Monday, April 22, 1996
Former prime minister of Mali speaks on continent’s growing
global influenceBy Anne Mai
Daily Bruin Contributor
As a professor, a former prime minister to Mali and a United
Nations senior economist, Soumana Sako brings an extensive
political background with him to UCLA. The recipient of the 1995-96
Regents’ Lecture award, Sako spoke to the campus community on
"Political and Economic Transitions in Francophone Africa."
The lecture, delivered last Thursday at the Chancellor’s
Residence on campus, emphasized the need for Africans to ease the
transition from authoritarian and paternalistic regimes to
effective democracies.
"What is needed here is not merely technological or economic
planning," Sako explained. "Change (of) public behavior cannot be
implemented with the stroke of a pen."
For two and a half hours, Sako analyzed the unsteady but slowly
improving political and economic circumstances of numerous African
countries.
In the past, political mobility "depend[ed] more on who you
know, rather than what you know," Sako claimed. "The notions of
checks and balances were extraterrestrial notions."
But he emphasized that the political scenario has, in part,
changed.
"It is also significant that leaders no longer have an extended
lease of power," he maintained. "Parliaments … are no longer
empty rubber stamp institutions marching to the tune of the head of
state."
Sako currently holds a seat as senior economist for the United
Nations Development Program in Madagascar. He also helped guide the
steps of the fledgling Republic of Mali towards democracy through
his position as prime minister in 1991.
In addition to his political expertise, Sako brings with him a
formidable academic background as a professor of public finance and
econometrics at the University of Mali. And to many of his
contemporaries, it is precisely this mix of ivory tower theorizing
and practical experience that lends his ideas credibility.
"He launched into an extensive and sober analysis … from the
standpoint of someone who is actually doing it," said political
science Professor Michael Lofchie. "He can play a brokering role
… in helping to initiate confidence building between the World
Bank and the government."
Having Sako as the Regents’ Lecturer "could have positive
impacts on the intellectual life on campus," said Edmond Keller,
director of James S. Coleman African Studies Center.
"He’s one of the few politicians in Mali back in 1991 who was
well respected enough to be selected as a leader in the transition
from military authoritarianism … to civil government," Keller
said. "He will be forever enshrined in his country for doing
that."
And because Sako emphasizes the "human … potential of African
countries" he can bring a unique personal perspective to
individuals around the globe, Keller said.
"No matter what happens, Africans have to find solutions to
their own problems," Keller concluded.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Soumana Sako, a United Nations senior economist, spoke on the
political and economic changes affecting Africa.