merely at individual countries in Africa.

Africa’s industrialisation ought to facilitate more integration for economies of scale and shared development benefits.

Any development that has a consequence of reconfiguration of Africa’s political landscape, albeit unwittingly, will be detrimental to the continent’s long-term developmental goals.

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), as a continental parliamentary body established to promote popular participation in AU affairs, is the suitable vehicle to harmonise the legal framework in the different member states of the AU.

Many potential investors in Africa require a predictable regulatory framework that protects investments in a harmonised way across African political borders for easy market access and sustainable investment.

The PAP has a mandate in accordance with its founding protocol to facilitate sustainable investments in Africa through harmonisation of laws and building capacity of national and regional parliaments to enact laws that will foster Africa’s industrialisation and intra-Africa trade.

Only this past week, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government during the 23rd AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, approved the revised protocol of the PAP. The protocol transforms the PAP from an advisory and consultative body to a legislative body of the continent with competence to legislate for the states in areas determined by the Assembly of Heads of States and Government.

The approval of the revised protocol will empower the continental parliament to contribute to the integration of the continent by proposing model laws that would facilitate free movement of goods, services and people across the continent to ease intra-Africa trade.

Greater intra-Africa trade is an essential condition for increased manufacturing and employment to eradicate poverty.

With this historical decision, nothing precludes the PAP from proposing draft model laws for adoption by the assembly of the AU in defined areas that would facilitate Africa’s industrialisation and intra-Africa trade.

For, example, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) heads of state meeting has in the past agreed to designate certain countries as champions to promote specific Nepad projects.

South Africa is the champion of rail and road infrastructure from Cape to Cairo, Nigeria is the champion of the gas pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria and Rwanda is the champion of information and communications technology development in Africa, among other champions. It is trite that these projects will require regulatory reforms to be able to be implemented, including public consultation to promote ownership by the people.

Only parliaments at national, regional and continental level, as representatives of the people, could effectively facilitate the implementation of these Nepad projects that are critical for Africa’s industrialisation and job creation.

The PAP has 10 thematic committees that mirror those at national level. The PAP, in collaboration with the current leadership of the AU Commission, has agreed to align these committees to the mandates of the departments of the commission.

Therefore, there is now a sufficient framework for the PAP, in collaboration with the departments of the commission and relevant standing committees at national and regional parliament, to propose model laws that would accelerate the implementation of Nepad projects. The committee of PAP on communications, especially the members of parliament from Rwanda, could do a follow-up on what the obstacles are that have delayed the government of Rwanda in initiating work to start its Nepad undertakings. The committee on infrastructure could discuss ways to draft a model law to facilitate the building of the bridge over the Congo River linking Kinshasa to Brazzaville, another Nepad project.

The committee of the PAP on infrastructure working with its South African Parliament counterpart could monitor the implementation of the Nepad project Pretoria is championing.

The implementation of all these projects is a matter of initiatives and, if started, it could trigger many prospects for industrialisation and intra-Africa trade.

There are also many international and bilateral agreements concluded by the AU Commission and external governments designed to spur industrialisation in Africa.

The PAP Committee on International Relations could initiate a study of these agreements by research institutions and look at ways that they could be unlocked to promote Africa’s industrialisation.

The PAP could also monitor the implementation of AU decisions that are a catalyst to trigger increased industrialisation.

For example, the Maputo decision that requires member states of the AU to designate 10 percent of their GDP to agricultural initiatives could go a long way to promote industrialisation in agriculture if implemented.

There are also many bilateral agreements between member states of the AU that are not implemented, but could encourage increased industrialisation. For example, in the early 2000s, the governments of Botswana and South Africa indicated that they had agreed to ensure that diamonds are polished in Africa instead of exclusively in India, to promote industry and job creation in this sector.

There are no signs that this agreement was implemented, as diamonds are still polished almost exclusively in India and not in Botswana, Namibia, Angola, DRC, Zimbabwe or South Africa.

The absence of serious efforts by the AU member states to initiate beneficiation projects from natural resources is a major obstacle to industrialisation in Africa.

The PAP and counterpart parliaments have a huge role to monitor these agreements for effective implementation. However, the PAP will require serious efforts of collaboration with institutions of research to have capacity to do this enormous task.

While Africa should welcome serious deliberations and statements of support from the international community for Africa’s industrialisation, we should not lose sight that countries are not in the business of moral support towards Africa, but are pursuing their national interest.

Evidently, the spirit of international human solidarity has dwindled in the 21st century and the global economic crisis has not made things easy for Africa.

Therefore, it is in the hands of the continent to initiate its own strategies to promote intra-Africa trade and industrialisation. It seems counterproductive for member states of the AU, for example, to develop national plans for development, without a strong link to regional and continental economic integration strategies.

South Africa, in particular, has an important role to discourage investors from using it as merely a stepping stone towards accessing the continental market.

Pretoria should adopt a robust approach to plan in such a way as to integrate its development goals to the regional and continental economy shared development. The South African economy, though a giant in Africa, is insignificant alone in the global economy.

However, our national economy is a critical engine for growth in the context of the regional and continental economy if it is fully integrated with the continent.

PAP’s new assignment of legislative powers must propel it to start its role to develop model laws to promote Africa’s industrialisation. The AU has a duty, though, to assist the PAP by assigning more powers in agreed areas to ensure increased harmonisation of the legal framework across borders within Africa.

Advocate Madasa is secretary-general of the Pan-African Parliament. He writes in his personal capacity.

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.

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