By Gary van Staden, Head of Research, NKC African Economics. 



Mozambique goes to the polls next Tuesday, October 15, against a backdrop of new investment plans that would significantly improve the country’s economic growth outlook, but also some concern over the possibility of conflict in what is guaranteed to be a disputed outcome.



Presidential,
regional, and national elections are likely to see incumbent President Filipe
Nyusi returned to office, while his ruling Mozambique Liberation Front
(Frelimo) is expected to gain a majority in the national assembly. Some
regional governors, however, may well fall to the opposition Mozambique
National Resistance (Renamo). 



The
presidential race requires an absolute majority, or a second round of voting
will be needed. As things stand, Mr Nyusi may narrowly avoid a run-off given
that Frelimo managed close to 52% of the vote in last year’s local authority
elections, although comparisons between presidential preferences and local
polls would be a stretch.



The
only guaranteed outcome is that Renamo will dispute the results as they have
done for every election since 1994 – usually without any substantive evidence
of misconduct. The problem is that the continuous allegations of rigging and
fraud increase the political temperature, and violence is always a potential
consequence. 



The
other issue is that Renamo has a social media network that works to generate
expectations of misconduct even before the elections are held. 



Make
no mistake, elections in Mozambique are far from perfect. While flawed and
often disorganised, the outcome of elections tends to reflect the will of the
people and usually qualifies for the ‘substantially free and fair’ verdict from
observers. That does not always quell the anger of the losers.



A
more significant problem for Renamo is the potential for infighting to cost it
at the polls. The internal squabbles over leadership and other issues preceded
the death of long-time leader Afonso Dhlakama but have escalated dramatically
since his demise, even resulting in a breakaway by some Renamo fighters who
rejected the leadership of Ossufo Momade and the recently signed peace deal
with the Frelimo government. 



While
the renegade bandits are not regarded as a serious threat, they remain capable
of disruption. A more serious threat comes from a larger body of discontent in
Renamo over the same leadership and policy issues as well as electoral
disagreements. All this plays into Frelimo’s hands.



Recent
announcements by Exxon Mobil highlighting plans to invest more than $500m in
the initial construction phase of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has
provided a welcome boost for Mr Nyusi and Frelimo, with the project expected to
pump much-needed cash into the economy. 



Media
reports this week stated that the US oil company’s $30bn Rovuma LNG project,
jointly operated with Italy’s Eni, has a capacity of more than 15 million
tonnes a year (mtpa). The Exxon project, along with Total’s $20bn 13 mtpa
facility and Eni’s $8bn 3.4 mtpa floating plant, means Mozambique will have the
ability to export 31 mtpa of natural gas – about 10% of today’s global market,
Reuters reports. 



The
massive investments into northern Mozambique will fundamentally alter the
socio-economic and political environment of the often-troubled northern
provinces, but at the same time provide an incentive to grapple for a slice of
the pie. Violence by Islamic extremists in the northern province of Cabo
Delgado has resulted in some 200 deaths over the past two years, prompting
Maputo to enlist the assistance of Russian para-military to help quell the
problem.



These
issues – along with the renegade Renamo bandits, the alarming killing of an
electoral official (allegedly by members of a police unit in the
Frelimo-stronghold Gaza province), and the spread of allegations of voter
numbers being inflated – are creating tensions and concern over conflict before
and after the polls. We expect at least some measure of conflict over the next
few days and weeks, mainly because the environment is once again being primed
for such conflict from several quarters – including media. 



Once
again, Mozambique goes to the polls next week amid the same concerns,
allegations, expectations, and predictions that have accompanied the polls for
the past two decades. We expect nothing different this time. Frelimo and Mr
Nyusi are expected to retain power, with a worst-case scenario for the
president of a run-off. If the run-off is avoided, then whatever sporadic and
limited conflict that may get sparked should die down. 



Frelimo
has not always covered itself in glory, but the massive investment and
opportunity for growth and development now afforded in the north must not be
squandered, and this election could be a new beginning.

Op-Ed: While Mozambique’s Frelimo is the favourite it will be no cakewalk

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s struggling state-run power firm Eskom wants the government to take on 100 billion rand ($7 billion) of its debt as part of a turnaround plan to shore up its balance sheet, Eskom Chairman Jabu Mabuza told the Business Day newspaper.
Cash-strapped Eskom is struggling to emerge from a financial crisis characterised by declining electricity sales, ballooning debt and liquidity problems.
Mabuza made the comments to Business Day as Eskom was meeting investors on a roadshow to London and the United States this week.
A financial market source in London confirmed to Reuters that Mabuza had told investors about moving 100 billion rand of Eskom’s debt onto the government’s balance sheet during the roadshow.
Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe declined to elaborate on Mabuza’s comments, saying the company’s turnaround plan was still the subject of discussions with key stakeholders in government.
Mabuza told a news conference last week that asset sales could not solve Eskom’s problems and that a bailout or debt relief were preferable. The utility expects to make a loss before tax of more than 11.2 billion rand this financial year.
($1 = 13.8394 rand)
Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by James Macharia

