1. Just left a webinar on Africa and #Covid with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, head of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change @InstituteGC . He was interviewed by @PineauCarol and the event was hosted by @InvestAfrica1 . TB is A brilliant leader I respect. Takeaways:
2. The quality of governance is the single most important success factor for African countries. That means not just transparency and accountability but, very importantly, efficacy or effectiveness. There is no mystery about governance, and lessons can be learned.
3. It’s no use having democracy without having “the spirit of democracy”. This means the primacy of certain institutions must be “beyond contention”, especially the rule of law and its institutions. African govts should focus on building long-term resilience.
4. There is need for a common view of the future in African countries (in Nigeria this is absent, with agreement, let alone movement, lacking on a restructuring back to real constitutional federalism in which powers devolve downward from an “almighty” federal government.).
5. Western democracies have delivered for their people only because there is a common view of the future, there is a consensus around the role and independence of institutions, and building on what previous governments achieved.
6. Investors hate uncertainty.They want predictability in policy. This assumes, of course, investment-friendly policy. We need to first create wealth before we can re-distribute it. We just need to make the cake a lot bigger first, then we can all get a bigger slice of it.
7. I asked what he thought of the challenge African countries face with the focus of politicians on electoral cycles instead a long view. This has prevented democracy from delivering real dividends, but Asia developed without the classic Western-style democracy we are copying.
8. He prefers democracy, but admits:while countries can succeed as democracies or non-democracies, we can’t succeed as a democracy where it’s all about a contest of ugly interests such as tribalism and corruption, with politicians just “fighting to get their snouts in the trough”
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