Tag: AFRICA

The international economic and financial regime should be reformed urgently to address imbalances that work against the socioeconomic needs of African countries, campaigners say…reports Asian Lite News

The international economic and financial regime should be reformed urgently to address imbalances that work against the socioeconomic needs of African countries, campaigners said at a virtual forum in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

The global financial system in its current form has disadvantaged African nations grappling with shrinking fiscal space, the climate crisis and high youth unemployment, the campaigners noted.

Jane Nalungu, the executive director of the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI)-Uganda, said that by reforming the international financial architecture that was established more than 70 years ago, African states will have better leverage in domestic revenue mobilization, green transition and poverty alleviation.

“The ongoing debate about reforming the global economic and trading system comes at the opportune moment for Africa as we explore ways to address chronic stagnation that has impaired (the) provision of critical services like education and health,” Nalungu said.

According to Nalungu, even globalization has not unleashed the desired socioeconomic benefits in Africa as the continent finds itself trading more with cheaper raw agricultural commodities.

In addition, Nalungu said that over-dependence on commodities has locked out African countries from a global trading system that favors trade in technology, services and value-added goods.

By reforming the international financial and trade treaties, it will be possible to address the cycle of indebtedness, trade deficit and balance of payment challenges weighing heavily on African states, Nalungu observed.

Chenai Mukumba, the executive director of Tax Justice Network Africa, said the ongoing push for democratization of the global financial and tax regime will benefit the continent in terms of boosting domestic resource mobilization, taming public debts, enhancing access to basic services like water, education, sanitation and health.

Mukumba believed that Africa could leverage its vast mineral wealth, domestic reforms and improved accountability to spur economic growth, limit borrowing and ease political tensions.

She added that tightening oversight is key to sealing legal loopholes that have escalated capital flight and tax evasion by multinational firms that have invested in the continent, denying governments revenue to support the provision of critical services like clean water, electricity, education and health.

Jason Braganza, the executive director of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, said the urgency to reform the global financial architecture is informed by the need to hasten a green, just and resilient transition in a continent already dealing with climate emergencies, sluggish growth, threat of pandemics and social tensions linked to poverty.

Meanwhile, tax experts are calling on countries to cooperate at the international level to be able to raise taxes and meet the growing expenditure needs.

Dr. Farzana Sharmin from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has emphasized the need to push for inclusivity in the tax system to achieve a just tax system for all.

Sharmin has also highlighted the need to develop knowledge, research, and capacity to deal with emerging global tax issues using experts in governments, the private sector, development partners, and civil society.

She was speaking via a recent Zoom engagement organized by the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) – Uganda together with the Tax Justice Network Africa to unpack the significance of the UN vote for advancing the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and its potential implication on international tax governance.

Experts say the global tax landscape is rapidly evolving, and the recent UN General Assembly’s approval of resolution 77/244 of 30 December 2022 dubbed “Promotion of Inclusive and Effective International Tax Cooperation” marks a pivotal moment in reshaping international tax governance.

The resolution, championed by the Africa Group emphasizes the need for inclusivity in international tax cooperation and highlights the disparity in representation and decision-making within existing frameworks, particularly affecting developing countries and those in special situations.

The adopted resolution is a key milestone for the advocacy of the global south countries that had long decried international tax policies that have failed to address inherent challenges in international tax governance given the “disequilibrium” of the international financial architecture.

Regina Navuga, Programme Coordinator, Financing for Development at SEATINI said, it is essential to ensure that the Convention remains relevant and effective in promoting equity in the ever-evolving realm of international tax cooperation.

She added: “This will also require regional coordination and cooperation. It is better for regional blocs, in this case, the East African Community region, to discuss and come up with a regional position, which can then inform the African position to attain the commitment to strengthening tax systems and fostering tax equity.”

Jolly Mutesi Uhiriwe, a tax lawyer from the Uganda Revenue Authority said, the UN resolution would strengthen countries’ participation in the international tax system. She added that the evolving business environment where businesses are now operating without physical offices requires countries to exchange information to be able to raise the required taxes and meet the expenditure needs in their respective budgets.

