UNWTO: Africa should unite behind Mzembi Dr Mzembi
Dr Mzembi

Dr Mzembi

Nick Mangwana:View from the Diaspora

IN 1991 the United Nations was due to have a new Secretary- General to replace the outgoing Javier Perez de Cuellar. The Organisation of African Unity (now AU) declared that it will oppose any candidate who was not an African, because it was the region’s chance to lead this global institution.As facts go, the region had never been represented at that level. So China and the Non-Aligned Movement backed the move. When it was time for Africa to present its candidate, it presented four of them two of which were quite viable. These were Dr Bernard Chidzero then Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister and Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt.

Bernard Chidzero had worked for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNICTAD) from 1968 to 1980. From 1977 to 1980 he had worked as its Deputy Secretary-General. By 1991 he had become a senior and respected minister in the Government of Zimbabwe.

During the UN Secretary-General bid, he was chairing the Joint Ministerial Committee for the World Bank and IMF (1986-1999). Regardless of this impressive CV, Dr Chidzero lost to Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then a man who had been Egypt’s foreign minister.

He could not last two terms.

Let us fast forward to 2017. One of the Specialised Agency for the United Nations known as the United Nations World Tourism Organisations (UNWTO) is having elections for a Secretary-General.

Africa has not been represented at that level again, as was the case in 1991. The African Union has taken on this. Dr Walter Mzembi the Tourism Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe was chosen as its candidate.

It appeared that the matter had been settled. Africa was going to speak with one voice. And with good lobbying and strategic voting the very important post would be won by a candidate from the continent for the first time ever. But as it always is with most things on the continent, fissures soon emerged.

When everyone had thought that the issue of Africa’s candidate had been settled what happened next? Allen St Ange of the Seychelles threw his hat in the ring. Wait a minute, isn’t Seychelles in Africa? Of course it is. So why did he go against the whole continent? The answer is found in both Global politics and selfish ambition.

Let’s look at the selfish ambition first. Like all concoctions brewed in secret, the froth soon comes to the brim for all to see. Allen St Ange let slip that he wants to use the global tourism post to raise his personal profile so that in two years he would be contesting for the presidency of his country!

This will put Africa at a serious disadvantage because it would have lost a serious opportunity whose benefits we are going to see later. Now can we have 54 countries’ hopes sacrificed at the altar of the personal ambition of an individual?

This is an opportunity for Africa to promote its tourism for the next eight years leaving an enduring legacy for many generations to come.

So it is now down to the rest of African nations not to allow themselves to be hoodwinked by candidates with no real commitment to both global and the development of African Tourism. But there is also the sinister angle where global powers have a consistent template of thwarting Africa’s efforts at progression by a simple divide and rule modus operandi.

There are some who swear to the presence of evidence that some Western Powers assured Allen of their votes so as to divide the powerful African vote. This is not because they prefer his candidature. Forget that. This is calculated to give a different candidate an edge.

Allen St Ange, is being used as a spoiler to foil the success of an African candidate. It is why people wonder how they could defy both Sadc and AU who proclaimed Dr Mzembi their candidate.

Is the idea that a Minister of Zimbabwe’s Government cannot be seen at the helm of such a global organisation playing out again? There is probably some truth in it.

Let’s face it; how big is Seychelles that they could defy their sub-regional mother body in Sadc and their continental body as in the African Union? There shouldn’t be any surprise in the next couple of years when a very expensive presidential election bid is pitched.

To understand that one should follow the money spoor, there is corruption even in international institutions of this magnitude. One cannot surely be surprised. Remember Fifa? That’s the same here.

It is clear that if Dr Mzembi’s bid fails, it will be Africa’s failure. The only way this ploy should be foiled is for all African countries to stand by the position taken by the continental body and defy this manoeuvre to deprive Africa control of the soul of global tourism. This is how important this issue is to Africa.

It is the third largest world export earner after fuels and chemicals. Even Foodstuffs and Automobiles trail fourth and fifth. It is not easily understood, but perhaps kept so deliberately such that those that benefit the most out of it continue to do so unabated, with Africa taking home only 5 percent of a cake, that employs 288 million people worldwide, generates $1,5 trillion in exports, $8 trillion GDP and closed the year 2015 with 1,2 billion international tourists. Africa share was $34 billion and 53 million arrivals respectively.

Keeping Africa indifferent is part of the strategy and any revolutionary approach on growth with equity is likely to face resistance. This is why all countries receipting under $500million in income should join the crusade for an African Secretary General.

This is exactly what both Sadc and AU wisely saw and that wisdom is seen in their taking a continental position to have only one candidate. To allow divide and conquer is to allow self-defeating stratagem that puts the continent at a disadvantage.

This has happened too many times in the past. Let us never forget that Boutros Boutros-Ghali only served one term and Africa’s chance was gone. It will be the same script now if this term is allowed to be lost by allowing this opportunity to be used as presidential bid prop for elections in Seychelles.

Africa has been a victim of negative so-called Travel Advisories. Impressions are given that Al- Shabaab is in all East Africa, Ebola in the whole West Africa and terrorism in the whole of North Africa.

Closer to home South Africa is labelled as infested by muggers and Zimbabwe as unstable. These are challenges that an African Secretary- General has to grapple with. Running this institution puts Africa in a very advantageous position. The mantra in this case is “One Continent, One Candidate”.

As to which of the two candidates Africa should back, it’s a simple decision. It should be the candidate that Sadc and the AU have already endorsed. Reform to the tourism politics can only come this way.

It is only when an African leads this reform agenda and embarks on more pro-poor tourism as catalyst for both economic and social development. African countries struggle with maintaining enough foreign currency reserves to cover their imports. Tourism is a major foreign currency earner and Africa needs to leverage.

Having an African at the centre of the institution charged with promoting global tourism will play a major boosting role for the continent? Already the August 2013, co-hosting between Zambia and Zimbabwe of the 20th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly has shown what Africans can do when they work together. And the fact that the same candidate was the co-hosting minister makes this point even more pertinent.

Now that Africa has said that he is its sole candidate, the big question is who stands to gain from the machinations to divide the African Vote? What happened to that unanimous endorsement that Dr Mzembi got from all African States which included the Seychelles?

Africa should be expanding from only 5 percent market share to employing millions of our young people and stem the tragedy of them perishing day in, day out in the Mediterranean. This pursuit should never be interpreted as a personal aggrandisement trip by one Walter Mzembi but an effort to put an African right inside the UN institutional system to change the unsustainable status quo.

Tourism has already proved to be a poverty eradication sector in many regions but Africa. It is time Africa gets its fair share by having its people employed and empowered by the same sector.

In this fight to change the course of the tourism world, Africa has to put its best foot forward. It missed a chance to control the UN for two terms when Dr Chidzero was sidelined for reasons which we can only guess. It will be folly to go into this contest in a divided continent.

It is these divisions that make our resources be exploited for pittance. To defy the behind the scenes manoeuvres and bribes Africa has to make a solid statement that it will rally behind its candidate.

For it to be taken seriously in the world affairs Africa has to respect its own decisions before it expects other regions to respect them.

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