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in articulating responses to the financial crisis. Suffice it to say, at thisstage neither side of the argument questions the need for humanitarianassistance under which rubric I include social sectors such aseducation, health, nutrition and sanitation. But there are wider issuesthat should engage our attention, including the use of aid to stimulateproductive activity.I wish to stress that building state capacity in Africa is central to enablingthis continent to respond to its challenges. African states needthe capacity to envision development programmes and plans and tobe able to influence economic and social outcomes using the machineryof government. Irrespective of varying views on the properrole of the government in an economy, a state should have the capacityto successfully undertake tasks that have been identified bysocial and political processes as properly belonging in the realm ofpublic policy. Some factors that affect the ability of African states toplay this role properly are the brain drain of qualified Africans; theflight of quality from the public to the private sector; and the determinationof the respective roles of government; the private sector,and civil society organisations.Just as the rest of the world is reviewing existing global monetaryand financial institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and FinancialStability Board it is perhaps also appropriate for Africa to considerwhether its current arrangements in this area are optimal. We havean African Development Bank which has responded admirably tothe crisis, including through the establishment of a US$1.5 billionEmergency Liquidity Facility to help African countries weather theglobal slowdown. It has also established a $1 billion Trade FinanceFacility to support trade and investment in Africa. Should we not beconcentrating on supporting the AfDB’s efforts instead of embarkingon a wholesale restructuring of Africa’s financial and monetary landscape?Similarly, should we not be exploring options for regionalor sub-regional stimulus packages given that some African countrieshave sufficient fiscal space as a result of recent commodity booms?The challenge we are facing is a huge one and there is much that wecan learn from each other to arrive at durable solutions.204 Part Four