Sub-Saharan African countries over the past five years have reinforced the fact that more, not fewer, of them are becoming welcoming places to run a profitable business. In fact, the current performance of Africa's economy - 30% to 50% return on investment - is becoming quite attractive to international investors.  They do not just have modern investment codes; they recognize that they must provide political micro-economic stability to ensure a steady and predictable flow of profits back to shareholders, and due process of law to protect their investment when contractual issues are in dispute.  There are a number of regional initiatives on the Continent with regard to law, which will in time form part of the Continent-wide policy.

 

Underway in most regions of Sub-Saharan Africa is the development of harmonized commodity and transactional laws, which will foster both intra-African and international trade. Until recently, most Sub-Saharan African nations suffered from outdated legal systems. Economic groupings within the Continent are now in the process of advancing to integrated trade protocols and modernized legal infrastructure.  The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which embraces 20 countries and most countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, is looking at similar initiatives.
 
The Organization pour l'harmonisation en Afrique du droit des affaires or the Organization for Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) was founded on October 17, 1993 by sixteen (16) West and Central African countries; namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. These countries essentially decided to abandon the judiciary systems they inherited during colonization by executing the Port Louis (Mauritius) Treaty. Almost all the member countries are Francophone (French speaking and/or former French colonies) countries and the language and civil law of the organization are French. 
 
Since its creation in 1993, OHADA has designed, enforced and applied through the courts a substantial body of uniform commercial laws. Pursuant to Article 53 of the Treaty, any member state of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) may become a member, if it wishes to do so. The present-day prevalence or even dominance of the French language and civil law within OHADA is expected to change over time as OHADA embraces Anglophone African countries. Although OHADA was conceived on the Francophone side of Sub-Saharan Africa, all dynamic African leaders have now come to realize that this priceless tool of economic integration should be extended to English-speaking African nations.  Read more...