| June 7, 2005 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1426 |
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Africa’s need for help
Charged parking
MORE than four months after the election, Iraq is nowhere near the task of framing a permanent constitution for the country. The very purpose of holding elections to the transitional assembly on Jan 30 was to frame the basic law. However, the writing of a new and permanent constitution has not even begun. In talks with US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Iraqi officials have asked America to play a greater role in Iraqi affairs, including helping with constitution-making. This is extraordinary. To be meaningful and lasting, a constitution must be written by the people’s representatives and not imposed from outside or from above by an elite. More important, writing a constitution is a complex task because it must take into account the state’s demographic, historical and socio-economic realities. The task can thus be performed by the people’s elected representatives and no one else — least of all a foreign power which is the least likely candidate for the job.
The reason for the delay in framing a constitution is the divisive nature of Iraqi politics. Even in the best of times it would not be easy to reconcile the imperatives of a strong government with the hopes and aspirations of Iraq’s various ethnic communities. Until the overthrow of the Baathist regime, the Sunnis were in a dominant position in the government, even though they were, and still are, in a minority. The Shias constitute a large majority and rightly expect to play their due role in post-war Iraq. The Kurds, suppressed for long, are now keen to achieve their cultural and political rights and want to make a success of the democratic process. The Sunni minority, however, does not seem to have reconciled itself to the new situation. It boycotted the election, and for that reason has fewer MPs in the assembly than its population ratio would warrant. Evidently, it considers those who were involved in the electoral process as America’s collaborators. For that reason, insurgency, in which the Shias previously played a major role, is now restricted to the Sunnis.
The task of winning over the Sunnis to the constitutional process is essentially that of the Iraqi leadership. Yet press reports have spoken of the Iraqi government asking the US to use its influence with President Hosni Mobarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan to intercede with the Iraqi Sunni leadership and make it cooperate. In the first place, it is doubtful if the Sunni resistance, led by Al Qaeda’s Iraq chapter leader Mosab al-Zarqawi, will listen to these leaders whom it considers to be American agents. Secondly, effecting national reconciliation is a task which the Iraqi leaders alone can accomplish. Peace cannot return unless the US gives a specific date for the withdrawal of its troops. At present, the occupation looks like an open-ended prospect, and this is what is fuelling the insurgency. The best course for the Iraqi government would be to involve the UN in Iraqi affairs in a meaningful way. So far, the world body has played a peripheral role in post-war Iraq. It is for America to work out a withdrawal timetable that synchronizes with the induction of a UN peacekeeping force. Once the world body is in charge of Iraq, fresh elections can be held for forming a new government and crafting a new constitution. Unless the Bush administration sees the wisdom of such a step one does not see how Iraq’s agony can come to an end.
NEXT month’s summit of the G-8 industrialized nations in Scotland should have been good news for African countries as it will focus on pulling their continent out of the debt trap, poverty and related socio-economic problems that have hindered its progress so far. However, differences that have cropped up among the G-8 members over the modalities of payment for debt relief, and indeed the aid amount itself, are expected to cast a long shadow over the prospects of a durable solution to the African crisis. Prime Minister Tony Blair would like to see African aid doubled by $25 billion and to create an International Finance Facility (IFF) that would borrow against future pledges from donors. However, President George Bush has shot down the idea, saying that it did not fit in with his country’s “budgetary process”. Neither has his administration taken kindly to the suggestion that Africa’s debt to international institutions should be cancelled without a corresponding reduction in aid.
Whatever their differences, these should not be allowed to obscure the overall goal of eliminating poverty and hardship in Africa. Human development indicators are falling and Africa remains hopelessly mired in the trap of Aids, debt, internal strife and poverty. As a result of unfair trade practices, Africa’s six per cent share in world trade in 1980 dropped to two per cent by the turn of the century. Aids kills more than 6,000 people daily, while civil war has made millions homeless. Meanwhile, many African governments spend more on debt servicing than on uplifting the social sector. Although development assistance to the continent has been considerable, the UN estimates that this has to be doubled if Africa is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Obviously, the industrialized countries must contribute generously if these anomalies are to be corrected. They will also have to evolve a stricter mechanism of checks and balances to ensure that the financial assistance does not end up in the pockets of corrupt elements — and also review their own assistance policies so that aid to Africa does not come with strings attached.
THE city government’s decision to resume charged parking in the covered areas of Karachi may run into trouble as a result of people’s resistance to it — which is what had led to its discontinuation in August last year. With high-rise buildings and shopping malls coming up all too often in the city with no thought being given to space for parking, there is need to have assured parking areas in the city. When it was first introduced a few years ago, charged parking was viewed positively until it hit a few snags: the areas were not clearly demarcated and in many places the parking fee was being collected without authorization. While it is true that a few people had abused this facility, this is a problem that can be easily tackled through proper management. Parking attendants should be made to wear uniforms, carry proper identification and issue receipts for the collected fees which should be displayed inside the car to prevent any kind of abuse. When the scheme was enforced, there was some semblance of discipline in the traffic flow and people felt that it also reduced chances of car theft as one parked in a cordoned off area. People are again having to double or triple park cars, which clogs up traffic lanes and increases the chances of theft.
There is something odd about people who spend huge amounts of money on luxury cars but are not willing to pay, say, 10 rupees to park their car in a safe place. They do not realize that charged parking generates revenue for the city government which can spend this money on improving the city’s infrastructure, civic services and facilities. The scheme also creates respectable jobs for people and promises to streamline the parking problem, especially in crowded shopping areas in various parts of the city.