Africa’s impoverishment and underdevelopment has been blamed on the poor management of public sector governance.
The outgoing chairman of the African Organization of Public Accounts Committees (AFROPAC), Emmanuel Nuquay, said “Africa has remained impoverished not because of the lack of resources but because we have been poorly managed.”
Nuquay, former speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives and chairperson of the Senate’s Public Account Committee (PAC) made the remarks at the close of the AFROPAC Monrovia Conference, attended by over 150 delegates representing 22 African states.
Established 2015 in Arusha, Tanzania, AFROPAC has provided the platform for deliberations on the continent’s growing financial and governance challenges.
AFROPAC’s fourth General Meeting held at the Farmington Hotel in Margibi County, ended with delegates renewing their commitments to fighting corruption, improve and or strengthen weak public financial management systems across member countries, enhancing legislative overnight in budget spending, as well as curbing money laundering and illicit financial flows on the continent.
A staggering US$88.6 billion leaves the continent annually as a result of Capital flight, Nuquay said, and urged member states to increase concerted efforts to combat the illegitimate financial transactions on a continent whose poverty level is rapidly increasing.
“There’s a need for domestic resource mobilization so that our countries are equipped with adequate financing to address these challenges,” he said.
He added, “In a nutshell, we can say that the main reasons why Africa has not been able to stern out Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) are the lack of strong institutions, not having the right capacity, and not having the right tools or technology to collect the right data.”
