Lately I
have been watching "MEGA INDUSTRIES" a program on one of the DSTV channels. I am a car
enthusiast and in the series of the last about 2 weeks they have reviewed big
car names like the Bentley, Lamborghini, Lexus and how these are built.
I am
amazed at the levels and nature of
precision that these car builders apply in their trade, and the zero tolerance for even
the slightest error and blemish; It is
astounding to see what a human being can deliver when the bar is raised high enough.
One of the emphases by the way in this car building trade is not so much how many books
you have read, or academic
qualifications you hold, but what you can deliver onto the counter. Every single one of the
staff on those production lines knows that
they
are very good at what they do and that they are on to something very important, and are proud to be part of this process. In fact the Bentley people
philosophy is to build cars that will outlive them; cars that will go for at
least a century! imagine that! They even name plate the engine in the car with a signature plate bearing name and insignia of the mechanic that puts that engine together.
Watching
this program during this
lock-down period, I have
realized how much we can do as Africa to change the narrative. It was president
Museveni who lately is gang ho about Africa doing her own thing in terms of industrial self-reliance; I say, "go Mr. President,
Go !!!!!" Africa needs to know that we have what it takes already. we just
need to get up and walk. We can no longer be dependent on our partners from
yonder.
Incidentally if you watch
the oil industry and how the west has responded to its strangle hold on the
Global economy, you will notice the huge developments in terms of functional solar
energy, electric cars, energy storage technologies, hydrogen cells and other
options. Last time I checked most of the buses at Schiphol International airport
were solar buses and they drove really well! Most houses in the west have solar panels and it is not unusual to find homes actually putting (selling) energy back on to the shared grid. The development of these
alternative technologies is not accidental, chance or adhoc innovation, but rather driven by a deliberate
agenda to break loose of something; It is all deliberate efforts made to break a stranglehold. Africa too can be deliberate without waiting for another clarion call.
Another key thing I notice is that in these first world countries the vocational skills
set is required much and plays a critical role in industrialization and in
perfection of the
final product. So, artisans and
people that have mastered the art of working with their hands are held in high regard. In
Africa we have laughed at all these people and trades: seamstresses, leather workers,
cobblers, brick layers, woodworkers, mechanics, agricultural instructors, herbal medicine experts, etc. I think
every one of us must go back and pick up a set of vocational skills sets and
begin to aggressively horn them. A word of advice here; pick a skill that you
love, and then go after it. Perfect it. invest in it. There is a host of
knowledge sources out there to help you do that. An industrialized economy still needs all those trades.
Thinking
is one thing, operationalizing thinking is another. Both have been on pause in Africa but must now be invoked, however the latter is even more
critical when one decides to move into this zone. When China started out
building her now capitalist economy in a communist political system, things did
not move into perfection immediately. There was a lot of “copy catting”, a lot of wobbly beginnings, quality of
products was ridiculed in the
Western world, but the Chinese kept
going at it. They increasingly became less dependent as a nation on the west and moved more to deploying their own Chinese solutions. Soon they got contracts to
do things cheaper for the same western world. Now they took over. But it all begun with etiquette and
discipline. We cannot continue being casual as Africans and think we can even
walk a mile in those shoes. The challenges are real but not insurmountable. The
expectations are that we shall fail, but that too is a good challenge.
Second,
we must become nationalistic and
patriotic. It begins by leaders setting a great example to follow.
Nationalism is built when
there is a spirit of confidence from the
citizenry down
stream in their
leaders and a firm confidence that
these leaders understand them and are walking the journey with
them all the way. Things like corruption have no place in this world of such
change (it’s only the corrupt keep thinking that everyone else is blind to their greed; it reminds me of the story about the proverbial
gullible king that walked naked in public on account of wearing fine golden
garb, until a young girl bold enough spoke out that he was naked). China
had such zero tolerance to corruption that where people were tried and found
wanting, the penalty was irreversible; death by firing squad!
