Marshall Plan for Africa

by Eze Eluchie

TEXT OF OPEN LETTER TO U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA       (first published June 2009)

The President

United States of America

White House

Washington D.C.

Mr. Barack Obama,

Dear Mr. President,

CALL FOR A “MARSHALL PLAN FOR AFRICA” TO CONFRONT THE MOTHER-OF-ALL- SCOURGES ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT – OFFICIAL CORRUPTION, AND FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION CRIMES COURT

As you embark on your maiden visit (in your capacity as President of the United States of America) to Africa, the most exploited continent on earth, I am prompted to address this correspondence to your Office in the belief that your attention will somewhat be focused on African issues in the course of your brief sojourn through our continent.

Prime motivation to pen this correspondence emanates from the pivotal role your country has played, is playing and can play in global affairs. I admit to being further emboldened to write this letter by the fact that whilst your opponents in your quest to secure the mandate to lead your country had embarked on ‘presidential campaigns’, you had initiated a global movement for change predicated on the pillars of justice, equity, solidarity and sustainability.

I must confess to being further prompted to write you following the realization that the only mention you made of Africa in your groundbreaking address at Cairo University, Egypt on the was:

“ Around the world, we can turn dialogue into interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action -- whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster”.

I was worried this was indicative of a further continuation of the stereotyped thinking in the west of seeing Africa only in terms of its diseases!

Let me at this juncture refresh your mind on the ‘usual’ pattern of visits of U.S. Presidents to sub-Saharan African countries, a pattern that I am hoping your scheduled visit will detour from:

i.) President gets inundated with dire and gory data on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB, Cholera, civil wars, ‘blood diamonds’, ‘blood oil’ and a litany of other woes besetting countries in the continent..

ii.) ‘Economic experts’ from the Breton Woods institutions and their hangers-on will harp on the inevitability of more loans and ‘aids’ as the panacea for the continents development.

iii.) White House protocol officers will ensure that all ingredients (including water) which Mr. President may consume/ingest in the course of his stay in Africa is parked into “Air Force 1”

iv.) In the African country to be visited, preparations will basically be in the form of fresh coats of paints on buildings where the U.S. leader will waltz through; filling potholes on the routes the U.S. Presidential convoys will transverse and commandeering traditional dance troupes to entertain the august visitor. (I believe U.S. presidents who have visited Nigeria and some other African countries in the past would have fainted if they ever had an inkling as to the scandalously over exaggerated contracts for mom-essentials, such as toilet papers, miniature flags, which their brief visits allowed corrupt state officials an opportunity to milk the treasury)

v.) At the end of the, at times 12 hour or maximum 24 hour visit, grand proclamations on HIV/AIDS, cholera, hunger and other scourges will be made, bilateral (or to be more apt, ‘unilateral’) agreements will be signed, the content of which in most cases the African ruler signing either has no idea whatsoever or is ignorant of the implications thereof. Usually such agreements leave the African country visited more exploited and the citizenry thereof further pauperized.

Will your visit be different? I certainly believe and hope so. My belief is predicated on your antecedents, pronouncements on equity and your reference in your inauguration speech to stand with ‘oppressed people wherever they might be in the world and my hope is based on the projection that the ‘west’ will begin to appreciate that good governance and prosperity in African countries is not inversely proportional to the well-being of western societies.

The Problem:

The purpose of this correspondence is not to gloss over or diminish the implications on the peoples and States of Africa of the various scourges plaguing the continent, rather, I seek to draw attention to the need to frontally confront the causative scourge of all other scourges (what you may refer to as the “mother of all scourges”) - Corruption.

Corrupt and kleptomaniac rulers have been foisted and perpetuated on African countries (usually by forces outside the continent) for the past couple of decades, thus giving rise to the plethora of problems plaguing the continent, particularly countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

It has not been by coincidence that visionary leaders of African countries who tried to move their individual countries in the path of development did not last long in Office (usually overthrown in coups instigated from outside Africa) whilst rulers whose sole purpose was to further pauperize their peoples and mortgage the collective future of their countries seem able to last for seeming eternities with a strangle hold on their countries. The flourish and red-carpet receptions accorded to some of these despicable dictators when they visit western nations tend to give credence to their sources of power.

