In a way, the story of privatization inAfrica reflects some of the problems which have beset manyother development processes: lack of political commitment,poor design, insufficient resources, weak management, andcorruption. Privatization in Africa is the outcome of astudy undertaken during 1995 and 1996. Up to that time,privatization throughout the continent had been slow, withfew visible results and a general feeling among observersand donors that African governments' commitment to theprocess was generally half-hearted. The purpose of the studywas to answer three questions about privatization: (i) whathas been happening? (ii) What has resulted? And (iii) whatcould be done to improve the process in terms of outcome.The data and analyses presented to answer these questionsfill a significant gap in the published literature onprivatization in Africa. The case-study countries wereBenin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria,Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. The study shows that moreprivatization has been happening across Africa than wasgenerally thought to be the case; but it also raises manyissues about how the process has been planned andimplemented. The controversy starts with why Africangovernments have privatized. The study maintains that theevidence suggests that most governments have privatizedreluctantly and not for the reasons set out in policy statements.
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