Why South Africa’s state-run power firm Eskom wants government to take on $7.2 billion of its debt

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238156/original/file-20180926-48631-rvjpem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="File 20180926 48631 rvjpem.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" /><figcaption>Nigeria needs to review existing structures to drive growth. 
xtock/Shutterstock
</figcaption></figure>
By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ohio-omiunu-514053">Ohio Omiunu</a>, Senior Lecturer in Law, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/de-montfort-university-1254">De Montfort University</a>
There have been sustained efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economy since the country returned to democratic civilian rule in 1999. Successive governments have made foreign direct investment a priority to achieve this aim.
Originally, the organised private sector was intended as the primary driver of investment-led economic reforms. But, in the process, the policy space was inadvertently opened up for state governments. Nigeria has three constitutionally recognised <a href="http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/decentralization/march2003seminar/fiscalfedreport.pdf">levels of government</a>. These are the federal government, 36 state governments and 774 local governments. Each level of government has defined powers under the constitution. States are not meant to engage in foreign economic relations.
However, successive economic reforms have given impetus to Nigerian states to grow in stature as gatekeepers to foreign direct investment. It’s now common to hear of states introducing specialised agencies to facilitate and coordinate investment inflows. Examples include the <a href="http://kadipa.kdsg.gov.ng/">Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency</a>, the <a href="http://www.lagosglobal.org/">Lagos Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment</a> and the <a href="https://www.ansippa.ng/who-we-are/">Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency</a>.
Some states have also floated development focused corporate entities in which they have controlling stakes. A recent example is the <a href="http://dawncommission.org/whatWeAre.php">Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission</a>. This was set up by the six state governments in Nigeria’s South-West. They are pursuing a regional economic integration strategy.
All these initiatives invariably lead to foreign entities including diplomatic envoys, multinational companies and international organisations getting directly involved at state level.
The emerging practice is an interesting example of bottom-up economic development. However, the current state of affairs isn’t optimal. This is because having states all pursuing separate deals and arrangements makes central coordination problematic. If coordination is weak, there’s the potential for unnecessary duplication of processes and institutions. This in turn would have a knock-on effect on the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
There are also constitutional questions over the legality of agreements which Nigeria’s state governments have signed with foreign entities. If left unchecked, these could expose the Nigerian state to legal claims by foreign investors. And there’s a question mark over the constitutional status of states opening foreign offices, as <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201406271083.html">Bayelsa state</a> did in 2013. On the face of it, this was unconstitutional. States in Nigeria don’t have constitutional powers to operate quasi-diplomatic offices.
The trend of decentralised economic development has striking similarities with how things worked in the <a href="http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/68.htm">first Nigerian Republic</a>, from 1960 to 1966. Regional governments in this era had constitutional authority to participate in Nigeria’s foreign economic engagements.
An example was the control of commodity boards by states (then regions). Surplus from levies imposed on export commodities was a vital source of funds for economic development in the respective regions.
Given this history it’s not surprising that states today are keen to take control of foreign investment inflows to fund their economic development objectives.
<h2>Why action is needed</h2>
No constitutional disputes have been raised between the federal government and the states. This can be taken as tacit acceptance of these emerging practices by states. Alternatively, the federal government prefers to deal with any fall-out on an ad hoc basis. This would make sense, given the benefits that can accrue from the arrangements.
But those responsible for Nigeria’s economic development policy coordination need to wake up to the changing realities of the times. Other federal systems have been proactive in restructuring the cooperation mechanisms for foreign relations. These include the US, Canada, Belgium, Argentina, Austria, and Germany.
These countries have recognised the need to adjust their existing regime to catch up with an emerging reality about sub-national governments – like states. These groupings are critical stakeholders in the 21st-century global economy.
In Nigeria, meanwhile, there’s little evidence that states going abroad is viewed as a matter of urgency. It’s time it was.
<h2>Time to review</h2>
The emergence of states as gatekeepers of Nigeria’s investment-led economic reforms demonstrates the dynamic nature of federalism. States have already carved out the autonomy they need to determine the pace of their economic development. And they have done so with no formal constitutional changes.
Now the federal government must realise that it’s no longer the sole determinant of Nigeria’s foreign economic policy. It would be both impossible and undesirable to try and reverse the trend.
Instead, there’s an urgent need to review existing arrangements for cooperation. These reviews must happen at the constitutional and institutional levels. The aim should be to maximise the benefits of the drive and impetus that states are bringing to the Nigerian economic reform agenda.
Nigeria stands to benefit immensely if states drive economic development. But effective coordination is critical.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103269/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ohio-omiunu-514053">Ohio Omiunu</a>, Senior Lecturer in Law, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/de-montfort-university-1254">De Montfort University</a>
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigeria-must-wake-up-to-the-changing-role-of-state-governments-103269">original article</a>.