Now, I am not advocating that option per say, but all I
am saying here is that we cannot
be second guessing ourselves over monsters like corruption and think we shall
make headway. It is kind like trying to
breast feed a baby alligator and hope that one day it shall grow up into a
loving and obedient child to you. This corruption thing for us is
the elephant in the room that we must talk about, and deal conclusively with, before we think we shall
make progress. Is it possible to totally remove corruption? I don't think so as
human nature is corrupt so there will always be that one that wants to bet their life on it. But it is possible
to ensure that the levels of it are so low to affect anything serious. It only takes honesty and resolve, and believe me, most
people want to see the back of it.
Evidently Africa has all the resources she needs to survive without anyone’s help right now. We have people (strong and well educated), food, water
and we have minerals and other natural resources. I remember reading the story
of apartheid south Africa and how it was locked down with sanctions. They had
participated in the second world war supporting Britain in some of its endeavors. One of their contributions was providing air force pilots
and technicians that supported and
flew sorties rather successfully. When the lock down happened,
south Africa found herself with a
fleet of Aircraft
whose parts they could not replace or
maintain, as the suppliers could not sell them the parts. Rather than cave in they decided to make those
parts themselves! Aircraft parts! this is how the south African aircraft
industry was born. Right now, in the military space they have one of the most
agile attack Helicopter gunships, the “Denel
Rooivalk”. But,
how many of you know
that to produce reliable aircraft parts you must stimulate a number of other
sectors! So, at times
adversity requires adverse response for one to ride the wave to success; it is said that necessity is the mother of all
invention. Africa for sure must
ride her wave now.
When Lee
Kwan Yew took led the Peoples Action Party in Singapore into governance of
their nation in 1959, the only natural resource they had was People!!! They had
no minerals to talk about or any serious national business to depend on. They
only had human capital, a lousy
one at that from a stock that was not well skilled, lacked trained and poorly resourced. The major mantra the Lee team came on with was "Zero Corruption"
and one must read Lee's autobiography to understand how far they stretched
this. The fact
that everything rises and falls on leadership is embodied in this story. Lee
held his own team of cabinet to that same high standard of integrity without relenting. No one was the
“Holy grail”, so if you breached the lines, you got hit,
no matter who you were.
The second thing they pushed was national skilling and training. He shows
clearly how they deliberately invested in getting Singaporeans trained by their
government in the very best of schools worldwide, but also how they insisted
that any investors trained the local stock to manage their factories or
facilities at the investor’s standard. Third initiative was insistence on quality; they insisted on having the very best win. Meritocracy ruled in selecting who
to take on for key roles
and who to invest in for
training. The fourth tenet for
them was
growing a disciplined people. Lee
took a personal interest on this one and ensured that the culture of Singaporeans was changed towards
one of discipline, even at
a personal level. It is no wonder that Singapore today is looked at as if they
have something special that others cannot access. And by the way,
transformation of Singapore did not take an entire lifetime, but in Lee's own
lifetime he got to
see the fruits of his labours. So, Africa with all that we have working for
us, we can do this.
What is
clear is that it is time for Africans to get serious about “thinking solutions”. This will require us to drop certain
practices that have kept us backward. We must re-invent our schools for the long term to produce thinkers and doers. In
the interim we need
leaders to drop the populist tendencies that have been so rife and the
preferred stance for most African politicians
and begin to provide some real leadership.
I often hear people talk about the
good old days when the colonial masters were here. The Uganda Shilling had lots of value. My father tells stories of
how my grand uncle in his
advanced age could afford a new car from his sales of produce. How did
the colonial masters achieve this kind of economy? What most people never tell you is that they
enforced discipline in the communities and that discipline produced growth and
development. Of course, they used some methods which may not be recommended for
now, but most people never complained about it because they could see the value
add of this discipline. Plagues are not new to Uganda; even in the colonial
times there was a few of them. the difference is that we had a more disciplined stock of people living at the time.
For a public leader to generate this kind of dynamic, the populist hat must
first go. Populism is the tail
that wags the dog in our current leadership dispensation.
So, if
you ask me if Africa can make it on her own, I say, YES WE
CAN!
Let's go do it.
