by Munetsi Madakufamba – SANF 04 no 73
This article is part of our special daily coverage of SADC regional issues at the SADC Summit currently taking place in Grand Baie, Mauritius
GRAND BAIE, 13 August – A lot is expected from the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), generally accepted as the framework within which African countries can address their socio-economic and political problems.
But the current disconnect between the continental programme and regional development organisations such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) threatens its relevance.
The SADC Council of Ministers, which is meeting in Mauritius’ Grand Baie ahead of the Summit of Heads of State and Government on 16-17 August, has lamented the lack of effective coordination between NEPAD and the 13-member SADC.
During a high level dialogue on NEPAD, which has taken place in SADC for the first time, the ministers cited the poor flow of information between the two bodies as one of the critical problems. They noted that very little is known about NEPAD projects in the member states.
A number of pan African projects, especially in the areas of infrastructure and energy, are being developed and funded within the NEPAD framework. A notable example in southern Africa is the West Corridor Power Project, which is aimed at harnessing the large water resources of the Congo River, to produce and supply hydro-electricity to several countries in SADC.
The project will involve the construction of a large dam at Inga in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a 4,000MW transmission line and a telecommunications line. Similar but smaller projects are planned for other parts of southern Africa, and the rest of the continent.
Millions of dollars were recently secured from the G-8 Group of countries to finance various NEPAD projects. However, these funds will remain unaccessed unless information about the purpose for which they were donated is shared with African countries.
“NEPAD should add value to our integration efforts by assisting SADC in mobilisation of resources and strengthening our capacity both at regional and national levels,” said Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who is also outgoing chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers further noted that the objectives and priorities that SADC has set out to achieve under its Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) are similar to those of NEPAD. One such goal is for member states to achieve annual economic growth rates of at least seven percent which is needed to halve the number of people living in poverty by 2015.
NEPAD is coordinated by a secretariat which is currently based in South Africa. The secretariat’s primary responsibility is to provide technical support to member states as well as coordinate resource mobilisation for identified pan African projects.
Four countries officially represent SADC, at head of state level, in the NEPAD implementation committee which is chaired by Nigerian President Olusegan Obasanjo. They are Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. Mauritius, the fifth SADC country on the committee, represents east Africa. (SARDC)
