Governments must become more citizen-centric says Archbishop

NEW YORK - Sept. 29, 2015 - PRLog -- Governments must become citizen-centric: informed by the belief that government exists not as a power over citizens, but exists to serve citizens, said Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and President of African Monitor, Njongo Ndungane at the United Nations Summit in New York.

Speaking at a high-level event at the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda last week, 25 to 27 September 2015, Archbishop Njongo said that citizen satisfaction should become the best measure of government success.

“Citizen-centric governments have institutions that are agile and respond effectively to the needs of citizens and the private sector. Increasing citizen centricity in governance of institutions is a lever to effective delivery.

“As early as 2009, during a round table meeting hosted by African Monitor, we saw that African countries were not fully committed to the development goals.

“For instance, we saw that governments were not putting the promised 10% of its budget allocation to agriculture.

“We raised this as a huge problem as we know that unless we invest in this sector, which is the mainstay for more than 60% of our people, we will keep facing spiralling hunger and poverty, as well as rural urban migration,” said Archbishop Njongo.

He also said that domestic resource mobilisation is essential in financing development and that Africa needs to reduce its reliance on external resources.

“In the agricultural sector, this can be done by ensuring that small-scale farming is highly productive and financially feasible through market interventions".

The Archbishop emphasised the importance of the delivery of committed resources by donors and national governments in addition to domestic commitments, especially in the agricultural sector.

He also said that African governments need to interrogate its means of implementation of the development plans going forward so that they are not based on promises which are unlikely to be delivered.

“African Monitor’s work on monitoring development commitments by both African and donor governments has shown that it is the delivery of funding commitments and the channelling of those resources to the sectors with the greatest potential to transform citizens’ lives that will make a substantial difference going forward.

“This is the best way for us to ensure implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063.

“Africa has the energy and the ability to ensure that implementation of the SDGs are achieved, but it must not allow itself to be distracted by inter-continental politics.

“Its constituent stakeholders must take the ‘bull by the horns’ and do it”.

In addition to the importance of self-reliance, the Archbishop spoke about how vital it is to redefine public-private partnerships in order to fit into this era of sustainable development.

“I am apprehensive about public private partnerships which mushroomed in the last decade or so,” he said.

“In some cases, the neglect of the key principle of mutual benefit has resulted in less optimal development outcomes, leading to costly and inaccessible services.

“These partnerships need to adopt a citizen centric approach to doing business.

“Life changing innovations must be made and more risks taken by governments and other stakeholders to empower the small-scale and marginalised farmer.

“This should also not be left to the private sector. Public resources should not be used to underwrite private sector risks, while the private sector reaps the profits”.

During the discussion, the Archbishop said that another way to ensure a more citizen-centric approach is to make sure that public-private engagements and contracts be made open and flexible to public scrutiny and review through the period, to ensure governments don’t lock themselves in unsustainable partnerships.

“What this means is that the private sector should be willing to equitably share the burden of implementing the post-2015 Agenda at national, regional and global levels.

“These partnerships should raise citizen agency to deliver development outcomes, assist in integrating the NEPAD Agency's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and SDG framework with the broader economic development agenda at national, regional and continental levers.

“It should also deliver accessible innovation, knowledge and technology as well as strengthen our ability to respond to agricultural crisis at all levels in a coordinated level.

Archbishop Njongo stressed that “Our challenges are great and therefore we cannot afford not to implement these goals.

“Africa must have the will and make a concerted effort to implement them, not to do so is to fail our people”.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda refers to a process led by the United Nations that aims to help define the future global development framework with SDGs that will succeed the UN Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight global development targets which come to an end in 2015.