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| The late Kofi Annan |
In 2002, he helped set up “The
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria”. It has since secured
billions of dollars for over 1000 programmes in over 150 countries.
In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
These and many other issues
including governance and democracy in Africa are issues he highlighted in his
book “Interventions: A Life in War and Peace”.
In one chapter, Annan described how
at a Press conference in Gabon, just as his tenure began as UN
Secretary-General in 199, a journalist asked him why he often criticised
African governments, to which he replied: “I work a lot for Africa and I
recognise its hardships, but I reserve the right to criticise Africans.”
He later told New African: “The
struggle that led to independence in many African nations, sometimes led to the
creation of national movements, and not necessarily political parties.
“When independence was achieved in
some of these countries, they often found themselves in one big group.
“This led to a party-regime where
the leaders did not tolerate differences, and stayed on. The sort of qualities
that make dynamic, and revolutionary fighters, are not necessarily the same
qualities you need to run a nation. This leads to difficulties.”
Annan believed that Africa must look
beyond its colonial past to try and understand its current problems.
In other words, Africa must look at
itself, if it is to prosper, socially and economically.
An optimist by nature, and a pragmatist
who spoke his mind, Annan believed this is already happening.
“African governments are becoming more
sensitive to democratic demands.
“This is because civil society is putting
pressure on the politicians to do the right thing. We are now at the stage
where we are seeing the generational change of leaders, who are better
educated, and who know what they want from themselves, and their fellow
citizens.”
Story by: reGina Jane
Jere, a Zambian-born London-based journalist
