Paper long abstract:

This paper seeks to propose an epistemological critique of the knowledge on contemporary African conflicts and civil wars. Though Africa is a major site for the production of knowledge on contemporary conflicts, there remain significant limitations in the way these conflicts are represented, interpreted, theorised and understood. Whether in scholarly reflections, media representations or policy debates, conventional discourses on African civil wars remain, for the most part, severely limited and grossly inadequate. Focused mainly on their instrumental values, and concerned with providing simplistic explanations, these mainstream interpretations, especially in policy circles and media representation, reinforce certain prejudicial biases and stereotypes against the continent, making it possible for the enactment of certain power relations, while at the same time avoiding the more fundamental question of epistemology and power (i.e. how power works to produce subjectivities, define the realities of the conflict and shape Northern attitudes towards the African continent as a result of these conflicts).

In a series of interventions positioned in adversarial relationship with these kinds of discourses, this presentation seeks to raise questions about the limitations of the mainstream approaches and conventional interpretations of African conflicts. Using the Sierra Leone civil war as my case study, it seeks to consider the problematique of knowledge production in relation to (a) the modalities of the dominant theoretical perspectives on contemporary African civil wars; (b) who produces them, how and why? (c) the epistemological frames on which they rely; (d) the nature of the power that makes them possible, the particular interpretive dispositions they foreground and the ones they preclude or foreclose; and finally (e) the roles of these knowledges in the articulation of Western policy towards Africa. In short this presentation seeks to interrogate the structures within which knowledge is produced about African conflicts, and the power relations they make possible. Central to the issues that this paper will grapple with, is what I regard as the knowledge question, which in fact is not new, but is an old problematique central to African Social Sciences and Systems of thoughts. By knowledge question, I refer to a specific concern: namely, how to talk about Africa; in what epistemological frame[s], who can/should propose it and how?

Paper long abstract:

Author: Sheku Conteh

The thesis addresses the following question: How did senior politicians and bureaucrats manage corruptly to use their positions to acquire personal wealth in Sierra Leone?

The investigation focuses on the workings of a neopatrimonial state under APC rule where there was a lack of political accountability within formal state institutions. I argue that bureaucratic values within formal state institutions – never rigidly adhered to – were subverted by clientelism and patrimonial logic, as foreign aid helped those in power to both reap the rewards of office and meet the expectations of their favoured constituents.

I suggest that under APC rule, both neopatrimonial rule and clientelism were key features of political corruption. Consequently under the regimes of both presidents Siaka Stevens and Joseph Momoh, I use the example of foreign aid as a way of illustrating how patrimonial logic and clientelist politics best explains how political corruption worked under APC rule. I cited three specific types of foreign aid: Lomé aid (that which emanated from the European Community under the Lomé Conventions), food aid from the European Community and PL 480 food aid from the United States, to illustrate how political corruption worked under APC rule.

Paper long abstract:

Capacity gaps and weaknesses in the policy, research, training and advocacy elements in the operations of the various stakeholders in the extractive sector have hindered the meaningful contribution of the sector to development and poverty reduction in Sierra Leone. The overall objective of the assessment is to identify weaknesses and gaps in the administration of the extractive sector in Sierra Leone with a view to strengthening the stakeholder institutions for effective management, monitoring, and utilization of revenues from the country’s natural resources. The assessment covers the major stakeholders in extractive sector governance including state institutions, civil society organizations, the media, academic institutions, international financial institutions, and mining corporations.

The key policy issues considered include the transparent and accountable generation and use of revenue from mineral resources, equitable distribution of revenues from mineral resources, Freedom of Information Act to enable citizens access information, public participation and expert review of state policies, payment of appropriate royalties by companies for extracting mineral resources through a review of the fiscal regime and annual audit of companies and other stakeholders managing mineral resource revenues, and the capacity of CSOs to monitor key stakeholders.

The key capacity gaps of the various stakeholders includes, the lack of public participation in the drafting of mining agreements/contracts, the lack of a freedom of information act that would ensure full access to information by the public, the absence of an arrangement that would ensure equal distribution of revenues, inadequate funding of research institutions and outdated training facilities, slow pace of EITI implementation, weak civil society coalitions, the failure of international financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF to endorse the mandatory revenue disclosure by mining companies as a condition for the granting of loans, among others.

Key recommendations for the effective performance of the extractive sector are (1) Review of all mining policies, agreements/contracts by government in consultation with all stakeholders (2) The enactment by the legislature of a Freedom of Information Bill that would ensure easy access to information (3) The EITI should be fully implemented as a matter of urgency (4) CSOs should improve their visibility by becoming more proactive in all matters of state governance, not least, the equitable distribution of mineral resource revenues and (5) Research institutions should be mainstreamed in civil society advocacy. Such a paradigm shift is necessary for effective dialogue between government and civil society.

The paper contains the country profile, with an overview of the location, physical geography, population, economy and ethnic composition, as well as its membership in global and regional organizations. It gives a profile of the country’s mineral resources, and the role in the national economy, including contribution to GDP, foreign exchange and employment. The country’s mineral resource governance arrangement is presented, and relating to government agencies, and non-state actors, like the media, CSOs, academic institutions, the private sector, and international financial institutions responsible for the management of mineral resources are discussed. The national and global initiatives to improve transparency and the role of the legislature are also considered. The country’s budget processes and systems as well as the fiscal regime for mineral resources are presented and a SWOT analysis of all stakeholders targeted in the assessment, including state institutions, CSOs, academic institutions, the media, mining corporations, and international financial institutions. An analysis of stakeholder capacity gaps in the policy, research, training, and advocacy domain is presented with the key findings and recommendations on policy, research, training, and advocacy.