The various forms of closing ranks ranges from domestic private sector collaboration with their respective governments, to regional and international development initiatives across a variety of economic programs.
The wake up call was not only initiated by the global economic crisis, but was propelled by the realisation that several Asian countries led by China, have over the last three decades built robust and resilient economies that withstood the pressure coming from the upheavals in the developed world.
As a result of this realisation, many developed countries have now adopted previously discouraged initiatives such as subsidies, protection, import quotas, and other non tariff barriers in an effort to stimulate domestic production in their own economies. These previously frowned upon and considered anti development mechanisms by the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have become the survival tools for developed economies and have forced the Bretton Woods institutions to shut up and stand aside.
The WB and IMF are now compelled to innovate and dream up some new economic development initiatives that will not condemn the actions taken in the developed world, and yet seemingly offer some convincing strategies for Africa’s development.
The natural way for Africa, and more specifically for Zambia, is to close ranks within the country as a primary strategy, and to close ranks within Africa as the continental strategy. The various regional economic groupings offer a series of development paths towards a consolidated Africa through the initiatives of various groupings such as COMESA, ECOWAS, SADC, EAC, and several others.
It is quite clear that the government in the United States of America was rightly compelled to financially bail out several banks and insurance companies, and engaged to protect their timber industry, while the airline industry quickly embraced amalgamation and mergers in an effort to maintain a viable and competitive economy.
The United Kingdom and other European countries followed suit with similar bail outs and mergers, while unsalvageable companies were allowed to file for bankruptcy and shut down in the best interests of the economies in which they operated.
In Southern Africa, the initiatives and strategies undertaken by COMESA, SADC and the EAC are challenging member states to think domestic, and to think regional. Developments in the region must address the challenges of promoting regional integration through easier communication and interaction amongst member states. SADC, EAC
and COMESA must engage with each other and the rest of Africa to ensure that African nationals can visit each African country in a hassle free manner that favours the movement of Africans across the continent. The current status of African Commonwealth countries interacting more efficiently and in a facilitative manner at the expense of ECOWAS countries that are mainly Francophone, only contributes towards dividing Africa and supporting a polarised and non collaborative continent.
When will Africans be able to visit each other and obtain visas at the border of entry? When will Africans promote all Africans irrespective of which country the individuals hail from? When will Africans look to other Africans as development partners before scuttling off to Europe and America to engage in an inequitable economic relationship?
In Zambia, the challenges are immense. The economy is developing steadily and there are many opportunities for domestic ‘closing of the ranks’ for Zambian businesses. Government contracts for the supply of various goods and services need to be targeted on domestic suppliers before they are offered to foreign companies. Many options for this targeted development are available and cover areas such as bore hole drilling, tourism and conferences, airline services, steel production, skills development, and sugar manufacturing, to name but a few.
Government can play a key role in offering domestic businesses opportunities to develop, grow, and become significant contributors to taxation and production in the country. The links between growing the tourism sector and the hosting of regional conferences through collaborative programs is already being established albeit in a small and non formalised manner.
Collaboration between a strictly domestic routes airline and another airline that offers regional routes has developed bigger capacities for both companies and create bigger economies of scale in terms of volume of business. There is potential for the sugar producers to compete in the domestic market, and to collaborate to service the regional markets developed through the COMESA Customs Union. The young steel producers sector is challenged to collaborate while the sector is still in the development stage. Options for supplying steel to the region are open to Zambian producers and the success of exploiting these options may rest on how organised and collaborative the producers become, when challenged with fulfilling regional orders consistently.
Zambia and Africa must develop new benchmarks for economic development that are relevant to domestic and regional development. New milestones to measure achievement and progress must be generated. The milestones should measure economic development within each country, and development within the region.
It is quite clear that the development benchmarks and milestones imposed on Zambia and Africa by Prescriptive Partners are not for the benefit of African economies directly, but are key issues that impact on foreign direct investment and foreign government aid programs.
The challenges for Closing Ranks for Zambia and Africa can be compared to a bus that has broken down en route from one town to another. The passengers on the bus have a choice. They can either stay in their seats and hope that the driver and his crew can miraculously push the fully loaded bus to start the engine and continue on the journey to prosperity, or they can all realistically disembark and help to push the lighter loaded bus so that their journey continues relatively unbroken and their goal of arriving at their destination in a much shorter time is well within their sights.
Closing ranks through collaboration, partnership, and boosting domestic capacity offers Zambia and Africa a positive route to economic development that can be owned and managed by Africans.
Published 8 June 2010
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