Export diversification plays significant role in growing Africa’s economy AFRICAN governments have acknowledged the significance of export diversification and have taken various steps to diversify their export markets and migrate into high-productivity economic sectors.
Many underlying issues, however, have hampered their efforts to achieve transformative export diversification and practical results of industrial upgrading and technological innovation policies.
There is a significant opportunity for African economies to reform and achieve more diversification and competitiveness.
The practical implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the expanding middle class, the evolving consumer market, enhanced use of financial technology and services, and the efficiency of the vibrant private sector will all be enablers of African export diversification and long-term economic growth.
Forward and backward connections, labour markets and human resources, knowledge and technological spillovers and expanded access to financial services might contribute to improved integration and diversification degrees.
Since the first industrial revolution, which resulted in a spike in international commerce, Africa has generally stayed on the periphery of the global economic sphere.
Early globalisation primarily benefited today’s industrialised economies, where industrial innovations arose. As a result, there is a “huge gap” in income levels between the Global North and South.
More recently, in the 1990s, introducing new information and communications technologies drastically reduced distance costs.
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This era ushered in a new phase of globalisation marked by the establishment of intricate global value chains (GVCs).
These GVCs aided the recent period of rapid convergence by increasing industrial production in nations such as China, India, Indonesia, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
As a result, GVCs allowed these nations to close the gap between developing and advanced economies.
The repercussions of globalisation on Africa and its people have gotten significantly less attention, even though the continent will possibly become home to more than 40% of the world’s population by the end of the century.
Africa’s portion of worldwide commercial trade has remained stuck at roughly 3%, as has its share of global industrial production.
Rendering more inclusive globalisation would need measures addressing disparity within developed economies.
Moreover, promoting living-standard convergence between Africa and high-income nations remains crucial.
African governments can help by advancing regional integration and closing skilled labour and technological infrastructure gaps.
Furthermore, developing a framework to hold and manage Africa’s digital data with the help of foreign partners cannot be overstated.-Invest in Africa
Govt must listen to Zimbabwean voices first IN the run-up to the July 31, 2018 elections, then Information, Media and Broadcasting Services secretary George Charamba said elections were “an instrument of foreign policy”.
That was a strange way to think about a democratic exercise, and it raised serious concerns about Zimbabwe’s future.
When the military ousted then President, the late Robert Mugabe in November 2017, Zimbabweans judged that the benefits of change at the top surpassed the drawbacks of a military-led transition.
Thus, they avoided calling the event a coup. Emmerson Mnangagwa, a longtime senior aid to Mugabe, became President, and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantino Chiwenga became Vice-President, reinforcing the military backing for the new order.
Along with other ruling party stalwarts from the Mugabe era, they set about consolidating their new positions and recasting themselves as agents of change.
Mnangagwa’s government then went on a relentless global charm offensive, enthusiastically expressing a desire to “rejoin the community of nations” and normalise Zimbabwe’s place in the world.
Their campaign was motivated not only by a desire for foreign investment to rescue the nearly bankrupt economy, but by an expressly stated desire for international legitimacy — the type that would make targeted sanctions disappear and trigger support from international financial institutions.
While this appeal to the outside world became the focus of a domestic electoral exercise, it failed to gain legitimacy in the eyes of Zimbabweans themselves.
Moreover, this prioritisation of foreign relations was manifest in the election preparations themselves.
Government formally invited international observers, in marked contrast to previous elections.
While this was a welcome development, the authorities were far less eager to ensure that arrangements were in place for domestic observers — for the people who actually possess the necessary language skills, historical awareness and cultural context to understand what is happening on the ground.
After weeks of delay, which prompted legal challenges and eroded confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission finally released the voters roll, but only after it was too late to address any irregularities.
It appeared that the government of the United Kingdom, which was markedly enthusiastic about Mnangagwa’s government, obtained a copy of the roll before opposition parties in Zimbabwe itself.
Such kind of discrepancies raise real questions about who the electoral exercises are really for.
None of this is lost on the long-suffering Zimbabwean people.
They have noticed that those in charge seem more interested in winning the approval of an international audience than in winning the trust of the domestic population, choosing to relegate them to the cheap seats in their own country.
It will be essential to listen to Zimbabwean voices, and to look beyond the election itself, for real evidence that democratic accountability and the rule of law are operational within Zimbabwe’s borders.
Only then can the rest of the world assess whether real change has come.-Michelle Gavin
Lest we forget our heroes THIS is the month we remember and celebrate the illustrious fallen sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who sacrificed their blood to liberate the country.
Traditionally, August is a month to celebrate the heroic sacrifices that were made by ordinary men and women who took up arms to unshackle the chains of colonial bondage.
Lest we forget.
Many left their families and homes and never returned. They are buried in unmarked graves in Zambia and Mozambique.
It was the very same young people who formed the nucleus of the liberation struggle and did not think twice about fighting the enemy, but today, the young people are told that they are too young to lead.
There was unity among them which gave them the impetus and resilience to fight the oppressor.
Some of them went without food and shelter, but they remained resolute.
They fought and destroyed the pillars of colonial power to free Zimbabwe.
With the help of the pan-African nationalism tide which swept across the colonial trappings, they discovered the formula through stimulation of racial solidarity and “shared blackness”.
This movement was always focused on decolonisation and lobbied for the total independence of the country from Rhodesian rule.
It is so disturbing that souls of the bodies that are scattered all over the country are watching the persecution of their grandchildren who today are being harassed, tortured, killed and are denied to speak out.
Their souls are still weeping in the wilderness. Those who have taken over the leadership are mortgaging the country to the highest bidder, lining and fattening their pockets at every opportunity.
They have used guns and weapons to protect their ill-gotten wealth.
They are looting the country dry, while their fellow comrades in arms are wallowing in abject poverty.
Zimbabweans are crying everyday in the land of plenty.
On August 1, 2018, the army was unleashed to kill innocent souls. This is not what the revolutionary fighters fought for.
Today, our national shrine has been personalised and politicised by Zanu PF. Those lying in trenches must be agonising.-Leonard Koni
