Africa losing 58 billion dollars annually

It seems we are condemned to poverty.  It is us the poor who lose to the rich. According to a group of organisations including Health Poverty Action, the African Forum and network on Debt and Development and the World Development Movement among others, USD 192 billion is flowing out of the African continent every year in profits made by foreign companies through tax evasion (Paul Redfan, a special correspondent of the East African newspaper, issue of July 26-august 1, 2014).

In contrast USD 134 billion flows into the continent in form of loans, foreign investment and aid. The result is Africa is losing USD 58 billion a year. The report claims that this loss is not only repatriation of profits but illicit financial flows, illegal logging and fishing among other things. The report says that Africa is forced to say a further USD 10.6 billion to adapt to the effects of climatic change that it did not cause.  Mr. Martin Drewey, the Director of Poverty Health Action describes it as looting. He says “let us use more accurate language. It is sustained looting the opposite of generous giving.” When you do not have income and the little you have is siphoned away, you are condemned to poverty. It is not surprising that there is a school of thought that says that poor Africans should be given money rather than let them work. Is Africa’s leadership aware of this challenge?

Is Africa really growing as it has been claimed?

Razia Khan writing in the east African Business week of June 30-Jly 6, 2014, questioned whether Africa was really growing. His argument was that the statistics quality in Africa from different agencies did not enable Africa to know whether it was growing or not. According to him, the data in Africa is so bad that it does not enable any meaningful interpretation. Khan is head of Africa research at Standard Chartered bank in London. In a way he is challenging the school or thought that Africa has been growing rapidly in the last decade. I cannot agree with him more, poverty in Africa is simply increasing. Possibly we have economic growth without economic growth. Many world leaders and economists have been saying it is time for Africa to lead the way in economic growth following China. My view is that Africa is not ready yet. The concept of business is still foreign to many Africans given that approximately 70% or more of Africans are not yet in the business/industrial economy.