adminorganised and be fully informed about issues which affect their lives.
It is in this light that we have decided to explore the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of Governments of National Unity. Our point of departure is that GNUs are a “new institution” on the African continent.
What is worrying is that those who are part and parcel of these governments do not have common interests or a common agenda. It appears that they are following a “political waterlogged path”.
What is interesting is that these GNUs are made up of liberation movements that are symbols of African liberation and dignity and the “new kids on the block”, the so-called champions of the democratisation process bent on a regime change agenda and they mean business. It has indeed become a tag of war, a clash between democratisation and social justice in Africa embedded in possession of our own African resources.
It all amounts to retrogression of the ideals that our fallen heroes all over Africa were fighting for, the negative effects of elite compacts. This is a struggle that has gripped the African socio-economic and political space, a struggle against our own weaknesses. Former political enemies are forced into a marriage of convenience and one cannot help wondering how long that marriage will last given that those in such governments are following different ideologies altogether.
The crux of the matter is that it’s a struggle between an imperialist onslaught to continue controlling and dominating the African space against the pan-African desire to be masters of our own resources. Perkins noted that one of the concepts that has become accepted as the gospel truth is the notion that all economic growth benefits humankind and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits.
This belief has a corollary: that those people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation. The concept is of course, erroneous. We know that in many countries economic growth benefits only a small portion of the population and may in fact result in increasingly desperate circumstances for the majority.
This effect is reinforced by the corollary belief that the captains of industry who drive this system should enjoy a special status, a belief that is the root of many of our current problems and is perhaps also the reason why conspiracy theories abound.
This explains the turmoil that has been experienced in Libya and Ivory Coast, The Democratic Republic of Congo and the economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Amilcar Cabral observed that “no matter how hot the water from the well is, it will not cook you rice.” It is beyond any reasonable doubt that this unfolding GNU phenomenon has got external conditioning, hence why we refer to it as the Devil’s bargain. As a matter of fact it might be attractive if it is only the indigenous inhabitants of a particular country or continent who can transform their own lives and economic standing through their own efforts and sacrifices.
Cabral correctly observed that, “however great the similarity between our cases and however identical our enemies, unfortunately or fortunately, national liberation and social revolution are not exportable commodities. They are a local, national product, determined and conditioned by the historical reality of each people. One cannot help asking what type of a government comes out of these power sharing agreements whereby one group is Afro-centric while the other is Euro-centric.
Jephias Mapuva noted that, “the term government of national unity is a term used to refer to a case in which all the major political parties in a country are part of the governing coalition. GNUs are fragile, acrimonious, usually transitional arrangement with a high risk of disintegrating at the slightest opportunity.” These GNUs are usually characterised by conflict, cooperation and competition.
The idea of Governments of National Unity is the most fashionable option for the continent. The African Union is calling for dialogue and the creation of such a government in Libya. This is another possibility of an all-inclusive government that is if the NTC buys into such an idea. One may ask whose creations are these coalition governments. It is a paralysing paradox but this is one of the greatest challenges facing independent post-crisis Africa.
African leaders must realise that when they are being called to duty, they must show their mantle. They must undertake policies that are beneficial to their own people. External interventions have exacerbated
Africa’s persistent economic and political malaise. Mujaju opined that, an observation of Africa’s crisis denotes that when outsiders get involved whether by invitation or intervention, it can prove to be a hazardous experience. Much of the internal mayhem that countries in Africa are experiencing is a result of deliberate, rationally calculated strategies by the developed world. This is why in politics there are “no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interests.” This is why the strong will always do what they want and the weak will always comply.
The developed countries, who were our erstwhile colonisers, are still the same today as they will be tomorrow. It is only a change of tact. Thinking that they will be more concerned on making sure that Africa catches up with the developed world is simply utopian.
Africa is currently writhing under a neo-imperial onslaught. If the African leaders are not visionary, their own people will never enjoy what rightfully belongs to them. This is why Africa must salute leaders like Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah among others.
If we leave countries to rot, eventually the rot becomes cancerous and comes back to haunt us. GNUs just give breathing space to adversaries, the reason why it can be termed a marriage of convenience.
Though desirable they are only quick fixes to propel a country to move out of a political crisis but are a stumbling block to the democratisation process and indigenisation process. Patronage politics becomes the order of the day, Ministerial posts are given to close allies not because of merit but as reward for continual support with the top brass of the party.