Consequences of Corruption

The effect or consequences of corruption on emerging economies have been well researched and documented. I will strive to succinctly state these effects:

a).  Every dollar stolen by the ruler of an African country and his cohorts and dumped outside of the country in question, usually into a western country (Bank, Real Estate, Stocks or in any other way) directly amounts to one dollar less in the sum available in the African country in question, to alleviate poverty, provide public infrastructure and general good governance.

b). Poverty, absence of public infrastructure in core areas such as health, education, transportation, communication and so on and bad governance directly give rise to the myriad of scourges plaguing the African countries, such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Polio, TB and so forth.

c). The inequalities generated by corruption lead to political instability, civil strife and ultimately, wars; whilst the impunity conferred by wanton corruption facilitates an environment of lawlessness and abuse of fundamental rights.

In a nutshell, corruption is bad and corrupt leadership has been the bane of African countries.

It is thus easily discernible how concerted international action against corruption will translate, near-instantaneously, into progress and development for African countries.

Beneficiaries of and Losers to corruption:

In tackling official corruption in Africa, it is important to know the major characters in the illicit and lethal practice so that from the very onset, one disabuses his thinking from the age-old clichés (such as ‘they are Africans – they are corrupt’) which have often time served to obviate the real instigators and beneficiaries of corruption in Africa.

Two prime beneficiaries of official corruption in Africa are:                                                                
 i). The corrupt government official, his immediate family and associates-in- corruption. Foreign countries invest in foisting corrupt and kleptomaniac rulers on African countries with the sole aim of reaping from the fall-out, in terms of proceeds of corruption being invested in the said ‘foreign’ country. The more resources an African country has, the greater the level of foreign interest in foisting corrupt rulers. Rulers preferred by such foreign countries are usually of low IQ and ironically (as has been shown in the case of my country, Nigeria) have a penchant to pursue academic qualifications after departing Office, if they do so alive, and

ii). . The recipient of looted funds in the western country – banks, real estate agents and stockbrokers and co. These are the real and ultimate beneficiaries of looted funds from Africa. These supposedly erudite professionals encourage corrupt ignorant leaders from Africa, to deposit looted funds in 58-digit secret accounts (the numbers are known only to the looter and his foreign collaborator) or purchase properties and assets by proxies.. Upon the demise of the corrupt official, neither the African country from whence the funds were looted nor the immediate families of the late corrupt official, have any idea where the loot is. The foreign collaborator( s) walks home with the looted funds intact!

Two losers to corruption in Africa are:

a. The people of the continent who are forced to live in subhuman conditions devoid of the basics of modern existence, a condition that is making otherwise proud, peace-loving, hardworking, vice shunning populations amenable to all manner of atrocities ranging from substance and human trafficking, religious extremism, bone-chilling war crimes and many more vices, and

b. The African continent suffers, at times irreparably and irreversibly, in the areas of environmental degradation, non-sustainable exploitation of mineral and natural resources.

The African Situation:

Is the situation in African countries hopeless? How can a continent blessed with abundant mineral and natural resources, peopled by vibrant, energetic and amiable populations and upon which the elements are kind (no monsoons, earthquakes, heat waves, tsunamis or snowstorms) continually serve as a drawback to global progress? Statistics available at the United Nations indicate that minus Africa, the world made tremendous progress in all facets of development (using the millennium development goals {MDG’s} as a parameter). Add Africa to the equation and the global average in all indices of development falls into the negative.

The Way Forward –

Mr. President, Sir, a three pronged approach is hereby suggested.

a. A Marshall Plan for Africa

b. Establishment of an International Corruption Crimes Court (ICCC)

c. Unmasking financial safe-havens – the so called ‘offshore banking’ and privacy policies of some western banks, and

d. Good governance

A.  Marshall Plan for Africa

Statistics available at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime indicate that corrupt African rulers and their cronies have stolen sums in excess of U.S.$ 2 Trillion out of the Africa continent in the past few decades. This figure is corroborated by projections from other independent sources and civil society organizations. The share size of the sum involved makes ones senses spin with indignation as to what level of progress and development the same sum if well utilized for and in Africa would have generated and wondering how such sums would have transformed African prospects and landscape.

