Making History

Where does history come from? Who writes it? Why is it written?

These questions are important because they challenge the reader to reflect on pertinent points about making history.

Making history is traditionally done through oral practice whereby the lived experiences of one generation are passed on to the next generation through stories around the wood fire. In modern times making history is done through written books, audio recordings, and video documentaries. The medium used is generally for the convenience of the moment.

A large amount of history is accounted for by visitors and researchers to a specific place or event of significance to the history maker.

It must be acknowledged that making history is a combination of various mechanisms which include experienced facts, the writer’s perspective, some deductions, various extrapolations, and even a fair amount of hearsay.

It is these different methodologies that often challenge us to question the historical accounts that are captured in our various forms of history making and history capturing efforts.

If one considers the different accounts of two people that were bystanders witnessing a motor vehicle accident, one can easily conclude that much of our documented history is part fact and part perspective. Perspective is usually influenced by attitude, expectations, and internal fears and concerns. Perspective therefore shapes and becomes a major part of making history.

Africa is considered to be one of the largest continents on the planet with more than 3,000 kilometres of the equator, and yet history tells us that most plants, fruit, and flora were imported into the continent from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Basic common sense challenges these historical assertions and suggests that the history making about Africa has been largely perceptions rather than facts.

Political history making is much a matter of informing the next generation with information that should help them navigate through life both economically and socially. Historical accounts of the freedom struggles in Africa have been captured as acts of terrorism and barbarianism until recently when many African countries have demanded a re-write to represent the facts more truthfully. The history books before the release of the Iconic Madiba; Nelson Mandela of South Africa, branded him as a terrorist and trouble maker, but post 1994 historians now refer to him as the shining star of Africa and the light of humanity in the modern world.

Making history is a very important responsibility that will influence and fuel the attitudes of the next generation.

Manipulations and distortions of historical events and accounts can build a fragile, ineffective, and conflict ridden society of the present and future.

It for this reason that making history must be carefully challenged to account for the past as truthfully as possible, and more so, must be accounted for by people of the land in which the history is being made.

Today history plays a big role in decision making on a day-to-day basis. Books and publications are often embraced as fact. The internet has become the most recent reference for many researchers and writers. The visual and oral recordings that are beamed to us through radio and television, program us with perspectives and beliefs that re-model our minds every day.

If the content is biased towards destroying our abilities to develop ourselves then we are no better than drug addicts that are driven by some poisonous fluid in their blood stream and in their minds.

Making history is part of the foundation of economic and social growth. It must be corroborated with other sources, it must be tested against multiple accounts, and where possible, it must be exposed to scientific analysis and evidence.

Today because of biased history, Africans are branded to be lazy, Africans are labeled as corrupt, Africans are criminalized as war mongerers, Africans are considered to be incapable of planning ahead, and Africans are deemed to be under developed.

How can the next generation hope to climb out of poverty and social inequality with all these negative labels that are placed on them? Too often the fight is lost even before it has begun.

Africa’s achievements are mostly physical. Africa has vast mineral resources. Africa has huge tracts of arable lands. Africa has the world’s best long distance runners. Africa has the world’s best climates. Africa has open spaces. Africa has vast bushes and jungles for tourism. Africa is open for investment.

The physical features of Africa are mainly marketed to either indicate the lack of development, or to show case the great opportunities that are available for the developed world. Very little is written about the values of culture and tradition. There are fewer accounts of the mental well being of Africans as evidenced by the lower occurrences of mental diseases on the continent.

Africa must begin to write its own history and take into account the wills and aspirations of the local people that make up the lived history. Africa must account for the negative experiences, but must also shout out the achievements and successes of yesteryears. Africa must recognize that history is the fuel that propels the development engine of tomorrow and therefore must ensure that it does the job right and efficiently.

History is written by intellectuals and idiots alike. There are no restrictions. This brief account on making history is already becoming a part of Zambia’s and Africa’s history. For the writer, it will have already been catalogued and archived for others to refer to even before the text is brought to press.

Published 27 July 2010

Mindset

What does Mind Set mean? In the Merriam Webster’s on-line dictionary it is defined as ‘a mental attitude or inclination’ or, ‘a fixed state of mind’. In simple English this translates to ‘a set way of thinking’.

