Winning a relay race
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt thought he had won it all until a bad worm in his team spoiled the party. Nester Carter, his team mate, spoiled it all after testing positive for some banned performance enhancing substance. Bolt like all other members of the team lost their medals, and the medal for team Jamaica was gone and given to the team that came second.
If you are not familiar with relay race this is how it works. It is a race between two or more teams, in which each team member participates in only a set part of the race and is then relieved by another member of the team. You can also look at it as a sports contest, where the members of a team take turns e.g. swimming, running or skiing parts of a circuit and/or performing certain action.
The tricky part of relay race is that you win as a team. No single individual wins it alone. It’s a real team sport unlike throwing javelin. You can only win the relay race by making sure that the weakest team members are empowered and make effective contribution to the team. If they are not empowered chances of failure are high.
There is also a possibility of weak members doing a Carter and try to cut corners, but eventually no one wins, or if one wins, such a win is not sustainable. You are likely to be caught and medals or suffer other punishments.What looked like a win, is merely an exercise in fantasy and sensuality. It has the euphoria and the feel good factor before one wakes to a dream that was good to be true.
Come to think of Sustainable Development Goals otherwise known as SDGs or a sexier variant of the Agenda 2030. They do recognise the fact that for growth to be meaningful and last for the long haul, it ought to be inclusive. Terms like inclusiveness are often very tricky and often confusing and can be subject to different, often erroneous interpretations.
If you munch on a fish or bonyadiet your memory should be good enough. Such a diet pales the popular Mediterranean cuisine of Southern Europe known for its memory boosting abilities. You should recall the second to Qatar fastest growing fantasy or fallacy. Savvy as it is, the numbers are sometimes very tyrannical in the sense that the poorest tag on the planet has stuck around. It is still with us. My point is high growth does not mean anything if it excludes the poorest and the most vulnerable.
In his critique of poverty reduction strategy, Bingu held a view that an approach that weans off people from free lunch or something like that remain a cardinal approach to reducing poverty. Not sure I agreed or disagreed with the caveat, but since 1994, how inclusive has been growth? Maybe very inclusive and inequalities are widening and poverty incidence increasing. For example, we have people that can afford an expensive holiday to any place in the world. We also have millions amongst us that are not sure whether they will have a meal the next day. All of us live in one country and are supposed to benefit from economic growth, even that had the hallmarks of second fastest velocity.
Like a relay race, such a benefit can only happen if the weakest or the poorest are empowered to contribute effectively. Over 85 percent of our nation calls rural areas home with 55 percent of the country living in poverty. In our cities, the poverty incidence is over 50 percent.
For example, how does giving a free bag of fertiliser to someone every year in the form of a subsidy change their fortunes for life? Would free fertilizsrs result in increased productivity of the majority that still thrive in poverty? Does it lead to them acquiring new skills that can be used to grow an economy and increase their income? In times of good weather of course GDP will grow by high rates because of Fisp but does it change the fortunes of the poorest? In this case, it is akin to food security as a long —erm goal, but what has food security to do with increasing labour skills for a 21st century economy? I have many questions and I hope each one of you has honest answers.
Over the years, we have seen a rapid population growth and migration into the cities. Squatter townships, home to the urban poor have emerged and a lot of land has been encroached. A lot of economic activities happen in these areas, often low skill and generate very little output. That tax man cannot collect any revenue and squeezes out the few honest payers and those with more mouths than ears.
Tax revenues ensure that we can provide key infrastructure and support services for business growth and skill development.
Like a relay race, the team or rather the entire country wins. In our case, this entails putting the 55% plus that live below the poverty line at the top of the development agenda with respect to increasing their productivity and participation in the formal economy.
If other members of relay race team are not empowered, the entire team loses even though some may celebrate individual victories between components of the race. Overall, there is a single score. A win or a loss.
Ever wondered why we may be stuck in the bottom or top ten, depending on how you read development tables? Let’s run the race.
