Africa’s Fault

Let’s make it crystal clear: If the United States does not give Africa the kind of preferences program the continent badly requires, do not blame the United States. Blame for a lame African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a program that has been on the books since President Clinton signed it into law in 2000, must lie with the Africans. You cannot accuse the United States for hiding its badly polarized political system. Everyone, except apparently the Africans, knows that although Congress is where things sometimes die, Africa has a special place in their hearts. And so, what Africa wants, Africa usually gets. Secondly, you cannot fault the United States for not really taking Africa as an equal partner. What is a major economy supposed to do about a partner who exports less than 2% of their produce to them? And more than anything else, if the Jews can get whatever they want from the United States – even to the detriment of U.S. national security – then Africa’s failure to get an enhanced AGOA can only be Africa’s fault. At the end of the day, it comes down to the dictum: ‘Ask and you will receive.’

And this is so true about the United States and its legislative body. With 535 members, the United States Congress is perhaps the most open body in the world. Each Senator’s door and each Representative’s door is marked by the words ‘Please Come In.’ If you have an issue, you can get it listened to by either the principal themselves or at least, by one of their senior staff. If this does not happen, then you could get a group of 10 friends and have them make at least 10 phone calls to a specific office. Every number is published – and with 10 phone calls times 10 people, that will be more than 100 phone calls – including yourself, of course. These 100 phone calls will be registered and you will have gotten yourself on the legislative map.

Africa should have done this a long time ago. If all 40 AGOA beneficiaries had come together to either lobby as a group or hired lobbyists for agriculture, rules of origin, eligibility or simple renewal, at least, all four issues would have seen the light of day. But as it stands now, the Obama Administration and Congress can only do so much without the direct input of the Africans.

What befuddles anyone is how, after all these years, Africa does not really understand the U.S. political system. What happened to all those who come here for meetings at either the World Bank or the United Nations? Do we, as Africans, just come and marvel at the Statue of Liberty or the Lincoln Memorial and then return to our respective countries without anything sizable? Did we think that because the Republicans are in charge of Congress, we would not get anything passed? How could a group of African honorables tell the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that all they wanted in an enhanced AGOA was the inclusion of tuna and leaf tobacco?

While leaf tobacco’s inclusion in AGOA would have gone a long way to benefit countries like Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya, the tuna matter is more of a rules of origin issue than one of product coverage. Seminally, if all you want in AGOA is tuna and tobacco, what about those products like sweetened cocoa, sugar and cotton that are currently subject to tariff rate quotas (TRQs)?

In the end, a more efficient AGOA should be able to solve the issues Africa has had with the program these 14 or so years later. Africa should be exporting things like beef to the U.S. if they can solve their sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) issues. AGOA can even help with regional integration. But under the circumstances, none of these things will come to pass. Africa neither specifically asked nor lobbied for them.

The Habari Network Editorial Board
February 2, 2015