Posted by: Teshome Debalke

February 2, 2016 0

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) “Inaugural Meeting of the Ethiopia Working Group presented by  Girma Birru, Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Stephen Hayes President and CEO of The Corporate Council on Africa on Thursday, January 21, 2016 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. at the CCA HQ Washington, DC”, according to CCA.   Unnoticed by the concerned Medias and the public it went on like many others before. 

The meeting with unidentified members of the Working Group appears a preparation for CAA’s 10th biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit that is being hosted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 1-4, 2016.  Apparently, CCA believe it “ will bring together business representatives and government officials, entrepreneurs and investors, decision-makers and managers, from throughout Africa, the United States and beyond, to talk about what you really need to achieve your goals, forge new partnerships, expand your business and, ultimately, make it a success”.

Moreover, CCA claims; “the objectives of this group that aims to foster trade and investment flows between the United States and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia”.

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).that represents most of the major US Corporation involved in Africa got it all wrong. By abandoning the basics of transparency rule of investment and trade from the start; the Council threw the baby with the bath water against the interest of its members and the risks to all concerned as well as the credibility of CCA and the Working Group itself.  Canceling the identity and credential all involved in dealing with totalitarian regimes entangled in all kinds of corruptions and racketeering is misnomer.

The Obama Administration’s misguided policy towards Africa and international agencies’ outlay in the name of development and ‘investment (the new phrase for foreign aid expenditure) and the hasty decisions by the Administration to invite African leaders wholesale in 2014 followed by billions of dollars indiscriminate spending on corrupt regimes aren’t helping CCA to do the right things.

The Council claims it is “a nonprofit, membership-based organization established in 1993 to promote business and investment between the United States and the nations of Africa. CCA is the premier American organization devoted to U.S.-Africa business relations and includes as members more than 180 companies, which represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector investments in Africa”

Since its inception; CAA invited many African Head of States and officials, ‘experts’ and ‘business leaders’. Ironically, in its 23 years existence it did little to help expand US investment and only conducted four trade missions in half a dozen countries of Africa; all in 2015 for a reason.

Most African regimes are totalitarian and are not interested in investment and trade that doesn’t enhance their corrupt business practice and sustain their grips on power. Therefore, as a membership organization with a primary mission of looking after the economic interest of its member, CCA failed the basic transparency rule to distinguish one-from-another regime in governance and transparency to protect the long-term interest of its members, the private sector in general and legitimate businesses that would enhance the private sectors on both sides of the continents.

Africa, a continent with 54 independent nations represents some of the best governed as well as most of the worst dictatorships in the world. Often lumped together as one entity by the international Media and organizations — little attention is given to appreciate nations that transformed their governance to lead trade and investment with the US.

The past decades saw a new way how business is conducted in Africa led by the Communist Republic of China that presently dominates the African contents’ investment expenditure often doing business directly with many illegitimate totalitarian regimes that don’t qualify to represent their respective people. Unfortunately, the decision of ‘don’t ask-don’t tell’ policy of China on governance, corruption and human right violation became the standard operating procedures for many including the US to follow.

CCA is not immune. “The working group divided in several sectors including Agribusiness, infrastructure, energy, Health, security…” neither reviles the members’ identity, background and credential nor made to disclose their relationship with regimes they directly or indirectly benefit in the course of their work.

For instance,  according to CCA “on May 14, CCA’s Security Working Group hosted Ambassador Hiruy Amanuel, former chief of political affairs for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and current UN advisor to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Grouping (IGAD). Ambassador Amanuel led mediation efforts on the South Sudan conflict. The briefing focused on the timeline of the crisis in South Sudan, the key players in the conflict and the efforts of regional and international parties to restore peace in the region.”

How unidentified members of the Security Working Group host a person with close tie with the ruling party of Ethiopia and with no credibility in security matters presented as a former Ethiopian Ambassador to Berlin and as chief of political affairs for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the current UN advisor to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Grouping (IGAD) tells the story of how easily the ruling Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) operatives infiltrated the international community and how CCA failed to independently verify the background of its working groups’ members as and the hosts to protect its members’ interests as well as from violating the US and international laws.

CCA lack of transparency to disclose and its lax requirement to qualify who join its working groups and does business with made it possible for the ruling party’s operatives disguised as government officials, businessmen, civic organization operators and ‘experts’ of one-thing-or-another concealing their true identities and activities to the determinant of members, legitimate entities and the Council’s creditability itself.

In the past, Western governments, multilateral organizations and Foundations played major role in the economic affairs of African nations — supporting and legitimizing authoritarian regimes as long as one can remember and failed miserably to mitigate poor governance, corruption, human right violation  and lack of investment and trade opportunities that sustained  poverty and underdevelopment for far too long.

The new China economic model — the State knows better managing the economy swept the Less-Develop Nation (LDN)  like wildfire because of the philosophy — transparency in governance and corruption matter little to grow the economy and couldn’t come at a better time to legitimize authoritarian regimes’ justification to cling on power for life. Unfortunately, the Western model led by US with little to show for its investment on totalitarian regimes conceded for the new Chinese model that officially legitimized totalitarian rule.

Noting validates that reality than what the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs – Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on BBC Hard Talk a month before President Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia last year and legitimize the authoritarian Ethiopian regime as democratically elected.

In stunning admission; the Assistant Secretary Thomas-Greenfield reviled; not only has the US had no coherent economic policy to engage African nations to promote sustainable trade and investment but conceded for the Chines model as better alternative. CCA representing US ‘private sector’ is not far behind– Failing to come up with better alternative how to engage African regimes.

There is no wonder why Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) that represents the core engines of the US private sector presences in Africa couldn’t come up with  coherent and transparent policy how and why its members engage with African regimes. Nor it failure to discloses or demand disclosure (to the determent of its members and the nation as well as the private sector as a whole) dealing with questionable entities associated with authoritarian regimes of Africa to build the necessary confidence for US private investments to flourish.

The question is; if the only organization that engages African regimes on behalf of the US private sector can’t do it, who would demand change on the US policy and/or transparency from the respective African regimes?

As the US private sector remain uninformed spectators what goes on in authoritarian ruled African regimes’ investment environment, responsible institutions like CCA, US government bodies, development agencies and Medias’ failure to do due diligence in order to sort out who-is-who in the business of African nations cost the US private sector many opportunities in favor of others.

As the ongoing CAA’s 10th biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit happens as we speak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 1-4, Georgetown University Africa Rising: Business in Action Conference hosted by Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and the Walsh School of Foreign Service’s African Studies Program will follow in Washington, D.C. on the 6th of February 2016, according to organizers.

Africa may be rising and business may be in action. But, what in actuality is rising and in action is corrupt regimes’ racketeering by silencing their respective populations at gun point legitimized by the international community.

Unfortunately, the model regime that mastered corruption and racketeering as investment and trade is the same country CAA’s 10th biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit is being held as we speak.

The Corporate Council on Africa could have been a pioneer organization on how US companies can be the model of investment and trade in Africa if only it follows the very transparency and rule of law that made its member companies pioneers of their trade. Instead, it became a Forum of dictators and their operatives.

Ethiopians and the international community, including the Medias must and should be present in every African investment and trade venue to challenge the participants; transparent governance and the rule of law comes first before investment and trade take place with totalitarian ruled nations.

Failure to make concerned institutions and individuals involved unaccountable amounts to complicity on crimes against humanity and corruption.