GNUs will continue to be an albatross on civilian populations in Africa. Participants in politics or the ruling elite unite to further their own interests and not of the electorate. These GNUs are becoming a cul-de-sec, a road with a dead end. The ruling elite in these coalition governments are always jockeying for positions.
Political parties that become part of government are not prepared to bury their political differences. They have different political ideologies; the contradictions within the parties in the GNUs have only sharpened their differences. IMF/WB sponsored Structural Adjustment programmes meant economic reforms and political plurality, a regime change agenda meant to stampede the liberation movements from power. Coupled with support that these pseudo-democratic parties get from abroad, they become collective propagandists, collective agitators and collective organisers in the democratisation euphoria being led by western sponsored civil society and labour parties.
On the basis of the foregoing, the enduring characteristic of imperialist supremacy and dominance, whatever its form, is the usurpation by force of the freedom of the process of development of the dominated socio-economic whole. Arguably liberation exists only when the national productive forces have been completely freed from any kind of foreign domination or control.
Cabral contends that, “this means that (we) must bear in mind the essential characteristics of the present-day world economy, as well as experiences already gained in the field of anti-imperialist struggle, the principal aspect of national liberation struggle is the struggle against what is conventionally called neo-colonialism.” This connotes a profound mutation in the process of development of the productive forces, a phenomenon or portent of economic liberation, freedom or liberation in our own thought and action.
This brings in the question of leadership. Clive Gray and Malcolm McPherson argue that given the multitude of problems that bedevil the African continent, even leaders of extraordinary ability and “vision” would find it difficult to guide them rapidly through the required reforms. Greater social stability and freedom from armed conflict can have a bearing on Africa’s development prospects.
Visionary African leaders must adopt policies that will accelerate growth and make the general populace better off. The ‘national cake’ must be redistributed and the economy must not be allowed to go into tailspin.
African governments must undertake policies that are politically feasible. It is a pity that there are some in GNUs who are advocating for economic stabilisation programmes that are led by the international financial institutions. This is synonymous to shooting oneself in the foot.
Economic stabilisation programmes under the direction of the IMF and World Bank has proved to be very disastrous. It is a public secret that the neo-liberal policies of international financial institutions failed to
discharge significantly in the areas of growth and investment and left many African countries “wallowing” in debt.
African economies and societies have been ravaged by SAPs that have been more draconian and unembellished. And this is why Horst Kohler came to the conclusion that, “the motto of more market, less government is too simplistic, markets that operate smoothly need a government with a light touch, but above all one that works.” The truth of the matter is that one cannot learn how to swim in a library but in the water.
Parties that have joined GNUs have not introduced any meaningful changes. And this resonates with Moyo’s observation that GNUs are like a treadmill that is always rooted at the same sport gathering moss. African governments are therefore like wasp’s caught up in a spider web.
First it was slavery, then colonialism followed by neo-colonialism that masqueraded as SAPs, democratisation process and now it is regime change agenda insulated by pseudo-democratic parties. Former liberation movements should “sleep with one eye open”.
Western sponsored political parties that are part of the GNUs are a Western project to induce regime change agendas from within. Sun Tzu aptly warns us that the greatest enemy is the one within. They are arguably imperialist cards that have been “militarised” to cause mayhem and pandemonium so that they can in-turn be aided even violently if opportunities present themselves.
Pan-Africanists must be prudent and pragmatic enough and see to it that they defend the liberation war gains otherwise it will be a matter of going back where we came from. This is the reason why Julius Malema in South Africa is calling for black empowerment to ensure that wealth trickles down to those who are at the bottom of the social ladder.
This is why Fanon concurred with Cabral that the struggle against neo-imperialism is the struggle against those who want to dominate and control Africa’s economic resources politically, an ideological struggle against people’s progress on the path of freedom, sovereignty, independence and justice. This requires leaders who are pan-Africanists at heart, visionary leaders who do not waver, leaders who are there to defend the African thought and action.
Theodore Roosevelt correctly observed that “if there is no war, one does not get a great general and so too, if there is no great occasion, one cannot get a great statesman.” Visionary leaders develop their states for the good of their people. GNUs are certainly not the best for Africa; they must therefore be viewed as transitional arrangements and not candid alternatives.
- Darlington N Mahuku and Bowden B C Mbanje are lecturers of International Relations and Peace and Governance at Bindura University of Science Education.
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