Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
The debate to select
the next President for the African Development Bank AfDB was held last Thursday
in Washington DC, United States.
The two-hour debate
organized by Centre for Global Development (CGD)- United States in partnership
with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the African School of
Economics in Cotonou-Benin was viewed live via video link at the IEA Conference
Hall in Accra by distinguished personalities including, ministers, politicians
and academics.
In all 8 well-groomed
African economists and bankers are vying for the single slot to become the next
AfDB President after Donald Kaberuka of Rwanda leaves office in mid 2015.
The candidates in
alphabetical order include Akinwumi A. ADESINA
of Nigeria, Sufian AHMED of Ethiopia (who did not take part in the
debate), Jaloul AYED of Tunisia and Kordjé BEDOUMRA of Chad.
The rest were Cristina
DUARTE of Cape Verde, Samura M. W. KAMARA
of Sierra Leone, Thomas Z. SAKALA
of Zimbabwe as well as Birama
Boubacar SIDIBE of Mali.
Organizers of the ‘AfDB
Decides’ debate envisaged that the debate would expose audience worldwide to
the most experienced of the candidates in key issues pertinent to the development
of the continent while showcasing their understanding of the work of the AfDB.
They are hoping the
contestation of ideas will ultimately enable the Board of Governors of the bank
to make an informed choice of the most suitable candidate to take up the
position of president of the bank.
Moderated by former
BBC TV journalist Rajesh Mirchandani, there were questions from the organizers
as well as a broad spectrum of personalities, be it academics, politicians or
economists in either French or English and the candidates answered with
precision.
Questions covering the
role of the bank in stabilizing African economies, the bank’s role in fragile
and pos-conflict states, its role in natural resource management, Africa’s
relationship with China as an emerging economic powerhouse and how the bank could
ensure financial inclusion on the continent, were addressed.
Birama Boubacar
SIDIBE of Mali said building the capacity of the private sector in fragile and
post-conflict states was critical for accelerated growth while Cristina DUARTE
of Cape Verde said measuring the impact of funding in an efficient and
transparent manner will boost economic growth.
Dr. Akinwumi A.
ADESINA of Nigeria said he would ensure
that Africa traded on its own terms with China while Samura M. W. KAMARA of Sierra Leone said he would ensure funds
for development “get to where they are supposed to go to.”
Thomas Z. SAKALA of
Zimbabwe said he would ensure the continuous strengthening of financial
institutions and create the enabling environment for the private sector while Jaloul
AYED of Tunisia said he would encourage public private partnership (PPP) to
control infrastructural development.
Kordjé BEDOUMRA of
Chad also said he would promote private sector participation in infrastructural
development and intensify creation of jobs for the youth.
After the debate, Dr.
John Kwakye of the IEA said “this was a grilling process for the candidates”
and hoped “whoever is chosen will deliver on his/her promise.”
No comments:
Post a Comment