Why Nigeria should evaluate existing structures in order to drive economic growth

ABIDJAN (Reuters) &#8211; Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara dissolved the government on Wednesday, according to a statement from the presidency, amid tensions with his party’s partner in the governing coalition.
Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly was re-appointed to form a new government. The rest of the government, including the key posts of finance and defence minister, remains vacant.
Ivorian politics is historically volatile, marked by conflicts over land and ethnicity. The country was divided for nearly a decade between a government-controlled south and rebel-held north. A dispute over Ouattara’s first election victory in 2010 led to a civil war that killed some 3,000 people.
Political tensions are rising again before a 2020 election. Constitutional term limits appear to prevent Ouattara from standing for a third term, but he said last month that he is free to run again under a new constitution approved in 2016.
Ouattara won a run-off in 2010 and re-election in 2015, thanks partly to the backing of former President Henri Konan Bedie’s PDCI party, whose members serve in the government.
But the two sides have fallen out over the PDCI’s insistence that Ouattara back a candidate of its choosing in 2020. The PDCI last month rejected the idea of a joint ticket, after Ouattara’s RDR party refused to allow the PDCI to choose the candidate.
Julien Kouao, an Ivorian political analyst, said Ouattara was trying to consolidate his position within his own RDR party as the RDR and PDCI move toward fielding separate candidates.

President Ouattara dissolves Ivory Coast’s government, what you need to know

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Rebosis Property Fund reported stable earnings growth through its commercial office portfolio, mainly let to government. Rebosis CEO, Andile Mazwai joins CNBC Africa for more.

Govt as a client is still a safe bet – Rebosis CEO Andile Mazwai

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By Eustace Davie
The data could not be more clear. Countries that pursue greater levels of economic freedom reap resounding benefits.
Citizens die, on average, 20 years earlier, suffer more from poverty, battle greater unemployment, receive lower average incomes and suffer higher inflation in countries with governments that follow policies opposed to economic freedom and thus have lower economic growth.
The Economic Freedom of the World: 2017 Annual Report (EFW), published by Canada’s Fraser Institute last month with a South African edition published by the FMF, is the 21st edition of this remarkable report, and reflects economic data for 159 countries covering up to 35 years for countries for which data were available.
<h4>People living in freest countries are seven times better off</h4>
The data in the report shows that if you create four groups (quartiles) placing countries into the least free, to the third, second and most free quartiles, their 2015 incomes per capita in PPP constant 2011 US$ were: $6,036, $9,416, $21,720, and $42,463. The people living in the freest countries were seven times better off, on average than those living in the least free countries.
The per capita incomes of the poorest 10% of people in the freest quartile, $11,998, were higher than the average incomes ($9,416) of the people, such as South Africans, falling under the third quartile. As economist Walter Williams said, “If you are destined to be poor, make sure you do it in the country with the freest economy.”
The source of the data for rating the countries is organisations such as the IMF, World Bank and World Economic Forum, and, as far as possible, the index uses objective components. Five areas of activity are measured in the EFW reports. They are, Size of Government, Legal System and Property Rights, Sound Money, Freedom to Trade Internationally, and Regulation.
<h4>Government crowding out the private sector</h4>
It is no surprise to find that SA’s size of government ranks 134th out of 159 countries, and is SA’s worst area ranking. Government enterprises and investment grew from 17.8% of economic activity in 2000 to 37.02% in 2015, crowding out the private sector and absorbing a large amount of taxpayer funding and indebtedness in the process. By comparison, Romania divested itself of government enterprises and investments, down from 60.7% in 2000 to 17.63% in 2015.
SA’s economic freedom rating and ranking declined badly between 2000 and 2015, the overall rating had declined by 0.41 (out of 10) – from 7.04 to 6.63 and the ranking from 46th to 95th. Romania’s rating during the same period improved by 2.35 and its ranking from 109th to 19th. The implications of these opposing directions of change in economic freedom are having substantial outcomes for the populations of the two countries.
During the 15 years, SA’s GDP per capita (PPP International US$) grew from $7,700 to $13,229 (72%), Romania’s grew from $5,873 to $22,070 (276%), almost four times the rate at which SA grew. Had SA’s GDP per capita grown at the same rate as Romania’s, the SA per capita GDP would have been R28,952 making the average South African more than twice as wealthy than they are now – a life-changing difference. Romania is merely one country that has opted for economic freedom.
There are also Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania and Latvia, all former Soviet bloc and communist countries that have experienced communism/socialism, have rejected it, and are now in the top quartile of economically free countries. In Africa, we have Mauritius (7th) and Rwanda (31st), that are in the top quartile.
<h4>If there is a recipe to avoid creating misery it is EFW</h4>
If ever there was a policy recipe book for governments to follow on how to avoid creating misery for their people, EFW is it. Equally; if ever there was a policy recipe book for governments to follow in guiding their people out of poverty, unemployment, and misery to a better life for all, EFW is it.
This wealth of information is available without charge from <a href="http://dmanalytics2.com/click?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fraserinstitute.org%2Feconomic-freedom%2Fdataset&amp;i=1&amp;d=MGJdmaFASISnJKIYGh977A&amp;e=Jill.DeVilliers%40abn360.com&amp;a=LNFduc0cT-Oh0UUzAO7M8w" data-dm-link-id="1">www.fraserinstitute.org/economic-freedom/dataset</a>. Also, <a href="http://dmanalytics2.com/click?u=http%3A%2F%2Fefwdata.com%2F&amp;i=2&amp;d=MGJdmaFASISnJKIYGh977A&amp;e=Jill.DeVilliers%40abn360.com&amp;a=LNFduc0cT-Oh0UUzAO7M8w" data-dm-link-id="2">EFWdata.com</a> is a digital tool that allows researchers to analyse the data across three dimensions: countries, time and statistics. A hard copy of the 2017 report is available from the FMF.
If South African decision-makers truly wish to improve the lives of all the people in the country, the EFW Annual Report is compulsory reading for them. It contains hard facts. It is a compendium of policy successes and failures in 159 countries, not only in the broadest sense, but compares and rates 42 different variables based on objective data from reliable sources.
<h4>S.A. in bottom 40% of economically free countries</h4>
Regrettable, is it not, that, in 2000, South Africa made it into the top 35% of economically free countries, only to decline in the next 15 years to be among the bottom 40% because policies that were on balance less favourable from an economic freedom point of view started being adopted. With democracy, SA started on the right track, but then switched to policies that have left its people at least 50% poorer than they should have been. An unnecessary and costly diversion. The sooner economic freedom policies are adopted, the better it will be for all South Africans, especially the poor.
With democracy, SA started on the right track but then switched to policies that have left its people at least 50% poorer than they should have been. An unnecessary and costly diversion. The sooner economic freedom policies are adopted, the better it will be for all South Africans, especially the poor.
Sound economics has nothing to do with ideology. It has everything to do with practical policies based on the experience of what works and what does not work. It is surely better to study the countries that are improving the quality of life of their citizens than to seek to emulate policies that have caused poverty and misery in the past and will continue to cause poverty and misery into the future.
&nbsp;
Eustace Davie is a director of the Free Market Foundation

