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Another generation must not wither unfulfilled
We were constantly reminded over the past few months that the 52nd anniversary of our independence from Britain was approaching. It is finally here. Happy Independence! But what does it mean? In essence it means that it has been just over half a century since we had to start taking responsibility for our progress.
Sure we know that “independence” did not mean that the imperialists had quite washed their hands of us. In fact, our very gift of independence was a consequence of imperialist machinations in collaboration with their local proxies. But we soon learnt (we hope) that this did not spare us from dealing with the contingencies that confront any small, underdeveloped, third world state.
What was very interesting at the onset of our “independent” journey was that behind the jockeying for political ascendency, our political leaders by and large agreed on the methodology for developing our country. Their common socialist ideology had them make common cause to enable the state to control the “commanding heights of the economy”. From this control, profits were to be deployed to develop and diversify the economy to place it on a sustainable growth path. Their intentions were admirable, but we all know that the project failed.
We may continue to argue as to how much of that failure was on account of the inherent contradictions of the model itself or on the political ambitions of the leaders that made them exacerbate the ethnic cleavages immanent in the society.
A house divided never has been able to stand for very long. Be that as it may, we have to admit that we still have not hit upon a formula that would place us on that sustainable developmental road.
Major sectors of our traditional economy are still quite troubled. We invested massively in sugar for short-term expediencies but a concatenation of events (some unforeseen) have left the industry in a more precarious state than ever before.
Bauxite is also in the doldrums; a slump in world demand, occasioned by a global recession did not help. Gold is doing very well because of a variety of uncertainties, but the profits are not being ploughed back into development. It continues to be the classic “enclave” industry with few forward or backward linkages.
Another bright spot has been the consistency of our only indigenously developed industry – rice. Within the broader ambit of food security, this is an area that must continue to be expanded by the government in collaboration with our farmers. In addition to anchoring a vibrant growth industry that brings in valuable foreign currency, the rice industry plays a crucial role in reducing poverty, since a majority of farmers are small farmers with less than five acres under cultivation.
And then there is oil. The discovery of the precious commodity has enlivened our people and created images of affluence in the not too distant future. But what we have learnt about the agreement that we entered into with those with the means to extract and make the most of this resource is disheartening. The ball has been dropped in this regard. Only time will determine the true effects of our leaders’ generous offerings. Generations to come will likely shake their heads in disbelief.
While as a nation we may be young, individuals who were adults at the time of Independence are a fast disappearing breed. It is a great human tragedy that most of them have passed on without fulfilling the dreams they had in 1966. It would be an even greater tragedy, however, if we allow another generation to grow old and wither unfulfilled on the vine.
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