President Kabbah Returns From African Union Summit On Employment And Poverty Alleviation
By Marian Samu
9th September, 2004: President Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has returned to Freetown after attending a two-day Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa.

The lack of employment opportunities, he said, compounded by inappropriate remuneration, fuel social tensions and encourages the migration of well-trained and talented Africans out of the continent.

President Kabbah noted that since independence, we have marginalized the problem in our national socio-economic strategic and policy interventions, and in post-conflict countries like Sierra Leone, the employment situation is even more critical with the hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants, displaced persons and refugees that have come into the unemployment statistics.

The President further stated that agriculture, which is the main stay of our economy and which employs the majority of the population, have had little impact on the employment problem, largely because of its underdeveloped and subsistence nature.

He therefore proposed that a properly developed agriculture sector apart from being a ready source of export revenue and wealth will offer a reliable avenue for absorbing large numbers of unemployed labour, particularly the youth. He said that many young women and men who have been exposed to conflict can easily find themselves trapped in the cauldron of violence that may continue to threaten the stability of countries thereby reversing the progress that is being made in peace-building and security.

President Kabbah expressed delight that employment creation is gaining explicit consideration particularly at the level of the African Union.
He stated that while the public sector remains the main driver of employment and job creation, as an employer of last resort, it is no longer sustainable, given its inability to create jobs fast enough to accommodate the rising numbers of new entrants into the labour market. He however said that it is still feasible for a government-led strategy for job creation to be implemented if substantial resources to support pro-employment schemes like road construction and other public works are provided.

Talking about the private sector President Kabbah noted that in spite of the extensive incentives that government have offered private investors, the private sector has not achieved much in the way of growth and job creation, compared with more dynamic emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. He therefore suggested an injection of massive and sustained development assistance to upgrade our infrastructure, including energy, telecommunications and transport facilities, and also for donor countries to be more proactive in encouraging potential investors in their countries to invest in Africa.

President Kabbah said that it is clear that many African countries cannot by themselves mobilize the volume of resources necessary for the level of investment that will lift their economies from the low level of performance in which they currently find themselves, and especially the prevailing conditions in the international economic environment. He said that the role of development assistance is critical in creating the conditions for raising the level employment in African countries.

At the end of two days of deliberations, the African Heads of State issued a Declaration committing them to tackle the challenges posed by pervasive poverty and unemployment, and a Plan of Action identifying eleven key priority areas. These includes: ensuring political leadership and commitment to create an enabling environment of good governance for investment, development in the context of NEPAD and the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); promotion of the agricultural sector and rural development; development of an appropriate frame work for integration and harmonization of economic and social policies, improving and strengthening existing social protection schemes; empowerment of women by integrating them in the labour market; human and institutional capacity building; utilizing key sectors with high employment potential; building international cooperation; promoting regional and economic cooperation; targeting and empowering unbearable groups; and mobilization of resources at national, regional and international levels.

The plan of Action provides guidelines and key objectives for member states to formulate their own mechanisms based on their national needs.

The Heads of States and governments also drafted an Appeal inviting the International Community, rich European, American and Asian countries, Regional Economic Communities as well as Financial and Banking Institutions, the United Nations and its specialized agencies and the African Diaspora, to contribute in their own diverse ways in helping African countries achieve their objective on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa.

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