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Many Black South Africans have expressed discomfort with a white-led party being back in power, even in a coalition…reports Asian Lite News

In a country where racial segregation was once brutally enforced, South Africa’s new coalition government has brought a Black president and a white opposition leader together in an image of unity.

Yet the power-sharing agreement sealed a week ago between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress party and the Democratic Alliance, one of South Africa’s few white-led parties, has unwittingly renewed some racial rifts.

Many Black South Africans have expressed discomfort with a white-led party being back in power, even in a coalition. The country is haunted by the apartheid system of white minority rule that ended 30 years ago but is still felt by millions among the Black majority who were ruthlessly oppressed by a white government and remain affected by unresolved issues of poverty and inequality.

South Africa is now faced with the likelihood of seeing more white people in senior government positions than ever since apartheid ended. White people make up around 7% of the country’s population of 62 million.

The ANC liberated South Africa from apartheid in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black president. Its three-decade political dominance ended in the landmark May 29 election, forcing it to form a coalition. The DA, with its roots in liberal white parties that stood against apartheid, won the second largest share of votes.

Both have promoted their coming together in a multi-party coalition as a new unity desperately needed in a country with vast socioeconomic problems.

But history lingers. The DA suspended one of its white lawmakers Thursday, days after being sworn into Parliament, over racist slurs he made in a social media video more than a decade ago. Renaldo Gouws — reportedly a student in his 20s at the time — used an especially offensive term for Black people that was infamous during apartheid and is now considered hate speech.

Gouws faces disciplinary action from his party, and the South African Human Rights Commission said it will take him to court. The DA, which previously fended off allegations of favoring whites, is again under scrutiny.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, an important political ally of the ANC, asserted that Gouws’ outburst was symptomatic of a DA that is “soft on racists.” The DA “needs to reflect on and address this if it wants to be accepted as a partner in the government of national unity by ordinary South Africans,” it said.

DA leader John Steenhuisen denied in a television interview that his party is dedicated only to white interests, saying it wouldn’t have won the second largest share of votes in a Black majority country if it was. The DA has Black and white lawmakers and supporters, but its only Black leader left the party in 2019, questioning its commitment to Black South Africans.

Political analyst Angelo Fick said the DA does have a “sense of whiteness” in the eyes of many South Africans and has created that by being “utterly disinterested in speaking to the concerns about race from Black South Africans.”

Shortly before Gouws’ case, racially charged language came from another direction when the MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma — once an ANC leader — called Ramaphosa a “house negro” for entering into the agreement with the DA. Zuma’s party also referred to white DA chairperson Helen Zille as Ramaphosa’s “slave master.”

The MK Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters — the third and fourth biggest parties in Parliament — have refused to join what the ANC calls a government of national unity open to all. They said the fundamental reason is the DA, which they say is committed only to the well-being of South Africa’s white minority.

“We do not agree to this marriage of convenience to consolidate the white monopoly power over the economy,” EFF leader Julius Malema said.

Malema has sometimes provoked racial tensions in demanding change, once saying, “We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now,” and that South Africa’s “white man has been too comfortable for too long.”

He now says his party is not against white people but against a perceived “white privilege” that leaves 64% of Black people in poverty compared with 1% of white people, according to a 2021 report by the South African Human Rights Commission.

Malema represents a new opposition to the ANC by many Black South Africans frustrated over the race-based inequality that’s evident after 30 years of freedom. White people generally live in posh neighborhoods. Millions of Black people live in impoverished townships on the outskirts.

That frustration led many voters to give up on the ANC. The concerns about teaming up with the DA could weaken the party even further.

In his inauguration speech Wednesday, Ramaphosa recognized the “toxic” divisions that remain decades after Mandela preached racial reconciliation. “Our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarized,” Ramaphosa said.

The ANC is trying to use the coalition as a kind of reboot of Mandela’s ideals.

“To us, it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white,” ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said of the agreement with the DA. Mandela had used the phrase to signal he was open to all races serving in South Africa’s government.

“Fundamentally,” Mbalula said, “the question is how do we move the country forward.”

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