Matt Johnson: Tales of a forgotten country

Oct 24 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

THE nation’s media has often referred to Liverpool as the basket case of the UK. With friends like that, I guess we aren't always on the look-out for enemies. Their comments – now happily consigned to history as the city demonstrates better political stability, regeneration and investment – returned to my mind last week in Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, to be precise, sometimes similarly described as the basket case of the continent.

It was a life-changing trip.

I'm still trying to get all my thoughts, memories and recollections in some sort of working order, still trying to comprehend much of what I saw and heard from people struggling against what seem like impossible odds day-after-day.

What has become clear to me already is that the similarities between this amazing country and Liverpool go some way beyond basket case status. It struck me it's about a brand problem, too.

How often have we heard those responsible for promoting Liver- pool to potential investors say they are striving to overcome poor, negative perceptions about the city – perceptions which give us something of a brand problem?

Congo is rich in natural assets but has very poor infrastructure. For example, there are hardly any roads, no access to clean water or mains electricity. Those who make it their business to know about things like natural assets and their potential to generate much-needed wealth, point to the chronic difficulties in actually extracting something valuable from the ground and getting it to market.

We arrived in the Congo on a dirt track runway, having flown for hours over dense rain forest. The town had no roads, even though it has a population of over a million. Yet, it seemed that everyone has a mobile phone.

The needs are overwhelming. Everywhere you look there are street kids, they are not hungry, just very poor.

I'm not for a minute suggesting some of Merseyside's more deprived local authority wards face anything like the challenges I witnessed in Congo's commun- ities – but there are similarities. Just how do you engage such swathes of the population?

It is true to say that the Congo really is a forgotten land. How often do we see and hear disaf- fected sections of our inner-city communities say they feel as though they have been forgotten, that life is passing them by? Whenever and wherever that happens in the world, something and somebody has failed.

Maybe it is time for Liverpool to be twinned with a city in DRC Congo?

MATT JOHNSON is chairman of Mando Group.