The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: Panacea or White Elephant for Sub-Saharan Africa?

This chapter critically examines the challenges involved in implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in sub-Saharan Africa. The EITI is a policy mechanism being supported by donors and Western governments as a key to facilitating economic improvement in resource-rich developing countries. Proponents of the EITI argue that poor governance and a lack of transparency are the main reasons why resource-rich sub-Saharan Africa is underperforming economically, and that implementation of the EITI, with its foundation of “good governance”, will help address these problems. However, as the chapter illustrates, this task is by no means straightforward: the EITI is not necessarily a blueprint for good governance in the region’s resource-rich countries. Although it is acknowledged that the EITI is a policy mechanism that could ultimately prove effective in generating significant institutional change in host African countries, on its own it is incapable of facilitating reduced corruption, prudent management of mineral and/or petroleum revenues, or mobilizing citizens to hold corrupt government officials accountable for embezzling profits from extractive industry operations.