Press Releases
Civil Society – a key ally for African governments on competition
February 15 2008, Gaborone
Competition policy and law is an important
apparatus for internal market reforms, one that guides the evolution of a market economy as has been witnessed in the case of Botswana. This summarises the deliberation by Hon’ble Minister L.T. Mokalake, while
launching a two day international conference on ‘Promoting a Healthy Competition Culture’ at the Gaborone Sun hotel in Gaborone, Botswana on 14th February 2008. The Assistant Minister of Trade further underscored the need for civil society organizations not only in the country, but in the
entire continent to strengthen its partnership with the government thereby supplementing the state’s efforts to evolve well-functioning markets as a precursor to economic growth and development.
Jointly hosted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Botswana; the Botswana Council of Non-Government Organisations, Botswana and CUTS International, India, this conference brought together
regional and international participants from over twenty countries to diagnose competition regimes in the region and identify key elements that need to be strengthened to promote a healthy competition culture therein.
The event marked the culmination of the project entitled, “Capacity Building on Competition Policy in Select Countries of Eastern and Southern Africa” (referred to as the 7Up3 project,
www.cuts-international.org/7up3.htm) that has been implemented by CUTS International in seven countries of eastern and southern Africa, including Botswana.
Sixteen countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, comprising – Botswana, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda,
Zambia and Zimbabwe were represented in this conference. Participants brainstormed on the ways for promoting competition in the region to foster private sector development and economic growth as a means to alleviating
poverty. Outside experts from India, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France and The Netherlands contributed to the discourse by referring their their experience to search for solutions of competition bottlenecks faced by the
countries in the region.
Welcoming all to the gathering the
Chairperson of BOCONGO, Rev. B. G. Butale observed that markets in eastern and southern Africa are already integrated, and would subsequently undergo even a greater degree of integration. In order for trade to flourish in
the region, a considerable level of ‘predictability’ would need to be inculcated into the markets – something that an effective competition regime helps achieve.
Speaking at the opening, Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General of CUTS International, thanked the Botswana government for its support to organize the conference, and added that this gesture
emphasised the importance that the Botswana government gave to competition issues. Liberalisation has come with a cost to the developing world – that of market malpractices, otherwise unknown in these countries. Competition
law provides the means to deal with such malpractices, he added.
Roger Nellist, representing the Department for International Development (DFID), UK, highlighted how ‘competition matters in the developing world’ and especially in Africa – especially for
countries to realise benefits from the trade liberalization process. He underlined the commitment of DFID, UK to intensify its work on competition issues further in the continent.
Frederic Jenny, a renowned competition expert and presently a judge at Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court of France) in Paris, stressed on the need to broaden the horizon on
competition policy and law, as opposed to often the narrow approach to competition resorted by the international competition community in dealing with competition issues. It was important, he emphasized to consider the
significance (while talking of competition issues, in the same breath) of other related issues, viz. business enabling environment, political economy, corruption and elements of the overall regulatory framework. He further warned competition advocates to be conscious about packaging their
appeal for competition reforms appropriately depending on the audience of such messages – especially so, when dealing with policymakers and politicians.
Philippe Brusick, a veteran competition expert and the former head of the Competition and Consumer Policy Branch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
Switzerland, emphasized the need for international cooperation on competition. He stated this could be achieved through support by the experienced competition agencies of their novice counterparts, especially
those located in the developing world.
The effective role that civil society can play on raising the ante on competition had been demonstrated by the 7Up3 project, and was echoed at various stages over the discussions. A point
that was particularly stressed upon by Basil Jones of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, was that the 7Up3 project confirms the changing role that civil society organizations need to play
on public policy issues. Civil society is graduating beyond its conventional role of advocacy and actively engaging in policy research and producing ‘bullet proof’ research outputs as a means to initiate policy
advocacy – an approach concomitant to the 7Up approach, institutionalized by CUTS and integrated in the 7Up3 project.
National governments in all the 7Up countries (11 thus far in Africa) have started to recognise civil society as a strong ally to strengthen national competition regimes.
A part of the conference was dedicated to discussing the prevailing competition regimes in various countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, and to highlight specific areas (at the macro and
micro levels) revealed from the research, especially those which could help mobilise public opinion in favour of competition reforms in these countries.
The other part was dedicated to discourses on specific tools and measures to help national governments and other stakeholders to understand the level of competition in their economies;
and effectively enforce the competition legislation in place. In this part, two important measures were discussed in great details.
Firstly, a Competition Assessment Framework (CAF) developed by the Department for International Development, that helps in assessing the level of competition in a specific sector of the
economy and empower the authorities to take appropriate actions therein to curb competition infringements. DFID, UK elucidated the methodology for applying CAF by the help of an interesting case study on urban public
transport system.
Secondly, was the discussion on country-specific ‘Competition Toolkits’, developed by CUTS International based on the research done in the 7Up3 project countries and integrating
information regarding the prevailing competition legislation in those countries. These toolkits are meant to equip the competition agencies (and/or the line ministry) with requisite skills to diagnose competition
problems in accordance with the country’s competition legislation and effectively enforce the same. Representatives from the beneficiary countries’ government/competition authorities felt that these toolkits
were extremely useful and timely, and assured that they would work closely with CUTS to finalise them.
In conclusion the meeting felt that the momentum achieved through this project would need to be sustained in each of the project countries, and therefore, there was a need for the country
partner organizations of CUTS (representing the selected civil society organisation) to conceive ideas focusing on specific elements of competition at the national levels. The other realization was the need for
strengthening the existing network of civil society organizations working on competition issues in the region and to have a strategy for their active engagement on competition issues on a continuous basis. A forum for civil society organizations from the African countries that CUTS
International has worked in was proposed, and would need to be taken forward. It was also decide to host such a forum under the auspices of the International Network for Civil Society Organisations on Competition
(INCSOC,
www.incsoc is an informal yet strong network of competition advocates
from across the world) as the ‘Africa Chapter’.