Kandjengo kaMkwaanyoka
One common issue I have observed from our policymakers, economic leaders, and trade facilitators is that they are all begging and calling for external experts and business leaders to come and build their economy
It is absurd because we build schools and have access to all the technology and all that is required, but we still struggle to build the economy we want.
Then the issue is we are just economically illiterate- we lack the basics and guts to build the economy and future we want.
It also means colonialism was one of the best strategies to date to decapitate Africans, particularly black people.
As a well-endowed country, with land and a massive education budget., we still seek all innovation, policy advice, and basic food from elsewhere.
So how come we are still begging, we are still waiting for external rescue and still vulnerable?
All we do is give speeches of our aspirations and wants and then travel around the world inviting others to come and manage or take over our resources.
This is despite our qualifications and educational accolades.
The world is becoming harsh for those who have minimal self reliance, those who can’t mobilise domestic capital to build their own industries nor grow their own white maize and wheat despite the land.
Perhaps we are just economically illiterate, because looking at what we have (resources), our population size, and geographical position, we are supposed to get it right, yet we aren’t.
It is kind of pathetic because we are aspiring, hoping, and planning big, but nobody is getting practical. We are all calling for foreign solutions, capital, and expertise. Even though we are quite educated and enlightened on wealth building.
Some have even had the opportunity to see how the rest of the world has moved and built, yet we still come back home to write strategies with no implementation plans or practical steps to take forward.
Let us enlighten ourselves on the relevant matters and knowledge that matters to our continental growth. At this point, we have accumulated so much knowledge that is not adding much to our growth and development.
Despite the educational accolades achieved by the country’s technocrats and leaders, we are still following the same economic doctrines and theories of the past.
We are still calling for the rest of the world to come build, take over, manage, and process on our behalf.
Africa is still being summoned externally to discuss and be guided on how it can build its economy and manage its resources.
Africa is still signing and subscribing to bad agreements, and Africa is still getting bad debts or financial advice from the Western world.
Vaccines, medical, and nutritional advice are still coming from elsewhere- so am I wrong to question our educational ability?
More specifically, our economic and commercial ability and sense of our resources.
Perhaps at this point, we need to accept that we aren’t that economically enlightened in terms of building and transforming our economy, especially at the leadership level of various critical institutions.
The current geopolitics are cruel to the weak, economically illiterate, and leaders with no guts.
The public and also those who pay attention need to wake up and stop applauding speeches and start embracing policy actions.
