November 13, 2007

Can Africa be developed rapidly? Learning from Asian success.

It is important to understand that there is no one Asian model. There are city states like Hong Kong and giant countries like India and China in the Asian continent.

Governments and societies in Asia had a long team perspective unlike Africa. They visioned together the importance of economic growth and a strategy to implement that vision. All the Asian countries opted to elect the educated elite as their leaders unlike African rulers that are mostly from the military rank and file.

They all developed primarily human capital to get the needed skilled manpower. Almost all governments of Asia recognized the crucial role of the private sector as a partner rather than a rival to be distrusted unlike African leaders that regard the private sector to be in opposition to the state and their rule. The encouragement of the private sector then boosted and created a stable economic environment for private decision making.

They have increased agricultural production through support for rural infrastructure and this rapidly increasing agricultural productivity helped establish the basis for economic growth for most of the Asian countries. They also created a liberal environment and alleviated constraints on access to inputs in investment decisions both for the Asian investor and his foreign counterpart.

Africa has a richer resource than most Asian countries but these huge resources have not been fully exploited in Africa. The political structures of Africa are also different from the ones in Asia,. Governments in Asia use their power for the benefit of their people and corruption is far unknown in Asia while in Africa the leaders are power hungry and use the political power to sustain the rule of their regimes for an indefinite period. Corruption is also high on their agenda. Favoritism, tribal divisions, social injustice and lack of education is common in Africa.

There is also no fair and legal law enforcement, lack of skilled manpower, deficient roads another infrastructure and governmental interferences are major constraints. The policy makers of Africa are not willing to make the choices needed to accelerate growth.

During the cold war the governments of Africa were caught in the grip of socialist ideology and wasted their resources in UN profitable pursuits unlike the Asian countries that followed profitable systems encouraging the private sector to be a partner in the economic growth of their countries. It is pity also that the end of the cold war brought pressures and upheavals once again to the African continent. They became the centre of new conflicts that have no parallel. New conflicts have started again in the continent and the world body [UN] has been weekend by the single super power fulfilling hidden agendas and interests.

Although Agriculture is more extensive in Africa than Asia and less irrigable, still development of agriculture is possible as means of rapid growth. A highly trained and productive labor force must also be developed in the continent to catch with the emerging technology of the present age. The governments of Africa must also change attitude and encourage the private sector to play a leading role in the economic development as in Asia.

The Asian experience shows and points out the importance of agriculture as a source of saving, a source of labor and should be followed by the leaders of the African continent. In addition Africa should give priority to human capital like Asia by educating its people to get a highly skilled and productive labor force that can enhance the development. They should produce school teachers as fast as children by sending them to the universities of the highly developed countries.

It is useful also for African countries to send some of their people to Asia on study tours to have an opportunity to meet government officials, the private sector and the academics to learn their experiences. There is recognition that the public sector has no participatory role in the development of Africa because the policy makers are not good managers and have not treated the private sector as a partner. Governments cannot do all things and deliver goods and services to all people. They have to privatize some services and the farmers and association’s demands must be listened to rather than squelched so that they can move to more value and labor incentive crops and then to rural industry.

Will Africa benefit or be penalized as a late comer? I think Africa is again caught in a middle of new ideology. The new world order brought pressures to Africa which brought traditional western model democracy not based on the culture and religion of the African countries. They should be left alone to adopt the kind of democracy that suits their culture and religion. The western developed countries should not penalize Africa for not adopting their traditional model democracies instead Africa should be helped to adopt democracy that suits them.

Lastly if Africa wants to develop, the educated elite should be allowed to be at the helm of power. Political and socio-economic reforms are also required to be introduced. The private sector must be encouraged to fill their space in the public domain as basis for development and rapid growth. Priority should also be given to education to get skilled manpower. The new generation should be taught social, ethical and moral responsibilities to the public instead of narrow interest groups.

Lastly the resources of the African continent are very potential and the rewards and opportunities are boundless if properly utilized. However this takes a great deal of effort, time and resources and un planned pursuits can bring un expected failure and should proceed slowly and with great caution.

All in all if the present leaders and the community do not change attitude it is unlikely that dynamic development to be initiated in Africa.