The fallout between telecom operators and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD’s) eAfrica Commission continues to deepen, with latest wrangles prompting the Commission to change the name of the region’s premier fibre cable. South African officials have said they are abandoning the name East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), under which the initiative has been promoted since 2002, to The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network (NBIN). Telecom operators, who originated the idea of EASSy, have recently told the Commission to find its own name (see interview on page 3).

It is anticipated that late 2008 is the earliest the cable that will link the eastern coast of Africa to the international fibre optic system could get operational. That is three years from the finish date of June 2005 the initiators of EASSy had anticipated in November 2002. Earlier in 2006, projections were that the project would become commercially operational in the second quarter of 2007, but once NEPAD effectively took over the driver’s seat from telecom operators, a new completion date of first quarter of 2008 was given.

So what, as renowned playwright William Shakespeare once asked, is in a name? Does a rose (flower) by any another name still smell the same?

The recent pronouncement by South Africa’s communications minister, Matsepe-Casaburri that the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) had been renamed the NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure Network (NBIN) was as astounding as her assertion, during the same function, that “the original model developed for the cable is not what international financial institutions such as the World Bank would have liked.” This was in direct reference to the closed access model, believed to be widely favoured by the consortium telecom operators who conceived the EASSy project way back in 1992.

Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) legislators have recommended the establishment of a Parliamentary Forum ICT policy and strategy to guide the development and adoption of ICT at the regional level. The development, widely seen as a move to harness and promote effective use of ICT in the legislative assemblies was adopted following a three-day workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"Except for religious conflicts and the petty wars of feudal lords, wars are primarily fought over resources and trade. President Woodrow Wilson recognized that this was the cause of World War I: 'Is there any man, is there any woman, let me say any child here that does not know that the seed of war in the modern world is industrial and commercial rivalry?'"
- J.W. Smith, Institute for Economic Democracy

On the world changing blog site recently, the author roundly aired his disdain for the management of the online commodity outlet store overstock.com for the hanky-panky they had pulled on company stock. The blogger was particularly hot over the fact that overstock.com was the parent of the otherwise wonderfully appealing and altruistic worldstock.com:

We locate magnificent items made by craftswomen (and craftsmen) around the world. We emphasize sustainability: choosing items that are environmentally sound, and that don’t burn up the natural or human resources of their producers. We pride ourselves on being honest brokers: we don’t gouge producers with our clout, nor consumers with mark-ups, thereby allowing the artisans to receive an average of 60 - 70 percent of the money you spend in Worldstock. Our goal in Worldstock is not to make money, but to create tens of thousands (and someday millions) of jobs in the poorest regions of the world, while bringing customers unique products of which they can be proud – hand-crafted clothing, jewelry, ceramics, furniture, and much more.

And just as I’m going Wow! What a wonderful specimen of ICT leveraged marvel per public/equal access potential and putting the tech-disadvantaged entrepreneurs of the 3rd world and sub Saharan Africa (SSA) on the global trade map, I noticed in the comments section, a couple of respondents had also thrown in a couple of more similar ventures:

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
- James Allen

A lot of parallels can be drawn between the informal/underground economies of developed countries like the US, UK, Canada, and the economies of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) -- lost tax revenues, distrust of government, lawlessness, crime breeding grounds, low education and work skills, poor quality of commercial services (no warranty nor returns on purchases,) etc.

These characteristics pretty much define the economic twilight zone called the underground economy – regardless of whatever society it occurs in, however, the major difference lies in the proportions of occurrence. According to this article, the US loses about $35 billion tax revenues per annum to the US underground economy ($35 billion ~ GDP of Uganda OR almost 4X the GDP of Rwanda.) A minuscule 0.3% of US GDP, whereas in SSA, the underground economy typically constitutes 50% or more of the gross economic agenda.

The underground economic environment frequently and conveniently, forms the backdrop of crime paperbacks and movies – ruthless goons, mugging, homicide, violence, drugs, prostitution, etc. Or in the case of the above referenced article where the author conveniently builds his case against illegal immigration/immigrants in America entirely on the underground economy cliché. But I am seriously at odds with the author’s implied inference; shutting down illegal immigrants will shut down the underground economy. No sireeee – in good times or bad times, you will always have legal citizens who are criminals, prostitutes, working for under-the-table pay, etc., and neither can anyone attribute the chronic SSA underground economy syndrome to illegal immigration. Hence, I agree more with Venkatesh’s field notes, which gives a more humane face to the phenomenon; shadow economies are sustained in survivalist communities via a complex web of relationships that are not always criminal.