A time to turn a new leaf
A time to turn a new leafBy Editor
Tuesday August 14, 2007 [04:00]
Amartya Sen, the recepient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, once said that people themselves must have the responsibility for the development and change of the world in which they live. We agree with him.
Over the last few years, and arising from the disastrous experience of neoliberalism especially in the developing world, there has been a realisation, although rather late, that the destinies of the economies of individual nations lie squarely in the hands of those particular nations.
Since the early 1980s, the world witnessed an onslaught of neoliberalism as it was being pushed down the throats of most developing nations, as a way of 'healing' the economies of the perceived 'sick' nations.
Through Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP), Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) and the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, most poor nations have had a taste of the bitter pill of neoliberalism.
And thanks to the blindness of Frederick Chiluba's administration, Zambia has had a fair share of the concoctions of neoliberal policies. Lest we are misunderstood, we are not saying that President Levy Mwanawasa's government is entirely innocent when it comes to its engagement with neoliberal policies. There are several economic decisions that Levy's government has made which are clearly a result of the influence of neoliberalism, either directly or indirectly.
However, it is well known that it was Chiluba's government - intoxicated with and infatuated by its 'new culture' - that made way for the grand entry of unlimited neoliberalism into the country. From opening the country to the so-called liberalisation programme and thereby reducing Zambia into a mere dumping ground, privatising the nation's key enterprises such as the copper mines, to liquidations and shutdown of some state parastatals deemed to be drains on the economy, Chiluba's government has indeed shown us the true side of neoliberalism.
The experience of our country with neoliberalism is certainly not a pleasant one, yet no amount of whingeing can cure the pain. But it is always important to acknowledge the truth when one is faced with indisputable facts. Over the last few years, we have observed a change of approach by most of the institutions which were once a channel for neoliberalism. We are now listening to a changed language and tone of speech even from the officials of institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), essentially because there is now a realisation and indeed an admission of the failure of neo-liberalism. And this in itself is very good because those who cannot learn and correct their mistakes are surely destined for the abyss.
So, when we hear repeated sentiments as those of outgoing World Bank country manager to Zambia, Dr Ohene Nyanin on the need for sovereignty and independence in terms of the destiny of our future, we feel a sense of relief because it is necessary that the responsibility of dealing with our problems should largely lie or rest in our own hands. We are not saying that we do not require the help of others.
With regard to economic and social development of our country, we think that it is important that, while not necessarily repelling external involvement, the task should be primarily left to be dealt by ourselves because we know our problems better and we are as such better placed to confront our own challenges. But like we have said before, we will not repel any form of assistance here and there to help us in areas where we certainly need the capacity of others. What we are against is the idea of imposition of policies and programmes by outsiders who are far removed from the realities of our daily experiences.
We have always been and we will always be opposed to the idea of having some World Bank or IMF officers scheming policies which have no relevance to our own realities. We are not opposed to engagements with development partners who are genuine, but we are opposed to those partners who want to impose and force down our throats policies which will end up choking us as it happened with programmes such as SAP.
We do not want partners who will come and tell us to stop providing subsidies to our farmers when in their own countries farm subsidies are the order of the day. We will not allow ourselves to be cheated that our people should pay high fees in hospitals and schools when nations of the developed world have policies and programmes aimed at ensuring that their citizens have unlimited access to healthcare and education.
Our experience with neoliberalism has taught us many lessons, which we should not repeat consciously. And we are happy that the World Bank and the IMF now seem to have realised their mistakes in the way they have handled the case for developing nations. We can only hope that the 'repentance' of these two institutions is genuine and not just for the purpose of window-dressing or some self-cleansing exercise. It will not help much if some of the sentiments we are hearing from the World Bank and the IMF are just meant for the gallery because we think that a deep reflection has always been necessary in terms of the two institutions' approach to economic and social development programmes for poor nations.
For once, we expect that the World Bank and the IMF should start recognising the sovereignty of each and every nation of the world in terms of economic and social development planning. We do not need to say more about the fact that the arrogance of the past has not been helpful either to the two multilateral institutions or the nations upon which they have sought to impose Washington-tailored economic programmes or policies. And there can be no better time than now for the two multilateral institutions to turn a new leaf in their way of doing things.
Labels: EDITORIAL, NEOLIBERALISM, OHENE NYANIN, World Bank
posted by MrK @ 6:24 AM
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