Suzane is originally from Uganda and has just completed an MSc in Africa and International Development at Edinburgh University. Before this, she studied Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and Bard College in New York. She has some work experience from interning with Oxfam in Johannesburg and working with the International Republican Institute in Kampala.
Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. This definition includes corrupt practices in both the public and private sectors. In an aim to quantify and compare perceived corruption levels across different countries, TI created the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which ranks countries according to perceptions of corruption in the public sector.
Last week in Tanzania, nearly 100 civil society groups and 12 international organizations, including the International Budget Partnership, Greenpeace, ONE and many smaller organizations from across the globe, launched a global effort to make public budgets transparent, participatory and accountable. Budgets are the most critical tool that governments have to address problems like poverty, provide critical services like education and health care, and invest in their country’s future. When the political speeches end, it is how governments actually manage funds to meet their promises and priorities that matters.
The Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability, and Participation envisions public finance systems that make all budget information easily accessible, provide meaningful opportunities for citizens and civil society to participate in budget decisions and oversight throughout the process, and include strong institutions to hold governments accountable for how they raise and spend the public’s money.
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) released its inaugural special report analyzing the effects of the “Arab Spring” on democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. Unprecedented popular protests in North Africa demanding greater political freedom, dignity and economic opportunity have captivated the world’s attention since they burst onto the global stage in January 2011. The subsequent resignations of long-time autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia, the toppling of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, and a shift toward constitutional monarchy in Morocco have dramatically reshaped state-citizen relations in this long static region.
There has been an unprecedented show of unity in Uganda’s parliament, as opposition and pro-government ministers of parliament (MPs) have joined together to demand a temporary halt in the completion of oil agreements until an independent regulator is established. This move was prompted by a collective sense of suspicion about Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) signed between the Ugandan government and two oil companies, the Italian firm ENI and the Irish company Tullow Oil. Ugandans had hoped that the emerging oil sector would help to create jobs, improve infrastructure and boost the economy. However,as the government continuously refused to make public the details of PSAs, suspicions grew that ordinary Ugandans were not going to benefit from the emerging oil sector.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation works to encourage good governance and leadership in Africa and to put citizens at the centre of governance. The Foundation considers governance to be the single most important issue affecting development in Africa. In an article in the New Yorker, Mo Ibrahim, the Foundation’s founder and ONE board member, puts the blame for the disparity between the riches of Africa and the poverty of many of its people squarely at the door of Africa’s leaders. He cites “a catastrophic failure of leadership and governance…too many dictators, too many megalomaniacs, too many thieves, who bled this continent for their personal and family interest.” Ibrahim’s message is that Africa needs to take responsibility for itself and that getting rid of bad leaders is an important first step.
Mo Ibrahim is often hailed as a hero in Africa. His mobile-phone company, Celtel, has helped to open up communication across the continent, enabling people – civil society activists included – to access and share information. He is now spending the money he earned to try to change the values of African leaders. Each year, he offers the Ibrahim Prize, which bestows five million dollars on an African leader who is elected to office, promotes democracy, does not steal from the people, and transfers power peacefully. The Prize is intended to reward and perhaps to incentivize good leadership. The prize has previously been won by Festus Mogae of Botswana and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. Due to a lack of suitable candidates the prize was not awarded in 2009 and 2010. The 2011 Ibrahim Prize winner is Pedro Verona Pires, former president of Cape Verde. He is credited with steering his country from autocracy to a prosperous democracy and leaving power at the end of his second presidential term. Cape Verde has consistently ranked second on the Ibrahim Index over the past four years.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced earlier today that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 is to be divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. Since her inauguration in 2006, she has contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women. Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war. In the most trying circumstances, both before and during the “Arab spring,” Tawakkul Karman has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.
Johnson-Sirleaf’s son James spoke to Reuters on the phone from Monrovia saying “We are very excited. This is very big news and we have to celebrate.”
It is the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s hope that the prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent.
Please give a warm welcome to Suzane Muhereza, one of our new fall interns. She is working at the ONE office in London and will be assisting the policy team.
People taking control of their own development?
To coincide with its Annual Meetings, the World Bank recently published a report on Open Development, an idea whose time has come. The idea is best captured in the contribution by Rakesh Rajani –- a member of ONE’s Africa Policy Advisory Board and the head of Twaweza -– who explains that “the purpose of development should be not to create and apply expert solutions, but rather to help enrich the conditions in which people can do more of what they already do well. By making it easier to get, compare and share information; learn from each other and from outsiders how they have made things work; search, experiment with and craft solutions; and team up to get things done.” (See also Rakesh Rajani’s inspirational comments at the launch of the Open Government Partnership -– 52 minutes into the video. Or, see a transcript of the talk here.) I explore the concept of Open Development by answering three key questions.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
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People taking control of their own development?