Op-Ed: Greater economic freedom reaps resounding benefits

&nbsp;
By Jasson Urbach
“It’s déjà vu all over again,” as the late Yogi Berra might have said had he read the latest iteration of the national health insurance (NHI) policy paper. We are no closer to understanding critical details, such as how much the scheme will cost and where the money to pay for it will come from.
The costing figures presented in the latest iteration are copied verbatim (amongst other sections) from the 2015 White Paper. Despite economic alarm bells ringing throughout the economy, the government is going ahead with the scheme in an increasingly authoritarian attempt to limit our civil liberties and freedoms.
<h4>Those who can pay for their own healthcare should be allowed to do so</h4>
As I have argued previously and will continue to do so, in these dire financial circumstances, it is neither necessary nor appropriate for the government to provide “free healthcare for all”. Those who can pay for their own healthcare and, generally, do not rely on government provided service, must be allowed to continue to do so. Government’s role should be to fund the healthcare needs of only the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
The proposed mandatory payments into the central NHI fund will crowd out private insurance. Cash-strapped individuals will no longer be able to afford voluntary private-insurance premiums when burdened with a mandatory NHI payment as well. Those unable to pay both premiums will be forced to burden the already overstretched public health service.
While the rich can hop on a plane and seek medical care anywhere they please, the poor and middle-class will be unable to escape the vagaries of the government-controlled system.
<h4>NHI will increase inequalities in healthcare</h4>
NHI will perversely increase the inequalities in healthcare, concentrating power in the hands of state officials and leaving no room for private medical schemes. Taxpayers could well fund healthcare for those who cannot afford it, but why interfere with the arrangements of those who can afford to fund their own healthcare?
Whether directly or indirectly, the government would control the availability, financing, and delivery of healthcare — the choice would no longer be ours to make. Compulsory NHI funding would serve government’s interests, not our own.
South African labour should be fuming since NHI necessitates an increase in the taxes levied on an already overtaxed population. The proposed payroll tax is a tax on labour. Workers will bear the cost, either through lower pay or job losses. This will leave us with less money for savings and investment, and thus the NHI will usher in even slower economic growth and less job creation, again hurting the poor. South Africa’s currently 9.3 million unemployed will have no hope of entering the job market.
<h4>No concern about the quality or price of healthcare</h4>
South Africans need to exercise real personal choice in choosing private insurance arrangements that best meet their individual needs – not a one-size-fits-all policy that will be determined and dictated by a nameless and faceless bureaucrat sitting in Pretoria.
Increased competition would force the private medical insurance sector and private providers of healthcare to compete directly for money by providing value and choice. The government has no such incentive – clearly, it is not concerned about the price or quality of healthcare. Personal ownership of healthcare would help control costs and guarantee better quality, and eliminate the need to depend on government.
South Africans fought hard for their freedoms from an overbearing state. Allowing the government to take over that most personal aspect of our lives &#8211; our healthcare &#8211; would undo these hard-won gains.
History has demonstrated that once a law is enacted, it is very difficult to repeal. The public sector is in shambles. We should not be trying to expand and emulate the failed policies that led to this situation. The government should be concentrating scarce taxpayer resources on the poor and destitute, and allowing the private healthcare sector to grow, innovate and expand. Such a healthcare model would not only be good for South Africa’s financial health, but would lead to better health outcomes for the poor, which is surely what we all want.
&nbsp;
Jasson Urbach is Free Market Foundation Director &amp; Head of the FMF’s Health Policy Unit

