The Elephant in the room: External influences on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The continent celebrates the
historic achievement of an integrated Africa through the establishment of
AfCFTA which came after not a smooth sailing. The continental free trade area comes
as result of the vision of the African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius
Nyerere. The basis of the AfCFTA emanated from the need to have an integrated
prosperous continent with the African people owning the continental projects
and taking advantage of the untapped resources of women and the youth.
For any development to be
successful and have a meaning the process of regional integration must be first
and foremost be driven by the domestic people. The momentous accomplishment comes at a time
when Europe is negotiating the exit of Britain out of the European Union (EU). The major partners in the integration process
have been the West through the developmental agencies and EU resulting in the
adoption of the European model of integration being utilised for an African set
up. As Africans celebrate their integration, the British are celebrating
leaving the European bloc popping the question, are we not late for the show? Are we
not integrating Africa in a disintegrating world? Only time will tell.
The integration of Africa needs
to consider various factors which include effects of slavery, colonialism and artificial borders inherited after independence. These factors will assist in
locating the Africans` active part of the economy which should be given priority in the process of integration. The
honours is on the leadership to identify the strength Africa possesses and enter
into mutual beneficial agreements with progressive developmental agencies and
move away from aid mentality.
Major challenge with has come
with African programs has been attributed to funding. Studies done shows that Though
African member states have agreed to resource the AU in a reliable and a
predictable manner since its creation, they only contributed approximately 27%
of the spent budget in 2017. The difference
is funded through donors to whom the Africans have to be accountable to. There
has been reluctance by African countries to invest in research and development
resulting in the reliance of foreign funded researches which are done to suit a
certain narrative.
Prior to the launch of the AfCFTA,
no intensive researches were done by the African countries to assess how the
CFTA will impact on their economies. Most of the statistics being referred to justify
the operationalization of the AfCFTA are papers from developmental agencies,
World Bank and International Monetary Fund. This makes the AfCFTA seem like it
has been hijacked from the African people and ends looking like it’s a tool to
push the neoliberalism policies at the expense of the African people.
The effects of COVID -19 have
exposed the weaknesses in Africa in terms of regional integration as existing
regional economic communities (RECs) failed to deal with pandemic at sub-regional
level resulting in countries dealing with it at national level. This has resulted
in mixed reactions which has affected the regional trade and delayed even the
launch of the AfCFTA to January 01, 2021.
The questions to ask are, to what
extend has the donor community influenced the adopted regional integration
model? For sustainable development to be
achieved the adopted model of regional economic integration should resonate
with challenges being faced by the African people. The AfCFTA should address
the challenges being faced by the informal economy which include Informal
Cross-Border Trading and SMEs who have continued to contribute to African
economies without sound policy support. The women who are seen crossing the
borders is mostly trading the African goods and they are acquainted with were
the goods are found and are wanted. It will be demoralising if AfCFTA continues
on the same path of existing RECs which have failed to stimulate intra African
trade through promoting the SMEs and the ICBT.
For Africa`s regional integration
to respond to the Africa we want vision there is need for the African leaders
to go back to their constituencies and have all people contribute to the
regional economic model. The time of muzzling the people is over; Africa needs
to come out guns blazing to dictate her future through the African people. There
is need for continuous review of the AfCFTA by the African people to ensure it
achieves its intended goals as highlighted in the Lagos Plan of Action 1980,
The A991 Abuja Treaty and the African Agenda 2063. The African leaders need to
prioritise the funding of African programs and gradually take responsibility of
full funding of the African projects. Africa should desist from creating
institutions and move to utilising the available resources it has to make the continent
great. The great united and integrated Africa is possible.
Levious Chiukira
+263773065062
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