# PWYP Open Letter to Secretary Clinton: The U.S. Should Do More to Support Transparency Efforts in Africa (pdf)
On August 5, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a strong call for transparency and accountability as part of her 11-day tour of Africa. In remarks delivered at the 8th Forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act in Nairobi, Kenya, Clinton argued that economic development in Africa depends on cooperation between government, industry and civil society in pushing for better governance—a roster of actors that mirrors the multi-stakeholder approach advocated by the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative—as well as responsible management of natural resource wealth.
"True economic progress depends not only on the hard work of millions of people who get up every day and do the best they can," said Secretary Clinton. "[It] also depends on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law, and deliver results for their people. This is not just about good governance; this is about good business. Investors will be attracted to states that do this, and they will not be attracted to states with failed or weak leadership, or crime and civil unrest or corruption that taints every transaction and decision."
"The private sector and civil society are playing an increasingly important role across Africa in holding governments accountable and demanding fairer, more open, more just economies and societies," Clinton continued.
Secretary Clinton's promotion of open and accountable governments represents a new focus at the U.S. State Department, and what Clinton herself called "a new era of transparency in government." From the beginning of her confirmation hearings last January, Clinton has focused on transparency both domestically—marking "Freedom of Information Day" in the U.S. in March—and in resource-rich nations. In her opening statements to the Senate in January, she said that one of the Obama administration's top foreign policy objectives was "helping African nations to conserve their natural resources and reap fair benefits from them," and explained the connection between equitable resource management and political, economic, humanitarian and security interests.
Revenue Watch commends Secretary Clinton for her support of the transparency movement, and urges the administration to keep these principles in mind in supporting specific policies of accountability and openness in Africa's oil- and mineral-rich nations, where different histories, resources and governments create unique circumstances for each country's progress towards transparency.
Clinton expanded upon these thoughts in Kenya this week, highlighting the need for nations with sizable extractive industry revenues to make long-term economic plans and to engage in the global transparency movement. "Sustainable progress is not possible in countries that fail to be good stewards of their natural resources," she said, "where the profits from oil and minerals line the pockets of oligarchs who are corporations a world away, but do little to promote long-term growth and prosperity."
"The solution," Clinton said, "starts with transparency. A famous judge in my country once said that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and there's a lot of sunlight in Africa. African countries are starting to embrace this view through participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative."
In a video address to the AGOA conference, President Obama reinforced the call for transparency in both Clinton's message and his own remarks in Ghana this July. Speaking to the audience in Kenya, President Obama declared that Africans alone could "ensure the good governance and strong institutions upon which development depends" in their own countries. "Development requires the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and an atmosphere that welcomes investment," he said. "And I encourage every country to set concrete goals for overcoming the obstacles to economic growth."
Among the stops of Secretary Clinton's seven-state tour were four nations where the message of transparency, anti-corruption work, and responsible resource management is particularly relevant: Nigeria, Angola, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Liberia's steps towards transparency in recent years make it a notable example for the continent. There, the government is engaging in high degrees of openness and cooperation with civil society in carrying out an active, dynamic EITI process.
The Democratic Republic of Congo offers a less optimistic illustration of resource management and transparency, as mineral wealth and illicit trade of resources continues to fuel violent conflicts, opaque governance and corruption. As Secretary Clinton focuses on the epidemic sexual violence that is sweeping the DRC, she should also emphasize the partial roots of that violence in resource conflicts.
Additionally, with the July 25 arrest of Golden Misabiko, Chair of the African
Association for the Protection of Human Rights, Katanga chapter, the government of the DRC joined other repressive African regimes in targeting civilian transparency advocates. Revenue Watch stands with the international Publish What You Pay coalition in demanding Misabiko's immediate release, and calling upon Secretary Clinton to make the harassment and persecution of African transparency activists, from Gabon to the DRC, a priority of U.S. foreign policy.
In Africa's two biggest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola, the interests of U.S. consumers are intimately intertwined with the fates of these economies. RWI hopes that, going forward, Secretary Clinton will focus on particular efforts to further these countries' burgeoning transparency movements.
Nigeria, which has witnessed ongoing violent struggles over resource use and management in its Delta region, has nonetheless made numerous strides towards transparency in the past several years. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has been an early leader in the African transparency community for producing detailed, comprehensive reports on the payments being made to governments by oil companies. However, since the release of these EITI reports covering revenues generated in 2004, the EITI process has stalled, and the government has been inactive on a draft of the 2005 reports for months. Secretary Clinton should call on the government to release these reports promptly, so that EITI can achieve its stated goal of generating rigorous public debate about the management of the oil industry and the revenues it creates.
Additionally, Nigeria is currently embroiled in a major debate about the Petroleum Industry Bill, which would drastically reshape the government petroleum apparatus and restructure the fiscal regime governing oil. The debate about whether the details of the bill will ultimately benefit the country should rest in the hands of Nigeria's citizens and their legislators. But regardless of the fate of the bill's provisions, the U.S. government should support the government in its critical underlying goal to revamp the corrupt and inefficient administrative structure that currently manages extraction and relationships with foreign companies.
In Angola, a state that for decades illustrated the ills of the "resource curse," with diamond and oil revenues fueling violence in its long civil war, transparency and openness are new principles of governance. The government has increased transparency of petroleum revenues during the last several years, publishing monthly figures on the receipts generated in each of its major oil blocks, and was praised for the openness of its most recent oil contract bidding process. Secretary Clinton should encourage the government to pursue similar progress in the transparency of public expenditure, which remains extremely opaque. The International Budget Partnership's Open Budget Index gave Angola a score of three out of 100 for budget transparency, meaning that the country's citizens receive virtually no information on how their country's oil revenues are being spent.
There is also very little openness or accountability associated with Angolan participation in oil and gas production. In addition to the national oil company Sonangol, Angolan private companies own minority shares in oil-producing consortia, and Angolan service companies earn lucrative sub-contracts. Almost all of these companies are controlled by a small political elite with close ties to the Angolan presidency, and there is very little opportunity for ordinary Angolans to benefit from oil contracts or accountability in the award of these contracts.
Revenue Watch is heartened to see that the State Department and administration understand the imperative of promoting transparency and accountability in countries that depend on resource wealth, and we encourage them to implement these ideals with specific attention to the individual needs and experiences of Africa's resource-rich states.
LEARN MORE
- As Obama Travels to Ghana, RWI Calls for Oversight of Oil Wealth | Français
- U.S.: A New Focus on Transparency at State Department
- Secretary Clinton's Remarks at the 8th Forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (U.S. Department of State)
- Clinton Visit Should Address Conflicts in Resource Rich Countries (The East African)
- Obama Encourages Increased U.S.- African Trade (CBS)
