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Commentary

What characterises the approach of BWI throughout these first 60 years of African

independence has been what can only be described as a ‘boss-centric’ relationship with

African governments.

BWI tells Africa. Africa has to listen. One of the problems of this approach is that BWI

through its structural adjustments and conditionalities has focused on a macro-economic
approach to economic development in Africa. And as a significant number of reports have

shown, this has not delivered the promised reductions in income inequality.

Contrast this with the methods and economic achievements of Meles Zenawi the

Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

(Author : This man was so selflessly devoted to his work that when he died unexpectedly, his
widow had nowhere to live other than the official residence.)
He took over a least developed country after years of bitter civil wars. He had to modernise

and recreate the national economy. And he had to do this in some of the most difficult

circumstances.

Ethiopia is a landlocked country. As with any of Africa’s 16 landlocked developing
countries (LLDC), Ethiopia’s own political and economic stability are interlocked with their

neighbouring countries. And whilst Meles Zenawi was in power, Ethiopia was surrounded

by troubled and troubling neighbours. Armed conflicts were never far away.

On top of this, Ethiopia is just one of many African countries which have a high
measure of fractionalisation. This gives it a significant potential for internal ethno-conflict.

Meles Zenawi's time as leader was a period when national unity was always fragile.

(Author : Its amazing that m’zungu do not take fractionalisation into account more when assessing
Africa. Africa has an innate potential for ethno-conflict that people growing up in mature m’zungu
countries don’t experience. Africa has 2,000 spoken languages. That is just one of the factors that make
up the total potential for ethno-conflict. Structural adjustments and conditionalities imposed by an
American influenced BWI in a boss-centric manner were only ever going to cause problems for African
governments. Problems of political instability and governance generally. And as research has shown

Zenawi achieved considerable economic successes. He did this despite the difficulties he

had to negotiate. He did this by combining macro-economic policies with improvements at
the micro-economic level.

He launched a national Growth & Transformation plan that did the ‘big things’ at a
national level. The construction of an international railway connection that connected his