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DR MANU CHANDARIA Private sector needs to come to the party Posted Thu, 03 Mar 2005
Kenyan industrialist Dr Manu Chandaria says business leaders have to be
ready to confront Africa�s leadership if sanity is to be brought back to the political
systems of most African countries. He wants business leaders to be bold and
speak out against politicians if positive change is to take place.
By Patrick Mwangi
Unless and until governments
and the private sector in Africa
sit together to seek solutions to
problems, real growth is not going
to take place.
�If the private sector does nothing to confront
these issues, in 20 years it will have lost sight of
the fact that it too needs to change and adapt to
a rapidly changing world,� said Kenyan tycoon
Dr Manu Chandaria at the recent Eskom
African Business Leaders Forum (EABLF) in
Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was one
of the key speakers.
Dr Chandaria, 75, is the chairman of the
Comcraft Group of Companies, a family chain
of businesses that spans 40
countries, employing
thousands of people and grossing hundreds of
millions of dollars in revenue. He is a past chairman
of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers,
an industrial lobby group of industrialists,
and currently chairs the Kenya Private Sector
Alliance, an umbrella body bringing together
200 private sector organisations.
Declaring the 21st century the century for
Africa, Dr Chandaria termed the EABLF a
�tremendous achievement,� describing it as a
platform to create future leaders and saying it
stood out because it was a �total African initiative.�
The EABLF was organised by Business in Africa magazine,
and sponsored by Eskom Holdings Limited, MTN, Honeywell,
National Ports of South Africa, and South African Broadcasting
Corporation.
Dr Chandaria says the biggest problem in Africa today is
poverty, which cannot be reduced if wealth is not created. He
laments that despite the private sector being the engine for
economic development,
creation of wealth and employment, � in
reality, more often than not the private sector is able to do little
more than look after its own interests by manouvering to make
the best of whatever situation it finds itself in and movement forward
is no more than half-hearted.�
He decries the dominance of politics in the body politic of
Africa. �Politics is so dominant that the economy has never been
given a chance,� he says, noting that while there was politics
in developed countries, it did not play as much a role at centre
stage as it did in African countries.
He wants the private sector to create umbrella bodies to develop
the capacity to articulate crucial issues as stakeholders and
anticipate when policies were being planned. �The order of the
day has been that the Government simply pronounces policies
and very often creates more controls and impediments,� he said.
�More often than not, rather than facilitating business, such
pronouncements force the
private sector to waste valuable time
finding solutions, repairing damage done to the business environment,
or trying to convince Government that certain things
must be changed.�
Turning to Kenya, Dr Chandaria highlights the Kenya Government
and private sector�s new partnership, called the National
Economic and Social Council and chaired by the country�s
president, Mwai Kibaki. He said that the new government had
made clear they wanted an umbrella body for joint formulation
of policy. �So we sat together and worked out a methodology of
change so that we maintained a continuous state of responsible
dialogue with Government.�
He said despite the fact that people were feeling disillusioned
after the high expectations that followed the massive electoral
victory of the Government in 2002, a lot of good was being
done.�The question is how we can capitalise on that good.�
He lauds the Kenya Government for trying to create a corruption
free system, reform
the public service, and end political
wrangling. �If they can put this right, nothing can stop Kenya
from attaining its original leadership. Remember that Kenya has
always led amongst its neighbours.�
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