The devastation caused on Africa by decades of wanton official corruption is what we are witnessing in Africa today. Large-scale malnourishment affecting the human intellect and psyche, physical degradation of mankind, diseases flourish in abundance and cohabit with humans, near total absence of infrastructures, breakdown of age-old societal norms and cultures, debasement of humanity amongst others. The list is endless.

More graphically, the scars of the several cavil wars fought in Africa and the millions who died as a result of preventable diseases, coupled with the several millions barely existing due to excruciating poverty and want, further crystallize the impact of corruption on Africa and the African.

The enormity of the problems posed by official corruption in Africa is definitely beyond what can be left to Africans alone to tackle. Official corruption in Africa is a behemoth sin of international dimensions and thus requiring concerted international action to tackle.

My call for a ‘Marshall Plan for Corruption in Africa” is borne out of the example set by the allied forces after the destruction meted out to Germany, Japan and other loser nations after World War II (WWII).

In response to the devastation caused by WWII, allied countries, led by your United States, deemed it fit to commit several billion Dollars in rebuilding Germany, in the process transforming Germany into the powerhouse of Europe and a mega player in global economy. Similar acts of magnanimity were extended to Japan and other countries devastated by WWII.

It is without doubt that if Germany, Japan and countries in similar conditions had been left to pick up (by themselves) from the shambles into which they had been bombed during WWII, it would have taken these countries nearly till eternity to join the rest of humanity in development.

Countries in African are at best in a similar position to what Germany was in 1945, but I believe in reality, far worse. We sure do deserve some form of Marshall Plan! Left to combat official corruption on their own, it will take African countries all of eternity and more to climb out of the vicious circle.

  Specifics of the ‘Marshall Plan for Africa’

i. Using existing domestic statutes in western countries and relevant international treaties and conventions (which laws are presently used to confiscate proceeds from illegal transactions in illicit substances, money laundering and other nefarious activities), the bulk of proceeds of official corruption in Africa can be identified and recovered from the criminals who stashed same away in western countries.

ii. Proceeds from assets derived from corrupt origins in Country ‘A’ in Africa but recovered from Country ‘Z’ in say Europe will be returned to country ‘A’ and used to fund specific pre-determined development projects in ‘A’. Such that properties confiscated from a Mobutu Sese Seko in France will be returned to fund specific projects in Zaire; and that from a Sani Abacha in Switzerland will likewise go to Nigeria.

iii. The recipient country in Africa will be required to have a list of fundable projects to be funded by repatriated loot.

iv. Authorities of the recipient country in Africa in collaboration with authorities of the repatriating country will decide on which projects will be funded with repatriated loot.

v. Reasonable administrative costs borne by repatriating country in the entire transaction will be deducted from the looted funds prior to repatriation.

B. International Corruption Crimes Court (ICCC) {Enforcement Mechanism}:

To serve as a deterrent to budding or existing corrupt rulers in Africa, it is proposed that either the mandate of the International Criminal Court (ICC) be interpreted or expanded to encapsulate corruption offences/practices, or an independent International Corruption Crimes Court (ICCC) be established (with powers, scope and authority similar to the existing International Criminal Court) to prosecute and punish corrupt rulers and their collaborators whose acts of corruption has lead and continues to lead to massive humanitarian crisis in African countries

Going by what it causes, its adverse impact on societies and the implications for generations in the localities where it reigns supreme, Corruption is at the very least a crime against humanity! With more detailed scrutiny, it qualifies also as a ‘war crime’!

C. Unmasking Financial Safe Havens- so called “off-shore banking”:

For too long, the world has tolerated so called ‘privacy policies’ and ‘privacy banking laws’ of some banking institutions and countries. These policies and laws merely serve to provide safe havens to launder monies gotten from spurious origins (usually proceeds of corruption, drug trafficking and other illicit activities).