Op-Ed: S.A’s NHI – Is it necessary or appropriate for government to provide “free healthcare for all”?

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According to one of Nigeria&#8217;s top dancers, Kaffy; dancers will soon become the mainstay of the country&#8217;s entertainment industry but how has this industry evolved over time in Nigeria? Kaffy, Nigerian Dancer, Choreographer and Founder of the Imagento Dance Company joins CNBC Africa for this discussion.

Dancers are to rule Nigeria’s entertainment industry – Kaffy

By Madji Sock, Astou Dia and Charlotte Eddis from Dalberg Global Development Advisors
Africa’s challenge has never been a lack of good ideas. The continent’s growth story and ambitions are often crippled by the misalignment between the existing delivery infrastructure and capacity within state institutions, and the requirements of efficient programme execution.
Guinea has been no exception. The government has increasingly been able to attract donor pledges and interest. It is now in the process of building the capacity to bring proposed projects to fruition.
Against this backdrop and due to the government’s strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD)*, a Delivery Unit (DU) was founded to accelerate economic growth, increase accountability and build social cohesion in Guinea. Both parties underpinned the planning for the DU which has been fully operational since January 2017.
The Guinea-ADFD partnerships and the strong modes of cooperation, on many fronts, date back decades.
Delivery units are becoming more prominent in Africa
Delivery units in Africa and other developing regions are becoming more prominent as an effective way to work within the government system to accelerate progress through private sector methods of accountability, efficiency and reporting.
These units work in tandem with key stakeholders to deliver on the government’s agenda, ensuring that well-meaning policies and ideas are implemented in a timely fashion and that citizens’ well-being is ensured. Thus, the civil service remains empowered and no parallel government structures are created.
To date, there are over 20 delivery units globally. Drawing on lessons from benchmarking twelve of these and taking into account the local context, there have been some key learnings for the Guinea DU, while considering the specificities of the Guinean environment.
Six core principles
From a global best practices perspective, there are six core principles that govern an effective and successful delivery unit, and these inform the design and decisions of the Guinea DU:
<ol>
<li>Delivery units should be close to the seat of power:</li>
</ol>
In many African countries, decision-making ability still rests with the highest authorities. This is the case with Guinea, too. It ensures that the DU gains legitimacy because it sits directly under the Prime Minister’s office, is part of the President’s vision, and maintains close linkages and reporting with the Office of the President.
<ol start="2">
<li>Delivery units should maintain a degree of autonomy:</li>
</ol>
This practice means that the unit does not get bogged down by the same challenges it is supposed to work around. The Guinea DU collaborates closely with the ministries its work affects – agriculture, commerce, mining, vocational training, higher education and others. Its mandate is not to replace ministries, but to enhance how they work.
<ol start="3">
<li>Delivery units must have a clear focus:</li>
</ol>
Spread too thin, delivery units risk not delivering at all. The Guinea DU undertook a sector prioritisation exercise to determine which sectors to focus on based on factors such as contribution to GDP and employment, opportunities for value addition and sector readiness. It is from this process that mining and agriculture emerged as high-priority sectors.
<ol start="4">
<li>Delivery units should customise their approaches based on the local context – a balance between coordination and implementation.</li>
</ol>
Based on the depth of the challenges that need to be dealt with, the Guinea DU is addressing both. For example, the DU oversees high-level tasks such as bringing together donors and implementers interested in the selected sectors, and also works directly on the ground with beneficiaries as it recently did when it oversaw the delivery of fertilisers to pineapple farmers – including supervising its sale and distribution while working with relevant cooperatives.
<ol start="5">
<li>Delivery units need to be flexible to ensure they are not missing out on any emerging opportunities.</li>
</ol>
In the agriculture sector, the main purpose is to have improvements along the pineapple value chain that completely revolutionize the sector and put Guinea on track to being a pineapple exporter. In mining, the focus is on increasing the employability of local Guineans to work in the sector and increasing the capacity of local SMEs to bid for mining work.
<ol start="6">
<li>Finally, delivery units should constantly be working towards an exit plan. </li>
</ol>
The Guinea DU, initially staffed with strategy consultants, continuously sources, recruits and cultivates top national talent that will progressively constitute 100% of the DU’s staff. Current leadership initiatives include designing and launching an innovative model of civil service leadership. Talented Guinean graduates will be placed within government ministries and agencies through a two-year fellowship.
The transition from a good idea to implementation has often been an obstacle that African governments have found difficult to overcome.
Developing delivery units that are focused on tangible results and leverage global best practices not only ensures a higher rate of success for governments but also puts power in citizens’ hands when they can call their leaders to account.
Governments such as the one in Guinea, which take bold steps to ensure the application of development policies and their measurement in practical terms, are a testimony to Africa’s greatest promise: leadership that delivers for its constituents.
&nbsp;
*The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) is the leading United Arab Emirates (UAE) national entity providing development aid to developing countries.
This article was written by Madji Sock, Astou Dia and Charlotte Eddis from Dalberg Global Development Advisors (www.dalberg.com)
The Delivery Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister, which is supported by Mubadala Investment Company, aims to achieve national agendas to boost the Guinean economy primarily in the agriculture and mining sectors. The Delivery Unit works in support of sector ministries. The Unit is also focused on strengthening governance and developing the next generation of Guinean leadership. The Delivery Unit is generously funded by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the leading entity in development aid to developing countries (www.adfd.ae), and run by the international advisory firm Dalberg.