An interesting question one might ask is; ‘what or who decides what mind set we should adopt?’ The answer is not so easy to pin point because there may be many influences that come into play to develop a mind set within a person or group of people.

One wonders what the value of mind set is to economic development in any country. Zambia’s urban youth today want fast money, fast cars, fast life, fast food, and multiple personalities. This is probably true for the youth of many countries across the world.

Experiences during a visit to China and India highlight some telling insights into mind sets that have current and future impacts on economic development in these two countries.

The Shenzhen China youth encounter showed a young woman that was very focused on being the best employee that she could be and desirous of owning a house one day and getting married to start a family at some point in life. Her only ambitions of travel were to visit Beijing, and possibly Singapore and Hong Kong. She was proud to eat Chinese food, loved cosmetics and make up, and had extensive knowledge of China’s history. The young woman would constantly inquire whether her visitors wanted to eat a hamburger or wanted to drink a coke. She was trying to make them feel at home.

The Hyderabad India youth encounter revealed a young man that started the discussion by proudly informing his visitor that India no longer imported the Mercedes Benz motor vehicles but now manufactured them in India. In addition he shared that he would like to visit the USA and Europe at the first chance given to him. He noted that he would like to buy a house in the West to support his children when they would need to go for university education outside of India. The young man’s historical high points were the ousting of the British from India, and the Partition between India and Pakistan in 1947. The meeting with the young man was in a coffee house of the likes of Starbucks or Café Coffee Day.

Clearly there were some distinct differences in mind set between these two youths who were both in their mid twenties and were university graduates. It is acknowledged that the comparison is between man and woman, and that there may be other defining characteristics that need to be taken into account, but in some way these two people highlighted some stark similarities and some major differences.

The similarities are that both China and India are developing countries hosting populations of over one billion people with many citizens scratching the earth for a living. The differences are that China is more inward looking while India is more outward looking in respect to life styles and aspirations.

There appears to be more in common between China and the USA which are both inward looking, rather than China and the developing world that is pre-occupied with external influences.

What are some of the possible pressures and influences that are willingly embraced by people across the globe that fashion our mind sets?

In the very early stages of life children are sent off to school to become educated. The content of school curricula is one of the biggest mind set designers. Schools teach that truth is white while death is black. Teachers say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. The text books preach that developing countries have tribes while the developed world has nations. Africans eat bugs while Westerners eat crustaceans – a sophisticated word for both sea bugs and land bugs.

Colonial education has a sublime programming that covertly influences the mind set of the developing world to become one which is unconfident, seeks to emulate the West, is embarrassed of culture and tradition, and is self centred.

This education is further supplemented by the mass media programming of life styles through radio, television, the internet, and the print media. Radio, internet, and satellite television are intrusive and know no boundaries.

Over the last one hundred years, developing countries have embraced a mind set that favours the outsider instead of the insider. The mind set has promoted immediate lavish luxury life styles instead of hard earned stable futures for all. Our mind sets have compelled us to throw out our local languages which carry traditions and cultures, and we have adopted the uncultured medium of English from primary school to university. Children now prefer to become a rap star that has done jail time instead of a teacher, doctor, or policeman who serve the community. Elders aim at short term gains to feed their families and provide a comfortable life for the near future, and leave the plight of the next generation to chance and hope.

The mind set that dominates the developing world is self destructive and plays into the hands of the developed countries who sit at the side lines to pick up the spoils after we have destroyed ourselves.

The mind set that believes that your economic adversary will play fair and assist you to overcome them is a brain exercise in futility.

The mind set that looks for others to clean up your economy and put in on the right track is like throwing your child to the Hyena in the hope that it will feed him or her.

The mind set that measures progress by the clothes, car, food, and language that we speak is one that concretizes our dependency on egotistical benchmarks that do not improve the lives of the vast majority who are our children, relatives, and friends.

The mind set that sits in the comfort of a privileged job or position while advising others to tighten up their belts and fend for themselves, creates elite classes that add nothing to the economic development of the country.

Zambia needs to see a mind set that chooses to be African and Zambian in very respect so that a confident nation can emerge that recognizes its values and can engage with the world knowing where it is coming from, where it is now, and where it is going.

