Deciphering Equatorial Guinea's Social Environment
Deciphering Equatorial Guinea's Social Environment
Of the 250,000+ U.S. Embassy cables released by Wikileaks, none have intrigued me more than those originating from the U.S. Embassy in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, as everything I've read about this former Spanish colony in the past has seem to completely come into question given the new perspective offered in these cables.
While many NGO's, human rights groups and certainly the press by and large, have done their best to paint a grim social picture of Equatorial Guinea, I don't think people can really get the entire story without taking into account the history and past social structure of the country which has brought them to where they are now. The problem is that most of what you find on Equatorial Guinea today is mostly out of date and seemingly out of touch with what those on the ground are describing, namely our own U.S. diplomats, who's mission is to give us a clearer picture and understanding of what they describe as one of the world's most isolated and least understood countries.
For one thing, we know that Equatorial Guinea hasn't always been the oil-producing powerhouse that it is today and in fact; it wasn't even until the mid 90's that the oil money started to flow. According to the cable, prior to that the government couldn't even pay the salaries of its ministers and high ranking officials and it was often the case that they would be compensated with in-kind transfers, such as land, operating licenses and import concessions, which derived from the seizure of abandoned Spanish colonial holdings. At the time this wasn't even such a hot deal for the people receiving them, but it was still better than nothing and it was pretty much all the government could do to keep these poorly compensated government positions filled.
As per the cable, those days were commonly referred to those of the skinny cows, but once oil was discovered things quickly changed and Equatorial Guinea's economy soon expanded at one of the world's fastest rates with many of these government workers finding their positions to be vastly improved. Of course, not much attention was paid when there wasn't even enough money to buy gasoline for President Teodoro Obiang himself to be able to attend political events, but now that the skinny cows had become fat many people started taking notice and the global community was quick to point the finger to those who they felt were on the take.
The cable goes on to explain that many of these ministers began to moonlight and the lines between public and private interests became convoluted and the custom of maintaining both official and private activities had become the norm. Trying to comprehend something like this from our own perspective here in America is obviously very difficult, but given the circumstances of the time it's easier to understand just how things transpired. The fact is that ministers and government officials were simply given these types of concessions and in-kind transfers with probably little hope of them ever materializing into anything significant and now that it had there were no real laws in place to regulate the situation.
The result of all of this, is that today Equatoguineans find themselves in a country with a poor level of institutional development, an absence of appropriate law to govern the whiplash the country has experienced in going from poverty to riches in such a short period of time, however, apart from the obvious conflicts of interest there are some positive signs emerging as the country moves towards reform.
The cable references one of such signs as the fact that U.S. oil companies, which are all extremely sensitive to the requirements of U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, are currently leading all production of oil in Equatorial Guinea. EG also seems intent on becoming members of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The key stumbling block remains the low level of development of the country's nascent civil society, which is a key indicator of the EITI process, however, a 200 million euro project from the EU should help civil society grow to fill this gap.
From reading through these cable it's obvious Equatorial Guinea still has a ways to go on a number of fronts, but it does argue that perhaps the situation in Equatorial Guinea is maybe not as bad as it is being portrayed. Once we understand their past we can begin to understand today's Equatorial Guinea and appreciate the small, but important steps, they have taken forward.
Puresim Baseball 4 Free Download Xtreme Pip Poacher Torrent Download Can Sustainable Income Be Present in Internet Marketing? Internet Marketing : Not working? It may actually improve your business! Handling Objections In Network Marketing - One Sure Fire Way Your Swing SHOULD Look UNIQUE, Watch My Interview With Golf News Network HTML span and Div Internet Marketing Uncovered - Learn The Secrets Why Making Money Online Will Not Happen For Most People Downloading videos to the world wide web: The legal as well as illegal way The Movie Home Review - Is The Movie Home A Scam? Download Millions Of Movies For iPad 10 Good Binaural Thoughts Movies Download Alternatives How to Download TV Shows Without Violating Copyright Laws Target Specific Hotel Internet Marketing