Africa and Barack Obama

Many Africans have high expectations from an Obama Presidency. It is very likely that many of those hopes will be disappointed. Many Kenyans for instance will feel a sense of entitlement when they apply for visas at the US embassy in Nairobi after January 20, 2009! Many African leaders will expect easier access and greater assistance from the US government after Obama is sworn in. African NGOs and civil society leaders will assume they can demand stronger support from the US government and its agencies. On the streets, senates and state houses across Africa, many harbour unrealistic hopes that an Obama Presidency in the US will in some way transform Africa and its relationship with America.

The reality is that the greatest transformation the Obama Presidency will carry out will be within the United States. Barack Obama takes office at a time when America is in the midst of serious financial and economic crisis-struggling to free itself from dependence on foreign (middle eastern) oil, facing the necessity of re-thinking its assumptions about the operation of its free market economic system, trying to save its endangered middle class which is reeling under the weight of a mortgage and housing crisis, growing unemployment, stock market declines, a credit squeeze and a looming recession. America must disentangle itself from the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it is currently fighting as well as resolve stand-offs on many other fronts-Iran, Pakistan, Russia, North Korea amongst others.

The US must repair and/or re-define its relationship with its allies in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, try to make peace in the middle-east, deal with global warming and climate change and must try to modernise its education, healthcare, social security and industrial strategy and architecture to deal with the challenges of the twenty-first century. In this myriad, Africa may unfortunately not be a priority for the Obama or any other US administration for that matter. My view is that instead Africa must itself learn the right lessons from the Obama victory and must choose a proactive and effective strategy for engaging with the US government of Barack Obama.

So what are the lessons for Africa from Barack Obama? Africa must create a society that gives opportunity to its own citizens. That requires investments in education, health and social infrastructure. That requires African governments to create a society that does not discriminate against children, women, ethnic or religious minorities and the poor. Africa must deepen its democracy and expand individual freedoms. That requires ideas-based politics, transparent elections and electoral systems, stronger political parties with disciplined and stable membership, internal democracy and popular participation. We must build better societies founded on ethics and a spiritual transformation that rejects wickedness, evil practices and witchcraft.

Our nations must become merit-based societies where people progress on the basis of their character and competence rather than opaque affiliations and nepotism. African societies must become more open allowing dissent and the multiplicity of ideas. The media must be supported to be more effective in its role as guardians of democracy and to become more accountable where they err. And African economies must allow entrepreneurial energies of their people to be released and design economies that are based on free enterprise principles, but with strong regulation, consumer protection and competition. Our economic systems must create jobs for the teeming unemployed and provide social security and public infrastructure (such as public transportation, urban water and rural development) to make things easier for the poor and marginalised. And we must reduce or eliminate corruption and mis-governance.

These are the real lessons for Africa from the success of Barack Obama. It is because of access to education that he and Michelle Obama could attend the best universities in America. It is because the Democratic and Republican parties have strong internal democracy that he could emerge as candidate of his party on the back of young, new voters and raise millions of dollars mostly from average Americans. And it is because of America’s transparent electoral systems that he could prevail in the general election.

So what can Africa realistically expect or demand from an Obama Presidency. I would argue that civil society should not leave African governments to decide our “terms of engagement” with Obama. We should help Obama define his Africa strategy-essentially his objective should be assisting Africa become more democratic, less-corrupt, more accountable to the people, and to offer better economic opportunity and social integration to its people. In effect the US government under Obama should be strongly encouraged to engage directly not just with government but with non-governmental institutions in Africa-the media, educational and religious institutions, civil society organisations, businesses, women groups and labour.

President Obama must nudge African nations towards greater investment in education, health care and disease prevention systems, water, public transportation and infrastructure and generally to raise the standard of living on the continent. He must focus strongly on ensuring free and fair elections and multi-party democracy in Africa and use the strong arm where necessary to compel compliance. Obama must reject the notion of an un-progressive black solidarity in which for instance African leaders refuse to criticise Robert Mugabe’s excesses in Zimbabwe even as he destroys his nation and makes the whole continent look foolish. Obama and the US administration under him must tell African leaders the truth and hold them to the same standards as developed world leaders. The best Obama can do for Africa is to help us improve our capacity to manage ourselves.