Leading a pan-African voice for economic and climate justice, delegates from a dozen African nations gathered in Addis Ababa this month, urged stakeholders to join hands in closing the economic disparities that are a recurring issue within the African continent.
The Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS-2) was held in the capital earlier this month. With dozens of delegates in attendance and hosted by a citizen-led pan-African organization, Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), the group highlighted and called for ‘economic and climate justice and close the social and economic disparities’ facing the African continent.
Delegates called for friendly initiatives to bring the African continent and embrace a unison voice for targeted reforms to end illicit financial flows that continues to disproportionately affect the African continent, push for transparency of taxes collected from citizens and find new revenues to help build the infrastructures that the continent is in need of.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation estimate more than 80 Billion USD or close to 4 percent of the continent’s GDP leaves the continent illegally, making the work of the Tax Justice Network important,
In 2020, the United Nations said, the continent can earn in the upwards of 89 billion USD should it stop illicit financial flows that is a recurring issue for much of the continent.
“Illicit financial flows rob Africa and its people of their prospects, undermining transparency and accountability and eroding trust in African institutions”, Mukhisa Kituyi, the then secretary, general of the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said upon releasing the shocking finding that has only grown in time, making the work of TJNA important.
Maria Nkhonjera, from the African Future Policies Hub (AFPH) believes tax justice and climate change are important as a way to ensure fairness in climate finance flows.
“This directly affects countries’ ability to generate revenues domestically and to benefit from their natural resources, in line with their development ambitions”, she told The Reporter. “In its current form, the global financial and tax architecture disproportionately disadvantages African countries”.
“Ensuring fairness in climate finance flows, needs to be coupled with tax regimes that enhance capacity for domestic resources mobilization”, she added.
Tewodros Tadesse, an attendee of the African Climate Change held recently in Addis Ababa and who was also able to attend a side event held by TJNA.
“Such an advocacy is important for a continent that has made the least damage to the world in terms of the climate change, yet continues to pay a hefty price and has been made vulnerable even more as it lacks the system to advocate for fair tax system and stop the outflows of its resources with little accountability”, he said.
A Kenyan delegate, Winston Luo, who is an observer of the illicit trade that is widespread in the region, believes the issue is growing despite warnings from many activists.
“African leaders are walking the population to a dead end if they don’t take the issue seriously and work with such civil organizations to highlight the issue as an urgent issue that is taking the continent backward, trapped in poverty while its resources are being taken elsewhere with little impact to the population that remains trapped in poverty”, he said.
That is music to the ears of the leaders of TJNA that are aiming to have such endorsement as the group pursues quiet diplomacy and advocacy to help bring a pan-African system that they hope will help change the narrative of a continent with the world’s youngest population.
In the last year, TJNA has grown to a 52 member civil society organization and operates in 26 African nations, with its headquarters located in London founded to fight the rise of tax avoidance and tax havens in the world.
This year, as a strategy to help expand its work in Africa, TJNA signed a number of memorandum-of-understanding, notably with African Future Policies Hub, including coordinating the publication of joint research, capacity building and the sharing of intelligence information for better impact.