Op-Ed: Global best practices to help accelerate economic growth in Guinea

By Martin van Staden
The African National Congress’ suggestion that the number of provinces should be reduced from nine to six comes as a shock. Fortunately, our Constitution and the Rule of Law do not make abusing the levers of power that easy.
It would be unfair to the ANC to imply that this is simply corruption and cheap gerrymandering to avoid losing Gauteng in 2019, as this policy was adopted back in 2007 before the Western Cape fell into the Democratic Alliance’s hands. But the ANC, the oldest and perhaps most experienced democratic political parties on the African continent, must surely be aware that wanting to reduce the number of provinces – and thereby rob the Official Opposition of its democratic mandate in the Western Cape – would be perceived as an outright attack on our constitutional democracy.
A postulate of the constitutional principle of the Rule of Law is that the law and policy must be certain and predictable insofar as it is practically possible. With the electoral – indeed, political – uncertainty currently facing South Africa, it would be reckless to fiddle with the configuration of provinces or municipalities at this stage in our history. This conduct invites uncertainty and unpredictability and is thus arguably a violation of the Rule of Law and thus the Constitution.
<h4>Legal games played by Apartheid government</h4>
South Africans would do well to remember the legal games the Apartheid government engaged in to ensure it got its way, before endorsing the ANC’s plans. Indeed, up to 1956, coloured South Africans enjoyed limited franchise in the Cape Province, but then the National Party passed legislation increasing the size of each province’s Senate representation and thereby giving the government the requisite amount of votes in Parliament to amend the South Africa Act and remove the coloured franchise.
Thankfully, however, for the government to actually decrease the number of provinces, it would need to go about a process to amend the Constitution. Section 74(3)(ii) provides that two-thirds of the National Assembly and six provinces in the National Council of Provinces must approve alterations to “provincial boundaries, powers, functions or institutions”; and section 74(8) provides that the provincial legislatures in question will need to approve such alterations.
When the government is closer to the people and people have more opportunities to participate in the daily governing of their lives, a country is more democratic. This inevitably means devolution of power to lower levels of government, like provinces and municipalities. Where there is a centralisation of power, either by taking powers from lower levels or by reducing the number of lower levels of government, democracy is being eroded.
<h4>Appropriate action to send resources in the right direction</h4>
If the ANC is truly concerned about a “concentration of resources” at the provincial level while service delivery ordinarily happens at local government level, more appropriate action might be to ensure the resources go where they are meant to go. But the real burdensome ‘middleman’ in this relationship is not the provinces, but the national government, which is the furthest away from the people.
Centralisation of power in fewer locales and, at worst, at the national level, does nothing but chip away at real democracy. It assumes all South Africans are alike, live under the same circumstances, and thus have to be governed in the exact same way. While the Rule of Law does demand equal application of the law, this does not mean all law needs to be the same everywhere.
Which laws work best under which circumstances can only be determined if South Africa embraces the cooperative federal model as envisioned by the Constitution. This would be radical transformation indeed.
Martin van Staden is Legal Researcher at the Free Market Foundation and Academic Programs Director of Students For Liberty in Southern Africa. Find out more at <a href="http://dmanalytics2.com/click?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.martinvanstaden.com%2F&amp;i=1&amp;d=3Uqobov8RHK8ecY3_gBODg&amp;e=Jill.DeVilliers%40abn360.com&amp;a=8anQTERaQWOIdsMxWJ5hsQ" data-dm-link-id="1">www.martinvanstaden.com</a>.

