In Brief: •Rwandan officials outside the mining sector need to become more actively involved with the new Mining Policy for its effective implementation. • Minerals based industrialisation may not necessarily follow the pathways defined so far by the African Mining Vision (AMV, 2009) but still achieve its wider goals. • A full diagnosis of the […]
Reminders of how our goldfish global world operates
Early lessons of 2016 A decade or so ago, under the umbrella protection of national sovereignty, a citizen can be imprisoned without trial, executed summarily, entire ethnic groups deprived of basic human rights, and the only consequences internationally would be mere condemnation and a few articles in the press. Not so nowadays. Not only can […]
The Looting Machine
Have just completed The Looting Machine – Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth by Tom Burgis. This is a must read for all who love Africa. It provides dates, names, amounts and reveals the extent of looting going on in mineral-rich African countries.. If you have high blood pressure, keep water […]
Ebola’s Lessons
This Foreign Affairs article from Laurie Garrett on how Ebola journeyed through West Africa focuses on Liberia and is a good read. Striking though, is the revelation that the epidemic was on the decline by the time the American troops arrived. This is hardly publicized by the media, depriving the Liberians and their partners of […]
IGC’s Africa Growth Forum
Am in Addis at the IGC’s Africa Growth Forum. Had the chance to listen/learn from one of the architects of the country’s economic transformation underway. Some tough choices had to be made, corresponding to the clear long term vision of a determined leadership. Party politics do not interfere with that vision. 11% growth rate over […]
Policy dilemmas and alternatives in a post-Ebola Economy
Sierra Leone’s economic performance in the three years preceding the Ebola outbreak was impressive. The decline in iron ore prices occurred at the same time and wreaked further havoc to the economy. Paradoxically, some of the consequences were off-set by the Ebola dividend—budget support, limited debt relief, and more aid from donors including the IMF, […]