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The African Opinion Leader Survey on Nepad and AU-2002
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6. Democratising NEPAD
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Over the past year, numerous criticisms have been leveled against NEPAD. Probably the most publicized criticism has been its perceived elitist character, which some argue, has overlooked the potential role that civil society can play in its implementation.
To test this assumption the survey required respondents to indicate on a scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) the extent to which they agreed with the statement that “only the ruling elite is actively engaged in promoting NEPAD.”
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The majority of respondents in all countries except Zimbabwe agreed with the statement, thereby reflecting the opinion that NEPAD is largely an elite-driven process. Uganda (2.20) displayed the strongest level of agreement with the statement, followed by Nigeria (2.20), Senegal (2.44), South Africa (2.57), Kenya (2.60), Algeria (2.66) and Zimbabwe (3.25). Interestingly, in this instance, it is an “outsider” country, Zimbabwe, that displays the highest level of confidence in NEPAD’s inclusiveness.
This pattern may reflect the growing discontent within civil society towards the process through which the NEPAD policy has been drafted. A Continental Civil Society meeting on the AU and NEPAD was held in Durban (1-2 July 2002), where participants welcomed the increased engagement between the African Union and civil society bodies, but requested that the NEPAD Implementation Committee consult with civil society organizations on a similar basis. In the light of these criticisms architects of NEPAD in Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria and South Africa have launched a number of NEPAD outreach programs, but these have merely conveyed the general outlines of the plan and have not actively engaged civil society input.
When comparing the levels of agreement with the statement across the various societal sectors
(Table 5), civil society elites in South Africa, Senegal and Kenya displayed stronger support for the statement than their politician and civil servant counterparts. In Nigeria, Algeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe, however, politicians expressed the strongest level of agreement with the statement.
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