Peter Kimemia

As the six-day Africities summit came to a close on 24 September 2006 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi it emerged that many African countries will probably not attain the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015 as agreed to within the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. Africities is a forum that focuses on encouraging political dialogue and exploration of themes such as the decentralisation of power, functions and national resources in African governments. The summit has been held every three years since 1998 and brings together central and local government, NGOs, the private sector, research and training institutions as well as representatives of the Municipal Development Partnerships (MDPs) as set up by donor agencies.

The Africities summit includes the initiative towards an African municipal movement and promotes the advocacy role of local governments and their inclusion in national and international development forums. It therefore provides a platform for continental exchange of information on good governance practices. These exchanges involve elected local government officials like mayors, technical personnel and local government research and training institutions (Luseno, 2005).

The theme for the most recent summit was Building Local Coalitions for the Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in African Local Governments. Under the spotlight were the usual topics including the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring universal primary education for all, promoting gender equality and empowering women as well as reducing the high child mortality rate. Other challenges that were discussed included the improvement of maternal health, management of HIV and AIDS, malaria among other diseases, eradication of slums, environmental sustainability and the need to develop a global partnership for development.

The discussion ranged from the quest for universal primary education to the push for greater autonomy for local authorities. The United Cities and Local Government Association’s (UCLGA) president, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, called for stronger local authorities for improved performance in delivering essential services. Mkhatshwa also called for the restructuring of local authorities to improve transparency and accountability and urged them to facilitate people’s participation in decision-making. Except for South Africa, most local authorities in other parts of Africa are tightly controlled by their respective central governments. This not only blurs accountability but hampers service delivery and participatory democracy at the local level. In many cases, poor local governance practices are the result of being sub-ordinate to a wayward central government.

On the topic of education, the conference noted that since the goals framed by the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, much effort has gone into the pursuit of Universal Primary Education (UPE). There has been a steady rise in primary school enrolments in Africa and several countries have introduced free primary education, thus allowing more children to enrol and remain in school. Countries like Uganda have announced plans to launch universal secondary education but the notion of free education has yet to fully overcome problems like teacher shortages, over-crowded classrooms and insufficient teaching and learning materials. The required capital outlays are in short supply for most of the participating countries. Thus, despite commendable efforts around universal education, a number of African countries, South Africa included, may fall behind the scheduled targets. Given that education is generally a national function, the political will and commitment to this endeavour must be reflected in reasonable national budgetary allocations. The much sought-after long-term growth in productivity, poverty eradication and development in these countries are in large part dependent on training of a critical mass of people. Provision of UPE is an inescapable first building block in this regard.

References

• East African Standard (EAS), 2006. Kenya: Association wants local authorities to be given autonomy (20 September 2006). Available online at www.eastandard.net
• Luseno, D., 2005. What it means for Nairobi to host cities meet. Kenya Times, 23 September 2006. Available online at www.timesnews.co.ke
• Nkinyangi, S., 2006. Universal Primary Education. Paper presented by the UNESCO senior education adviser during the Africities summit at Nairobi in 2006.

The Local Government Transformer Vol. 12 No. 5 Oct/Nov 2006