The concept of an African renaissance is not original to Guyana or to the Guyanese experience. It gained currency in South Africa after the African National Congress (ANC) took office in that country and represented the ANC's continental ambitions to renew the face of Africa . Considering that party's history and that of South Africa , it was not unexpected that an ANC government would seek to play a defining role in the continent. The African renaissance was the blueprint for that role.

It is worthy to note the emphasis South African President Thabo Mbeki placed on the role of intellectual class in fostering this project. In his statement outlining the necessity and his vision of an African renaissance, this is what Mbeki had to say: “I dream of the day when these, the African mathematicians and computer specialists in Washington and New York, the African physicists, engineers, doctors, business managers and economists, will return from London and Manchester and Paris and Brussels to add to the African pool of brain power, to enquire into and find solutions to Africa's problems and challenges, to open the African door to the world of knowledge, to elevate Africa's place within the universe of research, the information of new knowledge, education and information.”

However, we may choose to assess the progress that has been made in respect to Mbeki's African renaissance, one of the positives of that process has been the clear articulation of its vision. Where I think the renaissance was found wanting was in its prescriptions or lack of prescriptions to achieve that vision.

I am sure that Eric Phillips who has introduced this concept to Guyana is not contemplating simply transposing this continental idea to Guyana or to the Caribbean . What he should be more concerned about is the connection between the stated objectives of his renaissance and the means through which these objectives are to be realised.

So just what is the vision of this African renaissance as proposed by Phillips? In a letter entitled, “We need an African renaissance that brings all African organisations together,” Phillips outlined the basic objectives of his proposed renaissance. These were:

• Stimulating cultural pride and fashioning the courage to prevail against all the odds

• A commitment to self determination through self employment.

• A commitment to tackling the scourge of HIV/ AIDS.

• The revitalisation of African villages

• Nurturing young leaders.

On the face of it, this vision would seem to involve a cultural project. However, in later contributions to the debate on an African renaissance, I have found that the elements on which the concept is to be based is dominated by the political demand for power-sharing.

While I have no doubt that those pushing the idea of an African renaissance are of the view that sharing of power is necessary for the achievement of the goals of the renaissance, the fact is that they need to make this connection.

How, for example, is power-sharing necessary in order to stimulate cultural pride, tackle the scourge of HIV/AIDS, revitalise African villages and nurture young leaders?

In short, what we have is a qualitative leap from proposing goals to a demand for power- sharing without any serious attempt to link the two. I am not disputing that there may not be such a need for power sharing; I am merely suggesting that this need has not been established. This needs to be done, lest the call for an African renaissance be seen as nothing more than a project to push for political power.

In a previous article I had called attention to three possible pitfalls. The first has to do with clarity in defining the African renaissance. The second has to do with the need for any renaissance to be led by persons other than those who are either perceived to, or actually embody the values of the “establishment”. The third pitfall is the propensity to assume that the mere possession of power, whether shared or absolute is the panacea to the problems of dispossession.

One letter writer has added a valid observation. He or she has noted that one should not speak about power- sharing in a general sense since there are many models of power-sharing intended to achieve different objectives. In fact, Ravi Dev's formula of federalism is a form of power-sharing; so too is the PNCR's call for executive power-sharing.

The PPP too have their own ideas of what is power sharing. They assume that the participation of the opposition on the boards of government corporations, as well as mandated constitutional consultations, is a type of power-sharing.

When one therefore argues that power -sharing must be an element of an African renaissance, the form that this power-sharing must take should be made as crystal clear as the objectives it seeks to achieve.