In a world where talking shops are the in-thing among most leaders, especially on the political front, to me, African Development Bank (AfDB) president Akinwumi A. Adesina, PhD, stands out as one passionate personality who strives to get the best for the continent.
No wonder he is known in some quarters as ‘Africa’s optimist-in-chief ’ largely because of his passion for the African continent he believes can transform through innovation and agriculture and rural transformation in particular to make the continent self-sustaining and wealthy.
While serving as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria prior to his election in 2015 as AfDB president, Adesina has demonstrated unique character demonstrated by his ability to inspire and motivate others.
Many times he tells it like it is and it was the same on April 11 this year when he delivered a thought-provoking lecture themed ‘Advancing Africa’s positioning within global development and geopolitical dynamics’ at the 14th convocation ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria, stressing on economic independence.
In the lecture, he said in the wake of a rapidly changing global landscape, time has come for Africa to wean itself from aid dependency and chart its future through self-reliance, strategic partnerships and exploiting its vast natural resources.
Here, what comes to mind is the suspension of United States Agency for International Development (USAid), general donor fatigue and the trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump.
These developments call for a change in approach as the old development models that Africa banked on will not work anymore.
Bluntly stated Adesina: “The era of aid or free money is gone. African countries must now learn to develop via investment discipline. Countries can no longer rely on aid for growth or count it as part of government revenue, as has been the case for decades. Benevolence is not an asset class.”
I found the statement “countries can no longer rely on aid for growth or count it as part of government revenue” thought provoking and recalled that just a couple of weeks ago our Parliament passed an K8.1 trillion 2025-26 National Budget envisaged to be funded by both domestic revenue and foreign grants. Domestic revenue has a target of K4.44 trillion or an equivalent of 17.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product with tax revenue expected to contribute K4.33 trillion and non-tax revenues projected at K106.02 billion.
Malawi is among 47 out of 54 African countries placed under higher US tariffs, a development that will likely reduce exports and availability of foreign exchange. This will likely shake the continent’s economies.
In January this year, after Trump hit the ground running by issuing executive orders that have sent shockwaves across the world, most notably through a three-month suspension on almost all foreign development assistance pending review to assess what is in tune with his ‘America First’ policy, my instant reaction was that the decision is a wake-up call much as it will have a huge impact on millions of lives globally dependent on American aid for life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance.
Implications of the decisions has been instant with some projects here in Malawi already suspending operations pending further directions from Washington DC. In the January 29 2025 edition of The Nation it was reported that $284.7 million (about K493.7 billion) financing through USAid to Malawi is at stake. Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs said of the amount, US contribution to the 2024/25 National Budget stood at K9.2 billion of the expected K1.17 trillion projected grants.
I stated that this uncertainty and crisis can be turned into an opportunity by embarking on a journey towards economic sovereignty, especially in sectors such as health where our government has all but “abandoned” the health of its citizens by predominantly depending on foreign taxpayers for the drug budget.
Given that it is on record that about a third of the resources Parliament puts in the national budget end up in people’s pockets instead of intended beneficiaries, I believe with some prudence and sealing the leaks in the public finance management bucket, Malawi can have resources to chart a new course of economic independence.
Essentially, as Adesina put it, what Malawi needs is increased trade and not aid. The World Bank Group describes trade as a golden key towards ending global poverty because countries that are open to international trade tend to grow faster, become innovative, improve productivity and provide higher income as well as more opportunities.
What is needed is greater pol i tical w i l l towards implementing policies that support trade, industry and the private sector growth. Malawi has such policies in abundance. They include the Private Sector Strategy, National Investment Policy, National Export Strategy and the Buy Malawi Strategy.
Besides, Malawi also needs aggressive implementation of the import substitution policy and industrialisation.
Export growth will be critical to attainment of Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development strategy that envisages diversification of export products within the agricultural sector and towards other sectors, including mining and tourism as having potential to make a difference.
A change in circumstances is painful, but it also marks a new beginning to start afresh with more experience.
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