We need to have a mind set that believes in supporting our own people and will facilitate and promote domestic economic growth and capacity.

Zambia must inculcate a mind set that strategically and selectively chooses which social economic international and regional battles to fight so that the benefits can accrue to the local citizenry.

A mind set that will work for Africa and more specifically for Zambia is one that will bring social and economic development to the majority of the people with time. The indication of a positive mind set in Zambia will clearly be measured by the achievements of the next generation.

Published 20 July 2010

Teamwork

As the World Cup season comes to an end many countries go back home to develop new strategies to take to Brazil in 2014 in the hope of winning the prestigious trophy in yet another encounter.

Beyond individual effort and talent, the one characteristic of a winning strategy that has never failed any successful nation, is good teamwork.

Teamwork has proved itself as the winning formula in all team sports and is also applicable to governance, national development, building an economy, and running a successful company.

The United States employed team work to develop a federation of various states such that during the Second World War it emerged as the world’s first super power. China pooled its industrial capacity over the last four decades to become the world’s most efficient producer of finished goods thereby growing into the largest exporter on the planet. The European Union attracted the majority of European countries to come together to team up in economic development. The Latin economies of South America have recently regrouped to build capacity together to develop the sub continent. In Africa, several initiatives have emerged through ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, SACU, EAC and others, to form economic and political blocks that should work together to achieve common goals.

On the domestic front, there has not been very active teamwork within the private sector to engage with government and other parties to achieve economic growth.

The private sector has many sector specific business organizations that pursue sector specific goals with very little dialogue across the various sectors.

Not much discussion and debate has gone towards developing common positions and agendas on cross cutting issues that impact on every sector of economic activity.

Typical examples are; the impact of the COMESA Customs Union on Zambia’s business environment, the value and use of statutory government agencies in economic development, the challenges faced by the private sector in securing quality banking and financial services, the opportunities available to Zambian businesses emerging from State visits to other countries, the opportunities presented to Zambia through visiting business delegations, to name but a few.

As the world becomes less complex to navigate and the competition becomes more challenging, the private sector is compelled to exhibit more teamwork in order to develop the necessary muscle to persuade government on policy development, and to engage with the outside world more formidably.

Forums for developing teamwork should be set up immediately such that all independent thinking on the various development issues can be brought to the table and discussed in an effort to arrive at a meaningful decision on the way forward.

To this end, a COMESA Customs Union Forum should be launched to bring all the stakeholders in the country together in true teamwork spirit. The dialogue will not only inform government on the finer points challenging the nation, but will also assist the private sector to prepare themselves to engage with the rest of the region in business activity. The Customs Union is currently Zambia’s imminent challenge and therefore deserves to be top of the agenda.

The launch of a single start up Forum will no doubt raise enough issues for other forums to be launched, with a net result of broad consultation and wide input into most decision making processes that affect private sector development and regional integration initiatives.

The teamwork approach is the most inclusive and consistent manner of tackling the many problems and challenges that face most developing economies. Governments employ this mechanism in the Budget Building process and other multi-Ministry initiatives. The private sector should be in the forefront of championing this process far beyond current practices, if Zambia is to move forward aggressively with the agenda of building and broadening the economy.

The 2010 World Cup in many ways describes the attributes of teamwork. During the World Cup, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and other giants of the Premier League, all team up together to form England. This is the same for all other nations in the tournament where individual clubs elevate their status to that of national representation.

As Zambia prepares to engage with Brazil in the aftermath of the state visit to Zambia of Brazil President Lula, the private sector must be better organized to extract the benefits of the numerous agreements signed. This is the time to research Brazil extensively and select the options that Zambia would like to follow up with a view to finally developing an engagement plan.

During each year several business delegations travel to different parts of the world in search of business opportunities for Zambian companies. Much more effort must be put in to ensure that the delegations do not end their initiatives with a refreshing holiday, but that each delegation brings home options and opportunities for many Zambians to build the country through improved production of goods and services.

The teamwork spirit must be rekindled. The blueprints for teamwork are already in our systems through the Chambers of Commerce and other similar institutions. The opportunities are open to Zambia if strategies are devised to encompass the majority of private sector players.

It is ironic that a country such as Zambia which is endowed with vast resources, fantastic weather conditions, a pleasant disposition of people, and yet registers as one of the poor nations of the planet.