Op-Ed: Reducing the number of S.A’s provinces is an affront to the Rule of Law and democracy

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Institutions and the rule of law are the essential elements that protect individual South Africans from the excesses and abuses of state power. The recent fiasco where the Public Protector recommended changes to the Constitution is an example of institutions gone awry.
Constitutionalism as a branch of jurisprudence did not develop to foster effective government, but explicitly to restrain government interference in the personal and economic lives of ordinary people. The Public Protector’s recommendation does the opposite: it proposed to alter its establishing statute – the Constitution – to change the very nature of our central bank for seemingly political reasons. The markets reacted predictably and, today, South Africans are a little poorer than they were yesterday.
The business of our institutions should not be to make life harder for anyone – except government, that is.
<h3>Institutions are meant to be immune from political interference</h3>
Institutions are divorced from the politics of the day because they are meant to be consistent and as immune as possible from political interference. In a country with rich constitutionalism and strong institutions like the United States of America, the character of the country does not change when political leadership does. Donald Trump’s influence on America’s status as a bastion of freedom and democracy will be negligible. He might fiddle with the composition and policy of Cabinet, but the Supreme Court and the sturdy devolution of power to states ensure that the reach of the President does not extend too far.
In other countries, such as ours, the political leadership of the day has far greater influence and institutions are secondary considerations. We already refer to the terms of our post-Apartheid presidents as “eras” – the Mandela-era, the Mbeki-era, and the Zuma-era – each with their own style that had a profound impact on South Africa’s world image. Before 1994, no matter who was president, we simply had “the Apartheid-era”, because the institution of Apartheid was so strong (in a bad way!).
<h3>South Africa&#8217;s economy brought to its knees</h3>
Our political leadership does not have to reach far to impact the lives of ordinary South Africans negatively. That a political appointment practically brought South Africa’s economy to its knees is indicative enough that this situation is not right.
South Africa’s institutions may appear strong on paper, yet it is evident that the executive branch of government can act with a free hand. For instance, the Department of Mineral Resources’ recently-published Mining Charter wiped more than R50 billion off the mining industry’s share value. Our institutions seem powerless to stop government from enacting such destructive policy even when the Charter’s history is questionable when it comes to public participation and impact assessments.
<h3>What is the solution?</h3>
Institutions must be concerned, first and foremost, with the government. There is no doubt that private firms and individuals, too, can be corrupt, but the consequence of private sector corruption, by its nature, is limited. Government corruption and overreach, however, can potentially destroy economic growth and the livelihoods of millions. Private corruption is dealt with by market forces, and, failing that, the courts and the criminal justice system. Government corruption is dealt with politically.
Our institutions need to make sure government does only that which it is designed to do, and does it well. Most of all, our institutions must never enable the growth of government for political reasons – something our superior courts have been guilty of on occasion in recent years.
When institutions lose their character as a restraining force and become an enabling force, they cease to be the custodians of constitutional democracy and the rule of law. Instead, they become part of a very corruptible political process. When this happens, tyranny is inevitable.
Martin van Staden is Legal Researcher at the Free Market Foundation and Academic Programs Director of Students For Liberty in Southern Africa. Find out more at <a href="http://dmanalytics2.com/click?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.martinvanstaden.com%2F&amp;i=1&amp;d=htkauALeQYSCx850UiJv_w&amp;e=Jill.DeVilliers%40abn360.com&amp;a=SqFOozLaTpqmevQjn3SPLw" data-dm-link-id="1">www.martinvanstaden.com</a>

Op-Ed: Institutions must remain mindful of their core mandate

Is the South African government unconcerned about the devastating unemployment in the rural areas that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will cause? If the government generally is unconcerned, perhaps Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa should give the matter some earnest thought because he will be blamed.
In circumstances of mass unemployment, it is inhumane for the government to pretend that the jobless do not exist. It is even more inhuman to adopt legislation and regulations that have the effect of prohibiting the unemployed from working.
If the government were to introduce legislation that made it illegal for any worker to work for less than R20 per hour or R3,500 per month, and threatened them with fines or imprisonment if they should do so, such legislation would be considered evil. Legislation that makes it illegal for an employer to pay workers less than R20 per hour or R3,500 per month has the same outcome, but under this scenario, the employer is the transgressor. That law is no less evil but the legislators responsible regularly escape the blame.
Why are the unemployed South Africa’s forgotten people? Research is carried out and a furious debate occurs about increasing the wages of low-wage workers, but, for those who earn zero, there is silence. Does government consider the problem so difficult to solve that it has decided to wish away the unemployed and pretend they do not exist?
<h3>Constitutional rights of the unemployed</h3>
There is good reason to argue that the NMW will be unconstitutional in terms of some or all the sections 9(1) “equality before the law”, 9(2) “equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms”, 10 “the right to have their dignity respected and protected”, 12(1) “the right to freedom and security of the person”, 12(1)(a) “not to be deprived of freedom arbitrarily or without just cause”, 22 “every citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely”, and 23(1) “everyone has the right to fair labour practices”.
The freedom denied the unemployed under the NMW is their freedom of contract; the right to take care of themselves and their families by working for employers under the best conditions and for the highest wages they can find. They are deprived of the right to make these important and critical decisions for themselves because their right to contract with employers is blocked by the labour law prohibitions imposed on employers.
The NMW, to be introduced by May 2018, will prohibit employers from paying employees less than R20 per hour or R3,500 per month. This prohibition will slam shut the jobs door in the faces of the young, the old, the inexperienced, and anyone else who, for some reason, is prepared to work for a low wage to gain work experience, to earn something rather than nothing, or, simply, to have something to eat. 

