Malawi in economic doldrums
Malawi’s economy is in the doldrums and this has become a baffling problem. From time to time, someone I meet on the streets of Blantyre or who phones me from the media asks what else we should do to accelerate our country’s economic growth.
Some of these anxious citizens assume that there is only one solution to the question. Malawi’s economic problems arise from many causes. They will, therefore, require action on all or most of the causes. Still, let us discuss one cause and possible solution.
What sort of relationship should there be between State technocrats and those of the private sector? Brief references to the newly-industrialised countries of the Far East might be of help. These are Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. They first made a resolution that they were going to use Japan as their role model.
When Prime Minster of Malaysia was told by visitors that there had been an Asian miracle he protested: “There is no Asian miracle. It is just the realisation of an idea of how to manage an economic system. It is making the right choices.”
There is a lot to read in the response. Some people argue that the achievements of the Four Tigers of Asia lay in the guiding hand of the State. Under Western advisers, we are told that economic activities should be left to be driven by the private sector. In the Far East, elite cadres of bureaucrats endlessly engaged in picking winners in the private sector, giving them State support through the management of trade barriers, credit investment and competition.
South Korea’s capital income did not reach $100 until 1963. From 1960 to 1979, South Korea was ruled by General Park Chung who was highly committed to industrialisation. He and his team selected enterprises that had already succeeded in fields such as rice milling or real estate.
These were nurtured with low interest rates, government loans, tax incentives and other advantages to enable them to become large.
The Korea government had tough work rules. The work week comprised 60 hours. As one Korean technocrat put it: “Korea overcame poverty with hard work and discipline”.
Taiwan was Japan’s colony up to 1945 when Japan was defeated by American forces. The Japanese had laid a sound foundation for education. General Chiang Kai-shek, president of the party called Kuomintang was now also President of Taiwan, having been chased out of mainland China by Mao Zedong’s communist guerrillas.
As a primarily military man, Chiang decided to entrust the management of the economy to what were called super technocrats. These were highly qualified and motivated engineers, scientists and economists. Chiang’s government had been popular in Beijing because of corruption. Here in Taiwan, he relentless fought to eradicate corruption. Hark ye people of Malawi.
Like the President of South Korea, Chiang Kai-shek started with agricultural reforms and abolished inequalities. Then he took measures to make the economy business-friendly, favouring small and medium-scale industries.
The super technocrats appealed to Chinese working or studying in America and Europe to participate in economic transformation of Taiwan either by coming back home to join other technocrats or to set up businesses. The response from the diaspora Chinese turned what had been a brain drain into a brain bank. The Chinese working abroad became a channel through which technology from abroad reached Taiwan.
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore first Prime Minister, used to say he hired only those people who could contribute to change in the economy.
If Malawi’s economy is to start vibrating, we must look into the type of technocrats the government is employing. Are they the best, most patriotic and honest that the country has?
At the moment, there is the Cashgate scandal to remind us that the type of technocrats we have are not patriotic, but selfish. n
