Alas! some of our leaders are waking up!
Re-forwarded from the pages of The Gambia Journal.
Letter To The Editor
IT IS TIME THE WEST PRACTICES WHAT IT PREACHES By Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal ’s
President
Jan 29, 2008, 08:41
Culled From The Financial Times
As soon as he came to power nearly eight years ago Senegalese President Wade
and his coalition partners swapped from Taiwan On China to Mainland China ,
leaving The Gambia to be Taipei ’s main partner in the neighborhood. So in
yet another way the two sister Senegambian states went their separate ways,
one heading to Beijing , leaving the other on the road to Taipei . The Gambia ’
s road to Taipei is wrought with financial scandals, including the one
show-cased by soldier-fugitive and now United States based Capt. Ebou Jallow. But
the road to Beijing and its reverse invasion of capital, goods and
entrepreneurship also brought its own storm with it. The storm is mainly from The West.
See President Wade’s response to this storm:
Culled From The Financial Times
By Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal ’s president
Published: January 23 2008 16:28 | Last updated: January 23 2008 16:28
When it comes to China and Africa, the European Union and the US want to
have their cake and eat it. In an echo of its past colonial rivalries, European
leaders and donor organisations have expressed concerns that African nations
are throwing their doors open too wide to Chinese investors and to
exploitation by their Asian partners.
But if opening up more free markets is a goal that the west prizes – and
extols as a path to progress – why is Europe fretting about China ’s growing
economic role in Africa ? The expansion of free markets has indeed been a boon
to Africa . But as I tell my friends in the west, China is doing a much better
job than western capitalists of responding to market demands in Africa .
The battle for influence in the world between the west and China is not
Africa ’s problem. Our continent is in a hurry to build infrastructure, ensure
affordable energy and educate our people. In many African nations, African
leaders are striving to reinforce robust economic growth in a sustainable manner
and reduce “brain-drain” incentives that have led to an exodus of
well-educated Africans to Europe .
China ’s approach to our needs is simply better adapted than the slow and
sometimes patronising post-colonial approach of European investors, donor
organisations and non-governmental organisations. In fact, the Chinese model for
stimulating rapid economic development has much to teach Africa .
With direct aid, credit lines and reasonable contracts, China has helped
African nations build infrastructure projects in record time – bridges, roads,
schools, hospitals, dams, legislative buildings, stadiums and airports. In many
African nations, including Senegal , improvements in infrastructure have
played important roles in stimulating economic growth.
These are improvements, moreover, that stay in Africa and raise the
standards of living for millions of Africans, not just an elite few. In Senegal , a
Chinese company cannot be awarded an infrastructure-related contract unless it
has partnered with a Senegalese company. In practice, Chinese companies are
not only investing in Senegal but transferring technology, training, and
know-how to Senegal at the same time.
It is a telling sign of the post-colonial mindset that some donor
organisations in the west dismiss the trade agreements between Chinese banks and
African states that produce these vital improvements – as though Africa was naïve
enough to just offload its precious natural resources at bargain prices to
obtain a commitment for another stadium or state house.
In the past, the political power-play between Taiwan and China often spurred
Asian investment on the African continent. Today, however, economic
relations are based more on mutual need – and the economic reality that the EU and
the US cannot compete with China . A number of big projects in Senegal had
initially been funded by the Taiwanese, but in 2005, Senegal abandoned the
politicisation of development and opted for decisions based on a free market.
I have found that a contract that would take five years to discuss,
negotiate and sign with the World Bank takes three months when we have dealt with
Chinese authorities. I am a firm believer in good governance and the rule of
law. But when bureaucracy and senseless red tape impede our ability to act – and
when poverty persists while international functionaries drag their feet –
African leaders have an obligation to opt for swifter solutions. I achieved more
in my one hour meeting with President Hu Jintao in an executive suite at my
hotel in Berlin during the recent G8 meeting in Heiligendamm than I did
during the entire, orchestrated meeting of world leaders at the summit – where
African leaders were told little more than that G8 nations would respect
existing commitments.
At the same time that China has been especially nimble, the prices and
quality of goods coming from Asia give African governments no choice other than to
buy Chinese, Indian and Malaysian goods. For the price of one European
vehicle, a Senegalese can purchase two Chinese cars. The proof is in the parking
lot at the presidential palace in Dakar . Low-cost Chinese Chery and Great Wall
models are giving Senegal ’s middle and working classes access to a new car,
a sign of our emerging consumer class. We are even using these affordable
Chinese cars in a pilot project to reinsert unemployed women into the workforce
by creating a fleet of taxis called Sister Taxis. When products are
affordable, innovative programmes become realistic.
China , which has fought its own battles to modernise, has a much greater
sense of the personal urgency of development in Africa than many western
nations. Last year, the Chinese Eximbank pledged $20bn in development funds for
African infrastructure and trade financing over the next three years, funds that
outstripped all western donor pledges combined. News of the Exim commitment
caused a fuss in some quarters of Europe . But western complaints about China
’s slow pace in adopting democratic reform cannot obscure the fact that the
Chinese are more competitive, less bureaucratic and more adept at business in
Africa than their critics.
Today I find myself at the heart of an economic struggle with the EU. If
Europe does not want to provide funding for African infrastructure – it pledged
$15bn under the Cotonou Agreement eight years ago – the Chinese are ready to
take up the task, more rapidly and at less cost. Not just Africa but the west
itself has much to learn from China . It is time for the west to practice
what it preaches about the value of market incentives.
Abdoulaye Wade is President of Senegal
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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