By John Blanshe Musinguzi
At the beginning of each New Year, some of the cleverest people in the world gather in the Swiss Alpine resort, Davos to exchange ideas about the economic well-being of the world.
Their gathering is called “The World Economic Forum.” It was founded in January 1971 under the chairmanship of German-born Klaus Schwab, then Professor of Business Policy at the University of Geneva. Since then, there have been 44 “World Economic Forum” gatherings.
Unfortunately, being “clever” does not mean that one is necessarily wise. That is why although clever people have been exchanging “ideas” about the world economy for 44 years, countries like Gabon, the Central African Republic, the Congo Democratic Republic, Cameroon, etc have been exporting logs, cut from their forests, to Europe and America, to be used in making furniture and other products which they later import at a higher cost.
Timber trees are tall and heavy, so they damage crops in the forests where they are felled. And they also smash many younger, smaller trees, into the ground and kill them. Furthermore, they destroy the habitats of many animals, especially monkeys and birds. And because they are so heavy, timber logs despoil all the roads along which they are carted by timber truck. Do they pay for these damages?, of course no. Then why?
Next, these logs are unloaded into harbours. They take up an enormous amount of space in the harbours. The final stage on their journey begins when big cranes and chains are used to lift them into ships to make their way to Europe and America. Very cleverly-designed factories then turn them into beautiful furniture and wood products, some of which are sold back to the very countries from which the raw wood was exported!
Think of the wastage of shipping space that the export of these huge logs entails. Even in the countries that have begun to ban the export of logs and now insist that only sawn timber or plywood should be exported, the saving in shipping space that results is minimal. There is no question that finished products from wood are what should be the sensible export.
These clever people who gather at Davos each year know very well that this is a wasteful way of carrying out international trade. If the wood was coming from Europe and America to be processed in Africa, they would have stopped it years ago. But because it is being taken out of Africa, nobody cares. Why should they? Things have always been taken out of Africa, haven’t they?.
These things continue to be taken out of Africa in basically the same form as they were taken at the beginning of the 20thCentury. And petroleum has joined the ranks of the exported commodities from Africa – pump up the crude oil, put it in tankers, and ship it. These Europe and American countries establish processing industries for our mineral resources in Africa?.
The clever mostly African people at Davos could make a declaration about this issue and recommend to the governments of the industrialised world to offer economic incentives to their companies to move to Africa and add value to Africa’s exports before they are exported.
Why haven’t ‘Africans leaders’ demanded for a fair share?
The answer is that they don’t care. They go there to display knowledge and bask in their celebrity status. The fact that if the manufacturers moved their operations to Africa, Africans would become less poor and need less, if any, aid at all, from the rich countries, doesn’t appear to have occurred to them.
But it is not the clever people from the rich countries whom I blame. I reserve my scorn for those African “leaders” who travel to Davos each year to show that are as clever as those they dine with in Davos.
These African ”leaders” go and enjoy the sweet, clean air of Switzerland, and come back to drive along streets that would be stinking to high heaven in their noses – were it not for the fact that they are shielded from the stench by beautifully air-conditioned cars.
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