“Chinese go eviweh”
On my travels I have been struck lately by the large number of Chinese nationals I find in the most obscure places. Recently in the departure terminal in Addis Ababa, I noted that a large percentage of the passengers in the waiting area were Chinese as well. I must say this has led to several comical moments. Like the time when an immigration official was struggling to understand what a passenger was saying and he in turn was also struggling to understand her. It made for entertaining watching. One can sense the involvement of Sino-based companies on the continent. Naturally one wants to encourage the involvement of investment-ready partners on the continent, but this seems a little less beneficial for the continent as I attempt to explain in this post.
A rock and a hard place
The vast majority of the countries in the post-colonial era on the African continent find themselves in a quandary: They want – no need – to develop, but the funds accumulated by the fiscus are insufficient to address all the areas of develop. The transport infrastructure is in shambles in many countries as a result of conflict and neglect. Education departments and ministries in many places have failed to produce centres of excellence. Public health facilities are inferior (We know this because many African government officials prefer to be treated in European or Asian facilities when they fall ill). Along comes a “big brother” with deep pockets, technical know-how and a winning smile offering assistance. Sounds like a great deal, but the devil is clearly in the detail.
Invasion
Fast forward to the present. As laid out in this post many African countries find themselves up to their eye-balls in external debt and arguably in a worse position than before. The few infrastructural developments that have been done still sparkle in the distance, while civil servants go unpaid in order to service debt. One would have hoped that during the course of construction and implementation of various projects, there would be a transfer of skills that leads to a lasting benefit for the countries involved. Instead, we observe the creation of bigger and bigger Chinese communities. Well that’s great, isn’t it? It would be, if these communities contributed consistently to the budgetary requirements of the sovereigns. However, in reality, much of the money that should be flowing into the countries’ coffers mysteriously slips through the cracks
The cause of the phenomenon
The explanation is fairly straight-forward as is implied in the first paragraph of this post. When Chinese companies set up, they import… well… EVERYTHING. Their skilled labour is seldom local, their materials are rarely procured locally, even their food is often shipped in suitcases. (Warning – standing behind a Chinese national in the customs queue may lead to delays). All of this suggests an imbalance of power. Are companies with sino-ties being held to the same standards and required to follow the same procedures as any other companies? It’s a question without an answer, but from my little observation, I can hazard a guess.
Reaping
The Chinese interest in Africa is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact one could argue that whoever takes the trouble to venture into the deepest recesses in pursuit of opportunities should reap the rewards. (I know many black so-called entrepreneurs that are attempting to do “deals” and get rich while sitting in the restaurants and drinking cappuccinos in the cities.) Furthermore, as I explain here, it takes money to make money. So it stands to reason that those with the most disposable liquidity should reap in droves.
China-bashing is not the objective of this post. On the contrary, I believe that the continent could derive a lot of benefit, IF our governments didn’t seem so desperate. For instance, local participation of skilled individuals should be non-negotiable in every deal. Non-compliance should attract the imposition of additional taxes. Additionally, infrastructure projects should be subjected to the same, if not more rigour of scrutiny as far as efficient use of materials and prevention of other “padding”.
The question that begs is: Surely nothing that has been said in this post is novel. So why isn’t it happening as it should?
