Interview

GLENEAGLES DELIVERED SIGNIFICANT STEPS

His Excellency Mr Gordon Wetherell, British High Commissioner to Ghana.

It has been suggested that the June 2005 decisions and those at the Gleneagles summit that not only endorsed but also expanded them, had been prompted by the strong advocacy for more aid to Africa mounted by the British government's Commission for Africa (CFA). "Africa," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "is a blot on the conscience of the West." And he is known to have used every opportunity, as host of the 2005 G8 Summit and President-in-waiting of the European Commission, to press for debt cancellation and for more aid.

So it was to be expected of Gleneagles to adopt a number of the recommendations of the Commission for Africa, and even though Mr Blair was not fully satisfied with the exclusion of many CFA recommendations, he was not totally disappointed with what he got.  As British High Commissioner in Ghana, Gordon Wetherell, was happy to note, as many as 50 CFA recommendations were translated into commitments at the Gleneagles G8 Summit.

But not everyone was happy with the Gleneagles decisions. A number of international pressure groups which had been calling for total debt write-off for all poor countries have made strident criticism of the Summit decisions, saying it provides only 10% of the relief needed, covering only a third of the countries that needed it. Even more others were ready to dismiss the Gleneagles Summit as unsuccessful, for the reason that the decisions only affirmed existing decisions on debt cancellation.

The British Prime Minister, who had used his high profile international leadership position to promote total debt cancellation, was ready to accept what was attained at Gleneagles, noting that in international negotiations one did not always get what one wanted. And High Commissioner Wetherell in Accra noted that Britain "made progress in all the areas, many of which went beyond what we might have expected at this time last year."

Mr Wetherell was quite pleased that Ghana was to be a beneficiary of debt relief and enhanced aid. But he advised that  to be able to make effective use of aid, Ghana needed to embark on the complex, slow process of strengthening the ability of its public service to implement government policies.

He described Ghana as an "important beneficiary that is relatively well aided, compared with other African countries. Ghana's economic policies," he noted, "have led to strong economic growth and its governance is steadily improving." But if it was to make effective use of increased aid flows, then "Ghana needs to make real progress in improving public service capacity and public financial management, in  particular." [ Back ]     read more >>