AFRICA:  THE DISSONANCE IN ECONOMICS

by Simeon Nkola Matamba ( Follow on Twitter )


For last years news have been awash with reports of growth in african economies. Apart from BRICS and asian economies' emergence, Africa is also drawing attention. To mention but a few countries, Nigeria has been recently promoted the first african economy, ahead of South Africa, after a GDP rebasing. Also, the war torn Democratic Republic of the Congo is believed to be experiencing growth in GDP(7 to 8 % between 2012 and 2013). Not forgetting Ghana, Angola, etc .

The African Development Bank foresees a 4.8%  expansion of average growth in 2014 and 5.7%  in 2015. Updates of numbers, figures, curves, graphs enhance the "Africa Is Rising" creed, in spite of the fact that not everybody can fathom their significance.

But contrary to what it should be, increased GDPs surprisingly don’t directly influence populations' daily lives. Though economists would like to demonstrate that the rise is coming, nothing so far dispels the feeling that things are moving on the opposite direction. For the child who wakes up to find no food, the father who keeps his head down in shame because he cannot keep the bread on the table, or the mother selling coal at the market to support her family, growth is nonexistent.

The large majority is not ready to believe in any idea of growth. Not because production is not expanding but rather because of the persistent precarity in access to basic goods and services. African countries still have high levels of unemployment, famine(239 million undernourished according to estimations by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation ), lack of infrastructures, poor health care systems causing rulers to brazenly go abroad for treatments, wars and endless conflicts. The list is not exhaustive.

Growth alone is not enough, as showed Tresor Chovu (@chovenstone) a congolese business negotiator I encountered on Twitter. To growth must be added the notion of fair distribution of wealth and opportunities. One of the main causes of not sensing growth is the corruption scourge that does not facilitate an organised allocation of benefits of growth to different sectors of the economy. Institutionalised corruption is sand in Africa's machine, blocking the steering movement so as to near development

Fair distribution does not mean dishing out bank notes or organising charity-style events that we often see when a politician goes out to test their popularity and feed their ego with the poor coming out to sing praises.

There are a some areas that can be considered for improving living conditions. For instance education, health care, agriculture, or energy. A good education resulting in a skilled population in various domains is a great factor of  development and it also enables workers to get rewards based on their qualification. Efforts to create sustainable and affordable health care will lengthen life expectancy, halt the spreading of diseases or at least visibly reduce them. Agriculture's role as one of the key areas to attain food security must not be downplayed as Africa houses 60% of the world uncultivated land. Outstanding potentials for energy need to be focused on because energy is of paramount importance for households, as well as individuals and firms in production chains.

Novices in economics are more concerned about their living conditions. Obviously we want to believe that Africa is rising but what matters most is to see the rise of the african man. It is achieved when respective governments deal with priorities with the aim of lessening the burden of life upon people's shoulders. Showers of figures-there are also critics to the growth narrative-cannot blot out poverty unless there is impulsions in concrete projects aimed at improving living conditions. That is what we need.