Kohler and Wolfensohn should not have to come to Africa, to hear african voices, say debt group.

Mozambique: The Mozambican Debt Group (GMD), the coalition of NGOs, churches and individuals, last week called for an increase in the voting power for Africa on the boards of the World Bank and the IMF.

As the heads of the IMF and WB conclude their trip to Africa where they "wanted to know what African leaders think and want to do" the GMD noted that African voices are very dim indeed on the Boards of these institutions. The World Bank has 182 shareholders, namely the member countries, and their views and interests are represented by a Board of Governors and a Washington-based Board of Directors. However, the 182 countries are not represented equally. The five largest shareholders - France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States - appoint an Executive Director each. The remaining 177 countries are represented by only 19 Executive Directors. These 24 Executive Directors approve loans, decide new policies, the administrative budget, country assistance strategies, and other borrowing and financial decisions.

Furthermore, votes on the Bank's executive board are cast according to wealth, so that the 16 major donor countries have 62 per cent of the votes on the board. The United States alone has 15 per cent. All of sub-Saharan Africa taken together has just seven per cent of the votes - which is the same figure as Germany's voting strength. Mozambique has just 0.08 per cent of votes on the board.
 
"This disparity in representation happens at a time when the World Bank has made poverty reduction its top priority", notes the GMD. "Most of the poorest nations of the world are to be found in sub-Saharan Africa. Should there not be more directors to share the responsibility for such a vast and crucial area ?"

The Debt Group notes that the board has real power, and has occasionally overridden the ideologically-driven advice of staff members. Thus when the World Bank and IMF allowed Mozambique to raise the surtax on exports of raw cashews, and to continue protecting its sugar industry, these were board decisions running counter to the views of staff members "who had advised against both moves in the name of liberalisation".

The problem of under-representation of African countries is a problem that can only ultimately be resolved by the Bretton Woods institutions' most powerful shareholders.