Thursday, December 31, 2009
We cannot usher in 2010 when we at IMANI and AfricanLiberty.org have not shown our fullest appreciation for the many successes you have helped us chalk in 2009. From the outset, we were challenged by our ranking by Foreign Policy Magazine as the sixth most influential think tank in Africa to stay the course or move into a higher working gear. With your generous thoughts and support, we can comfortably say we did a modest job of doing the latter.
2009 was an unusual year for many non-profit organisations whose budgets (mostly drawn from the public purse) were still pretty hefty given the global financial difficulties as against our shoe-string but respectable privately funded initiatives. Our friends, Tom Palmer, Linda Whetstone, Gerry and Sean and others made commitments that were vitally needed. We expanded our global outreach and collaboration to many countries, including, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, the U.K, United States, India, France, Singapore and China, the UAE, South Africa, Qatar ,Sweden, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.
One major collaboration was with the Swiss-based globally acclaimed business school, IMD. IMANI joined forces with the Evian Group at IMD to host a highly successful meeting on Africa’s future after the global financial difficulties. Important lessons were drawn up for Africa to open itself up for trade and good governance.
And we had begun modest efforts to help change Africa through AfricanLiberty.org. Our outreach director and publisher, Adedayo Thomas made important incursions into the citadels of higher learning in East Africa with a single message-how to advance freedom and prosperity in Africa by freely selling “ideas for a free society” and distributing important books on globalisation and free trade published under AfricanLiberty.org. Book fairs in Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania and our West African student seminar were important avenues for interaction with many who were yet to understand that Africa needed economic and political freedom, not hand outs and good intentions from politicians.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
We cannot usher in 2010 when we at IMANI and AfricanLiberty.org have not shown our fullest appreciation for the many successes you have helped us chalk in 2009. From the outset, we were challenged by our ranking by Foreign Policy Magazine as the sixth most influential think tank in Africa to stay the course or move into a higher working gear.
And who said we were only a talking think-tank? To actively address the problem of counterfeit medicines and products in Africa, our director of research, Bright Simons, who heads mpedigree.Net, co-invented a mobile phone-based technology to detect counterfeit medicines. Having won many prestigious international accolades, such as the honourable mention at the World Economic Forum, many home-grown politicians are yet to understand that technology can only complement, not replace passive aggressive behaviours of bureaucrats in fighting social ills. Ironically, Nigerians and Kenyans get it and are ready to deploy the technology- perhaps corruption from extra legal trade has gotten to the neck in those interesting countries. Meanwhile private equity funding is currently being sought for mpedigree.net. Please send your recommendations to me.
IMANI’s board chairman, Sam Poku and our senior fellow, Kofi Bentil understand that all politics is global but the real action is at home. Through Kofi’s insights, IMANI agreed to open up to important Ghanaian observers and thinkers, who, otherwise would have been ignored by our sensational media. So, we have courted the friendship of managing partners of the top five law firms in Ghana, the CEOs of the most respected Ghanaian-owned banks and insurance companies, managing partners of leading consultancies. A middle class onslaught on the inane aspects of the Ghanaian, which has retrogressive consequences for her development, is vitally needed. Such a matrix of independent thinkers seems to be our only hope for survival. IMANI’s Thought Leaders Forum has seen the worth of such illustrious sons and daughters of Ghana.
But the Ghanaian media and many across Africa have made us who we are today!! However, we are not unaware of our articles and collaboration with prestigious global media houses such as the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, The China Post and the Bangkok Post to name a few. We cannot diminish the value of civil society in Ghana which needs continuous nurturing by the business community if they are to remain credible and sustainable.
We also fully recognise and respect the friendship of the World Bank Ghana Office under the visionary leadership of the Country Director, Ishac Diwan, its Public Affairs capo, Kofi Tsikata and his able sidekick, Kennedy Fosu. Courting the friendship of a Libertarian think tank which views the work of the Bank as dealing with loaded dice shows courage and determination to build alliances with persons who hold opposite views but believe in one goal- the development of Africa.
We also thank the Ghanaian government for inviting comments and ideas from us, and finding excuses not to implement all of them. We wish them well in the coming year.
2010 will see more intensification of our work. However, I will be taking a half back seat in the coming year with IMANI, but the wheels of IMANI and AfricanLiberty.org will always be oiled by our shared energy, understanding and vision of truly advancing freedom and prosperity.
Finally, let me personally thank all our interns and staff for a good job done. Next year, we will be operating from our new and spacious office, located on No.14 Yeboah Street, Chantan, New Achimota. Our old phone lines remain unchanged, but an additional one 021-409903 will reach us. We also have a new website. Please visit www.imanighana.org and if you truly love IMANI, please send a $20 donation or equivalent local currency to our secretariat. We also welcome in-kind support such as office supplies. Wishing you the very best of 2010.