Malawi, Africa poorer than two decades ago
While trends in the rest of the world show a reduction in poverty levels compared to 20 years ago, Malawi and the rest of Africa are getting poorer.
This is according to the African Social Development Index—ASDI whose findings reveal that poverty, fueled by inequality, remains the single most driver of human exclusion in Africa.
to act fast
Women, youth and rural communities bear the most of human exclusion, the report released by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has said.
The ASDI is a tool developed to help member States track and measure human exclusion and inclusion for structural transformation.
The southern Africa ASDI report comprises of eight countries including Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia. There are variations between and within countries.
The report says here in Malawi there is higher human exclusion in cities than in rural areas with poverty and youth unemployment as major drivers.
The report also reveals that exclusion is predominantly a women affair. Women and girls are affected differently from their male counterparts, which critically affect their future development and ability to participate in social, economic and decision-making processes.
Minister of Finance and Economic Development Goodall Gondwe recently warned that Malawi and the rest of Africa cannot waste much more time on development as poverty is rising.
“I am almost eighty years now and I have seen how much we have tried to develop and failed. When the colonialists left us deliberately in the early 1960s we thought we could industrialise and develop faster but we have failed. We need to act fast and develop our countries to lift the people out of poverty,” said Gondwe.
Gondwe said he feels ashamed every time he goes to his village to see people living in grass-thatched houses and drinking water with animals from rivers and wells.
“It is shocking. I can have a television, good furniture in my house, but if the majority cannot access the basic things in life then we are failing our job. More people are living the way people lived 40 years ago due to poverty and it is not on.
Gondwe said it pains him that countries that have developed have used resources from Africa to develop, yet Africa is failing to uplift itself from poverty.
Takyiwaa Manuh, ECA director for social development policy division, believes that the ASDI lays a firm foundation for monitoring sustainable development as envisioned in Agenda 2063 where member States have collectively placed a high premium on inclusive development as one of the central pillars of Africa’s structural transformation. n
Shame on us Malawians.
There are very few of us who are not ashamed by the levels of poverty in our homesteads, especially when we see it front and every where, when we visit.
Sure, the poverty is a function of many factors, including the geographic size of the country, or the size of the economy. Notwithstanding, a big reason is population growth. I mean, in 1960 there were about 5 million of us. And by 2000, we numbered 10 mil. and went up by 5 mil to 15 mil in 2010. Any exercise to enhance the economy will get us nowhere unless we reduce the rate of growth. Whose job is that? Obviously, not just the government’s.
The smaller the population, the less difficult is the job of governing. Like, before the mid-1980s. Not envious at all of government leaders of today!
To be sure, the population issue does not excuse the unfair distribution of income, and wealth – the little bit there is. And no excuse for the gender disparity in the level of economic participation. No way.
The reason Malawi and Africa are getting poorer is simple.
African and Malawian policy makers focus on social progress and ignore economic progress. For example Malawi got in dependence and the national focus was self-determination, loyalty, obedience, discipline and unity. No economic progress goal. Then came multi-party democracy; freedom, human right fixes and electoral reforms. No economic goal. The story of Malawi is reflective of whole Africa. Focus has been on social change instead of economic progress. The Arab spring is a typical misplaced movement where people want economic progress by exerting
social change instead. The only economic effort understood on the continent is based on primary industry focus on commodities
( tobacco, tea, mineral ores, etc). Such a focus is wrong in more ways than
one. Take the tobacco industry for example. It has been heavily supported since 1893 when the first tobacco was exported to the UK. Yes it contributes to national net exports, yes it enables entrepreneurs to make a living, however it failed to bring above economic boom for the masses. The jobs the sector creates are mainly of peasantry nature with a few dotted graduate jobs directly and graduate jobs in supporting services. Land owners get lion’s share of profits.
Africa and Malawi must embrace the economic /industrial
progress to meet people’s aspirations. This means pushing industrial expansion to supplement agricultural base. By forgetting to manage balance of payments (BoP) it means Malawi and African economies have seen their aggregate wealth eroded over the years through currency
depreciation. For example the kwacha used to be £0.5 in 1980. Fast forward to 2016 and it is worth only around £0.00008. This is a failure of national competitiveness and BoP failings. The financial sector is not fit for purpose to support industrial expansion with high interest rate regime. High inflation levels, all add to deleterious effect on wealth creation. The consequence of all these failings is lack of job creation to pull people out of abject poverty. Feasting on foreign goods must be discouraged. Unnecessary foreign travel ruin BoP and kwacha strength. Interest rates must be reduced to give Malawian SMEs chance to create jobs and to provide economic growth. Push for value adding and not raw commodity
exports. On that basis the overarching premise for Africa to start creating
wealth will be to properly focus on expanding economic industrial axis and not confuse it wealth creation with social change even though they complement each other.