New Start for APNET

The African Publishers’ Network (APNET) met on the 14th and 15th of June at the Cape Town Book Fair to chart a new way forward. In the last few years, APNET, which has played a crucial role among its 46 member countries in promoting the establishment of national association; training; intra-African trade and strengthening indigenous publishing, has experienced significant problems. The problems included the political and economic developments in Zimbabwe where it was based, the relocation to the Ivory Coast where civil war broke out shortly after APNET’s arrival and funding. In its Nairobi meeting in May 2005, a task team headed by Brian Wafawarowa of South Africa and included Akosi Ofori-Mensah of Ghana, Monica Seeber of South Africa, Freddy Ngandu of Cameroun, Ghazi Mejbri of Tunisia and founder members- Dr Henry Chakava of Kenya and Walter Bgoya of Tanzania as special advisors, was tasked with relocating the network to Ghana, keeping the organisation going and making recommendations to the general council about its future.

The 7th general council meeting was attended by founder members, general council members, the task team and international partners to APNET. Among the partners were Mr Ian Randle of the Caribbean Publishers’ Network (CAPNET) in Jamaica; Mr Joseph O’reilly of Book Aid International (BAI), Mr Henning Melber of the Dag Hammerskjold Foundation. International Publishers Association (IPA), Mrs. Ana-Maria Cabanellas, the Secretary General, Mr. Jens Bammel and the Head of Freedom to Publish Committee, Mr. Alexis Krikorian also attended. Mr. Dudley Schroeder of PASA, the host National Publishers’ Association welcomed the guests. The partners shared their experiences, advice and encouragement with APNET and participated fully in the discussions. The generous funding by SIDA for the 6th general council meeting and the relocation and that of KOPINOR and the Norwegian Publishers Association for this meeting were acknowledged with gratitude. For the first time, attending members and APNET itself made a significant financial contribution towards the general council meeting.

Although closing down the network was an option, it was unanimously felt that huge challenges, including the demise of local indigenous publishing and the slow-pace of transformation in Southern Africa; the threats of state publishing; the domination of multinational companies all over the continent and the ongoing general needs of African publishers, APNET should continue. It is believed that APNET, who enjoy an observer status on the African Union and significant goodwill among its partners, can play a very strong advocacy and policy role on the continent. However, it is clear that APNET cannot continue to operate the same way that is has operated since its inception in 1992. The task team’s recommendations included balancing external funding with internally generated funding. This includes generating funds from membership fees and various projects. The task team’s recommendations included reducing the size of the secretariat to the minimum for the foreseeable future. The general council further recommended that the programmes of APNET, which included training, research and archiving, capacity building, trade; advocacy; publishing the African Publishing Review and others, should be reduced to a manageable number.

To enable APNET to function more effectively in its new form and under current circumstances, the GC decided to amend the constitution significantly. The amendments were passed by the members at the council meeting and will be incorporated into the new draft.

Brian Wafawarowa was unanimously elected as chairman of APNET. The other board members include Mr. Ray Munamwimbu of Zambia as Treasurer; Mrs. Nancy Karimi of Kenya as Vice Chairperson; Mr. David Kibuuka of Uganda as Member and Ms. Akoss Ofori-Mensah of Ghana as co-opted member. The board will make another review of APNET’s progress along its new path after 6 months from the general council and make further recommendations to the general council.