At midterm point in the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals by 2015, it seems appropriate to ask why is it that Africa looks set to be a failure, writes Tajudeen Abdul Raheem. The main internal and external obstacles to not achieving the MDGs remain the political will of our leaders and the sincerity of the political leaders of the rich world.

July 7, 2007 marked the halfway point in a journey whose destination and time of arrival was set by 189 heads of state and governments from most countries of the world including all the 53 member states of the African Union. It was a large bus garlanded with hope and lofty aspirations. The leaders invited all the peoples of the world but especially the poor, the marginalised, the sick, mothers and young boys and girls, and the weakest in all states to jump on board with promises that come 2015 the bus will deliver them to a better life and give them more concrete reasons to have faith in leaders, states and society.

They made a solemn declaration: The Millennium Declaration. But they did not stop there because the declaration was transformed into concrete, achievable, measurable; time bound commitments known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

A journey of 15 years which began in 2000 should have reached its midway point by July 2007. Are we halfway to all the targets set in the eight goals?

If we are on target there will be no cause for alarm even though the driver and even some of the passengers may demand more effort to safe more time. There is no harm in arriving early as long as we arrive safely. If we are not in the midway town questions have to be asked why. Did the vehicle have a puncture? Or even worse was it involved in a headlong collision or did it crash? Is the driver ok? Or did any of the passengers fall off or became seriously sick needing emergency attention?

If the bus is still on the road but journeying slowly we have to ask what can be done to make the journey smoother and safer, to catch up for lost time.

The MDGs bus is happily not involved in any serious accident. It is still running across different regions of the world but the roadblocks are more in some places than in others. Even within the same region there are varying speeds because in some parts the drivers seem to dose off whereas in others they are on full alert.

It is in Africa that the bus has been facing many roadblocks. Some of these were deliberately constructed by armed robbers of development (such as inept political leadership, corrupt elite and insensitive government and docile population) while others were artificially created by uncooperative other users of the road (such as rich countries that continue to rob poorer countries through unfair trade and super exploitation of global resources) while some of the obstacles could be the result of what in Hausa is termed ‘gudu ba gyara’ (i.e. ‘speeding without repairs’ or reckless driving).

The general global picture from the recently released UN General-Secretary’s MID term Report shows that Africa is the only continent of the world where the MDGs risk not being met. Unfortunately Africa is the region that needs the MDGs and really more than the MDGs than any other region of the world.

The general picture hides the growing success stories that show that it is not all bad news. There are countries that are doing quite well on a number of the Goals even if they may not meet all of them. Across the continent in education most of the countries have seen huge rises in enrolment into primary schools as a result of debt relief and new prioritisation of the education of our children by many governments.

Uganda for instance, has raised the gear from universal primary education to the secondary level; Kenya is considering same; Malawi has proven that where there is a will there is a way; and even Africa’s notoriously sleeping giant, Nigeria, has reintroduced compulsory universal basic education. On maternal death in child birth, infant mortality and education, Mozambique (returning to peace just in a decade) and Rwanda (that ended genocide only 12 years ago) are making steady progress. Uganda’s pioneering leadership in HIV/ Aids awareness, advocacy, prevention and treatment are catching on in many countries and some of them are actually beginning to do better than Uganda. All these are good news and they show that it can be done and more can be achieved.

Although South Africa is the only African country to have made a promise to achieve the MDGs not in 2015 but by 2014 there are countries (like Botswana, Mauritius, etc.) not thumping their chests who will meet and may surpass them. Given the enormous resources of a country like South Africa it cannot be a congratulatory effort for it to meet the MDGs because it can and should do better. Other resource rich African countries and those with big economies like Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, DRC, Egypt, Libya, should not really be judged by the MDGs because they ought to and should do much better than that. Even the poorer countries like Ethiopia can do better if they set their priority right. IF Ethiopia has resources to occupy another country it can certainly do better at home.

The main internal and external obstacles to not achieving the MDGs remain the political will of our leaders and the sincerity of the political leaders of the rich world.

The covenant on the MDGs was a very simple one. If poor countries deliver on goal 1-7, i.e. hunger, poverty, health, education, governance and rights issues and livelihood, the richer countries will also deliver on Goal 8: improved quality and quantity of aid, debt relief and reform of the unjust global trading system that penalizes the poor and impoverish the poorer countries of the world.

We need to hold our governments accountable for our side of the bargain. But even as we are succeeding in that respect our gains will not translate into sustainable development and social progress if the West and other richer countries of the world do not deliver on their own promise. Mutual accountability of the political leaders of the world to their citizens (who are the passengers on the bus) is what will grease the rusty bolts, service the engine and refuel the MDG Bus at mid term so that it can coast home successfully by 2015.

Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is Deputy Director, Africa, United Nation's Millennium Campaign, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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