Whose integration is it anyway? AfCFTA needs to overcome its risks.
With all eyes on the implementation
of the historic African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the question which needs to be answered is, whose
integration is Africa pursuing?
Researches have shown that Africa
intra trade still remain low at approximately 15% of its total trade. This
tells us that we are not yet prepared to trade among ourselves. The continental
free trade is a result of the vision by African leaders to ensure the future of
Africa is transferred into the hands and ownership of the Africans. It can be
traced back to the Lagos Platform of Action of 1980 which envisioned the
development of Africa through self-sufficiency. By 1980 the African leaders by then had noticed that the over reliance of Africa on exportation of raw materials was
leaving it at the mercy of the developed countries that were benefiting from
the relationship and was not sustainable.
The need to industrialise Africa
was agreed upon and mechanism were put into place to ensure that Africa redefines
its future. The LPA came against the background of failure of neoliberal
policies, structural adjustment programs of International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and World Bank (WB) which has left African countries more vulnerable than
before. Integration of Africa cannot be concluded without talking about the
effects of colonisation and neo-colonialism which has continued to separate the
African countries as they jostle for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from the
West and recently from China.
In adopting the Monrovia Declaration, African
leaders were very clear; they recognized the need to take urgent action to
provide the political support necessary for the success of the measures to achieve
the goals of rapid self-reliance and self-sustaining development and economic
growth. Leaders firmly held to the view
that these commitments will lead to the creation, at the national, sub-regional
and regional levels, of a dynamic and interdependent African economy and will
thereby pave the way for the eventual establishment of an African Common Market
leading to an African Economic Community. This was followed by the signing of the Abuja
treaty in 1991 which laid the foundation for the eventual
establishment of an African Common Market through a gradual process of
co-ordination, harmonisation and progressive integration of the activities of
existing and future Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa.
From 1980 to 2018 Africa had all
the time it needed to focus on the needs of an African regional integration
which can serve its people. The celebrated AfCFTA has a lot of obstacles to
clear before it can be responsive to the needs of the African whose leaders envisioned
the establishment of the continental project. As Africans celebrate the historic launch of
the AfCFTA , is there any leaders who were present at the formation of The
Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, the 1980 LPA and the Abuja treaty of 1991 to testify
if this is really what they wanted Africa to have. Africa still exports its raw
materials and semi-finished minerals and agricultural produce to the West and
China., instead of industrialisation, because of continued export of jobs many
countries are deindustrializing. The people of Africa with an exception of a
few, have remained in the informal sector and no policies have been put in place
to ensure the African people are brought to the center stage of African development.
This results in the question, who
is pushing for this regional integration? The African people need to be sincere
with themselves as to what are they going to be selling to each other when we
have failed to diversify our exports for the past four decades as small Asian countries
have managed to rise above us. Without belittling assistance from donors and
development partners, we need to understand the repercussions of every decision
we make to the people of Africa. Africa has to start owning its future and this
start with establishment and funding of researches which gives the leaders the required
information to make correct decisions which are responsive of what the people
need.
The African Agenda 2063 is clear, Africa needs to invest its people and deliver the Africa they want. Let Africa integrate its people first before rushing to integrate goods and capital flow. Let Africa recognize the need for them to incorporate the Informal Cross- Border Traders, Small and Mediums Enterprises, informal sector where its people are situated. Allow Africa to introspect itself and identify where the women and youth are which falls under its Agenda 2063.
How many women are going to be using AfCFTA? What percentage
of youth in Africa has the capacity to produce and sell across borders? All these
questions assist in answering the question, whose integration is it anyway? Let
the world respond.
Levious Chiukira
+263773065062
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