Published 13 July 2010

Governance And Leadership

The draft National Constitution is now out and open to the public for consideration and comment. The development and spirit of any constitution is expected to be; ‘by the people and for the people’.

This may be a guiding principle for all those that have decided to take an interest in the most important guiding document for the social and economic well being of the Zambian people.

The fundamental issues that one might want to consider are; the separation of powers of the three arms of governance, accountability, equity of all stakeholders, and leadership.

These principles also apply to most endeavours in our lives including business and building a robust and sustainable economy.

Interestingly, the draft Constitution has come to the public in print form and one hopes that as promised by the National Constitution Conference chair, it will soon be posted on the various web sites prescribed. Access to the draft Constitution is a basic vehicle for public equity in the Constitution making process.

The draft Constitution contains many provisions to hold the Head of State accountable to the Legislature on behalf of the people, with several mechanisms or the removal of an erring President.

These provisions try to ensure that the Head of State does not plunge the country into chaos in the event that his or her capacity to serve the people is impaired.

The powers of the Head of State hold the Executive, including the Vice President, accountable to the office of the President, and provide protection for the people from a destructive member of the Government machinery. The appointment and removal of top political Government officials by the President ensures accountability, only if managed appropriately.

The rationale seems to fall apart, and there is inconsistency, when the draft Constitution considers the accountability of Members of Parliament and Ward Councillors of the Local Government system. The current status quo is maintained whereby MP’s and Councillors are elected into office and are not compelled to be accountable to the appointing authority, which in this case, are the people who elected them.

MP’s and Councillors have free reign over their domains for the duration of their mandate in office, and there are very few provisions that are in place to either demand accountability, or for removal from office.

This scenario creates a governance structure that demands accountability only at the very top, but allows personal whims and fancies to dictate at the lower levels that interact on a daily basis with the people of the nation.

In a business, this arrangement leads to low productivity, abuse, wastage, inefficiency, lack of transparency, and finally after some time, the collapse of the enterprise.

Some character traits of a nation are set by the Head of State. These traits go a long way towards developing a model of behaviour for the leadership of a nation that could create lean and efficient government machinery, or could indulge in a huge government budget that squeezes vast amount of taxes from the citizenry which would have otherwise gone to investment in productive economic activity.

Botswana offers some insights on options for leadership where leaders do not go about their daily business with entourages of support staff. The Head of State in Botswana walks on the streets of Gaberone like every other citizen, as he engages in the day to day life of buying groceries and engaging with his people. As a result, there are very few motorcades, leaders are more in touch with their people, and the Government machinery is more functional in delivering services to the people rather than feeding itself.

There is merit in questioning what the fundamental values and models of our governance structures and systems are based on. As we comment and offer suggestions on the way forward for Zambia, we may want to re-assess the mechanisms that should motivate every Zambian to want to become more productive, more efficient, more innovative, and more committed to the development and well being of the country.

The cost of running a government adds to the cost of doing business. The lack of efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the governance systems of a country adds to the cost of doing business. The weakness in accountability of the legislature to the electorate adds to the cost of doing business. Leadership with low commitment to cost effective social and economic development adds to the cost of doing business

It is folly to expect ‘cut and paste’ models lifted from the blue prints of other countries to work in Zambia without adjusting and adapting them to address the peculiar influences, circumstances, and geo-political pressures that affect Zambia. It will be naïve, to expect foreign assistance and systems to focus primarily on the development of Zambia when they are promoted with foreign tax payer money that should be employed in developing their own social and economic goals.

Nail biting successes such as Ghana qualifying to the next round in the World Cup tournament may not be the best way to go as a sustainable model for Zambia. As we wish Ghana success in the next round, we must walk away acknowledging that our answers do not lie in wishful thinking but in planning, preparation, investment, and strategy.

What really matters for the Zambian economy and the well being of the vast majority of Zambians, is a set of rules and regulations supported by a long term committed effort to lifting the quality of life for all. The basic building block to achieve this goal is a National Constitution that not only stands the proverbial ‘Test of Time’, but that aggressively promotes equity, accountability, transparency, and investment of all the people inclusive of the elected leadership.

Published 6 July 2010