Countries where such privacy policies and laws reign pride themselves in supposedly ‘respecting ‘customer confidentiality’ – very mush like the Sicilian Mafia gangs have ‘omerta’, an unwritten unbreakable law on silence. These policies shield and provide refuge for corrupt rulers of African countries who have robbed their countries blind. These ‘banking policies and laws (in the countries where they operate) have become the major factor fostering public sector finance corrupt practices in Africa as they provide the rulers and their cohorts with two essential elements to steal, invincibility and ‘safe retirement’.

Would the world tolerate a safe haven for terrorists and persons indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court? Definitely not! I also believe that the world should not tolerate a safe haven for persons who loot public treasury anywhere in the world or whose acts of corruption has led to humanitarian crisis, conflict, dehumanization of populations and reducing peoples to lives of misery and abject poverty.

I congratulate your Government on the landmark actions taken thus far against the Swiss banking giant, UBS Group, which will ultimately lead to the ‘unmasking’ of citizens of your country who have hid under Swiss banking laws and the privacy policy of the USB Group to defraud the American state of billions of dollars in taxes.

May I however remind you, Mr. President that restricting the benefits of the United States actions against just the Swiss USB Group or to U.S. citizens alone will only provide loopholes to be exploited to obviate the intendments of successes attained thus far. The benefits of the actions against the Swiss USB Banking group must be translated to have global relevance for any meaningful sustainable effect.

International pressure, including sanctions must be applied on countries that provide safe banking haven for corrupt rulers from Africa. Such pressure and sanctions must be maintained until such countries retrace their positions and join the rest of civilized mankind in tackling corruption.

D. Good governance and tackling corruption:

Inextricably linked to the issue of tackling corruption in countries in the African continent is the issue of good governance. Rulers whose assent to power was via corrupt means can hardly be expected not to be corrupt; as such rulers are in reality a personification of corruption

I believe you will resolutely let corrupt rulers who abound in the African continent know and realize that the United States will not be a sanctuary for those who have made their peoples ‘refugees on their own home land’,

Is this a call for the re-colonization of Africa?

NO!

Save for the call for an International Corruption Crimes Court (ICCC) or the expansion of the mandate of the ICC, all other characteristics of the proposed “Marshall Plan for Africa “are not really distant from what currently obtains. In all African countries, there are a plethora of projects funded by ‘developmental partners’ (The United Nations and its agencies, such as the World Bank, the European Union, the Commonwealth of Nations, the United States and sundry European countries).

The basic difference between what is proposed and what already exists is that in place of the present ‘Loans’ or ‘Aid Monies’ used to fund such projects, repatriated loot will fund such developmental projects. In addition, I had factored in some measures to cover the loophole exploited by corrupt officials in Nigeria in our immediate past government which led to the ‘re-looting’ of funds recovered from a previous corrupt ruler

Is this feasible?

Very much so!

All it requires is the political will of the western nations, of which yours, Mr. President, is an influential part of. The political will and foresight not to only treat African countries as beggarly dependent nations ruled by criminals but as potential partners in development.

Also critical in attaining the intendments in the ‘Marshall Plan for Africa” as proposed is erasing the mind set that seem to found present day ‘international development collaboration’ – an innate fear amongst technocrats in western economies that if Africa were ever to get its acts together, the wealth of the west will diminish – a ‘we-are-richer- because-we- make-you- poorer’ mentality.

If a ‘Marshall Plan” did work for Germany and much of Europe in the period after the WWII, it sure can work for Africa in the 21st century.

Can you, President Barack Obama, initiate and see to the implementation of a ‘Marshall Plan for Africa’ as proposed, or something akin thereto? YES YOU CAN, and should

Can the rest of the world, particularly countries in Africa, support the ‘Marshall Plan for Africa’? YES WE CAN and will!

Please remain assured of my high regards and respects

Yours truly,

*Eze Eluchie, Esq.

*Mr. Eluchie, a Nigeria-based Attorney-at- Law is the author of ‘The Reign of Evil’ – a compilation of published analytical articles on the Olusegun Obansanjo tenure as ‘civilian President’ of Nigeria

Picture: U.S. President Barack Obama