<h3>Costly labour laws are barriers to employment 
</h3>
Dealing with the requirements of the Labour Relations Act and its ancillary legislation costs money. Every additional cost imposed on employers means less money available to pay existing staff or to take on more workers.
Large firms hire human resource specialists to deal with the legislative and regulatory demands of the laws. In small firms, much of the valuable time of owners and senior staff is absorbed by labour matters. When employers have factored these costs into their calculations, they are compelled to conclude that it makes economic sense to take on workers who will impose the least cash and management costs on the firm relative to their productive capacity.
Given the dynamics of business, and especially the care required in doing business in our current no-growth economy, firms are being super careful in the hiring of staff. Forcing firms to pay higher wages does not bode well for anyone at the bottom end of the jobs scale, let alone the 9.3 million who are already unemployed.
<h3>The National Minimum Wage will devastate the rural areas</h3>
The tragic consequences for the inhabitants of the US territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, who in 2007 were forced to fall in with the raising of the US national federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour in 2006, to $7.25 by 2009 should act as a warning to the South African government. There was a huge difference between the per capita GP in the territories and that in mainland USA. The calamity that hit those territories provides a clear example of the devastation the NMW will cause in areas of South Africa where the average GDP per capita is significantly lower than in the more affluent areas of the country. Employers in small towns and rural areas of the country will not be able to afford the minimum.
The reason given for replacing the existing minimum wages that have been set based on “ability to pay” is that a national minimum wage will be “easier to police”. So, making life easier for officials means that employers in impoverished areas of the country will be compelled to pay the same minimum as employers in the country’s large cities. An idea that will have brutal consequences for low-income people, whether employers or employees.
In American Samoa, by 2009, with only 30% of the scheduled increases applied, overall employment was down 30%, with 58% job losses in the tuna-canning industry and real per capita GDP down 10% from 2006 levels. During the same period, the Northern Mariana Islands experienced 35% job losses and per capita GDP down by 23%. The compulsory increase resulted in a minimum wage that was 75% of the Puerto Rican median wage. Unemployment increased rapidly and GDP per capita declined by almost 7% between 2007 and 2013.
<h3>Young victims of legislative barriers</h3>
Stats SA reported in its most recent quarterly that, “Of the 433,000 people who joined the ranks of the unemployed, approximately 58% were young people aged 15-34 increasing the youth unemployment rate by 1,6 percentage points to 38,6%”. It is predictable that firms, in view of the current poor economic condition, will be wary of taking on new staff. Bias against hiring inexperienced and potentially less productive workers will be heightened by the looming NMW, which they will factor into their calculations.
The NMW already represents a huge barrier to the employment of recent and future school leavers and the already-unemployed. Many young people, trying to overcome years of deficient schooling, will be hit by the NMW regulatory barrier and consigned to the ranks of the “forgotten”, along with the other 9.3 million.
Author: Eustace Davie is a director of the free Market Foundation. The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Free Market Foundation.

Op-Ed: The S.A. government cannot wish away the unemployed

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa is committed to an &#8220;open, transparent&#8221; process to build new nuclear power plants and the government planned to go through with its plans for nuclear expansion, President Jacob Zuma told parliament on Thursday.
South Africa is planning to build 9,600 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity, a project that could be one of the world&#8217;s biggest nuclear contracts in decades.
But Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said on Wednesday in Moscow that the plans will be reviewed as the country is in a recession.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)
&nbsp;

South Africa committed to nuclear power expansion, process to be open: Zuma

BAMAKO (Reuters) &#8211; Mali&#8217;s government said on Wednesday it was delaying a July 9 referendum on constitutional amendments that would reinforce presidential powers and create new regions under an accord signed in 2015 with northern separatists.
The changes have been the subject of protests in the capital Bamako and more marches were set for Thursday across the West African country. Crucially, three parties in the governing coalition asked for a delay.
<blockquote>&#8220;The council of ministers has decided to delay until a future date the referendum initially set for July 9,&#8221; a government statement said after the meeting headed by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. It gave no reason for the delay and set no new date.</blockquote>
Mali is struggling to contain militancy in its north, where rival militias frequently clash and Islamist groups carry out attacks on civilians, Malian soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and French forces there.
Islamist militants, some linked to al Qaeda, seized northern Mali in 2012 on the back of a separatist rebellion before being driven out of major cities and towns by a French-led military intervention a year later.
The government signed the peace deal that aimed to end the separatist movement by parties including the Coordination of Azawad Movements, which is led by ethnic Tuaregs. Under that deal, new regions are to be created under the constitution.
(Reporting by Adama Diarra and Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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