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The African, money and development

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AS we continue building up to the celebrations of Africa Day coming up on May 25, we come face-to-face with the perennial talking point in African economic development.
The so-called problem of the African and money.
Today one comes across many sayings and a number of questions around the subject of the African and money.
Let us start by looking at some of the sayings:
“An African does not know money,” “An African is poor because he does not have money” and “An African is only after money and nothing else.”
They go on to state: “It’s a complete waste of money to give an African money,” “An African is very wasteful when it comes to money” and so on and so on.
Then we come to some of the questions:
Can one make money in Africa?
How much money do we need to develop Africa?
And where will one get that kind of money?
Where should Western donor money be channelled to in Africa — Food, development or arms?
In this article we are going to look at this issue of the African and money vis-a-vis the matter of Africa’s development.
In the process we shall try to answer the sayings and questions on money and the African we have raised above.
It is our submission that Africans do not need money to develop the motherland to great heights, all the African needs to do is to produce and value-add and the rest will follow, which includes money.
To help us with our argument we shall look at African success stories of the past who developed through production and not because of money.
To kick off our discussion, we are all going to look at the question of what is money.
The simple answer to this is that money is a medium of exchange.
Yes, it is the medium which gives ‘consumers the freedom to trade goods and services easily without having to barter’.
Now, life would be very easy to live if this was the idea of money everyone is talking about.
Unfortunately we are not talking about the above kind of money which is what money really is.
We are talking of Western fiat money when, for example, they say that the African has no ‘money’, or the African is careless with money, among other purported shortcomings.
Which brings us to the question: What then is fiat money?
“Fiat money or fiat currency is money whose value is not derived from any intrinsic value or guarantee that it can be converted into a valuable commodity such as gold (or cattle).
Instead it has value by Government order.
Usually the Government declares fiat currency (typically notes and coins) from a central bank such as the federal reserve system in the US to be the legal tender…”
What applies to the US above also applies to the UK and EU.
The bottom line: Fiat money on its own has no value.
Its value is determined by its owner.
It is the above currency which they say Africans do not have or that they do not know how to use.
It is not local currency.
No.
Ask Zimbabweans.
They will tell you that at one time they once earned salaries in millions but they were still considered very poor, despite having those millions.
This is because the only money which one can be considered rich and famous is Western fiat money – US dollars, British pounds and Euros.
The question that arises is: Will Africans ever have bags and bags of this money from the West?
The answer is a flat no because the owners of that fiat money can only give them enough to survive and that its.
No Western Government under the sun will ever give Africans money to become rich.
To expect riches from Western money is crying for the moon.
Now, is it wise for African countries to pursue this money like people possessed in order to make their countries rich.
No.
Why?
Because African countries will only be developed by the Africans themselves producing surpluses, especially in agriculture and minerals.
Below we give the examples of African empires which became rich without fiat money but through production of minerals and agriculture.
The Mali Empire of old was one of the most developed and richest empires of all.
They did not develop by being handed bank notes of fiat money from the West but through gold production.
The Mali Empire produced a lot of gold, making the Emperor of Mali very rich.
Below is a story about that man’s riches as well as his empire.
“The ruler of the Mali Empire was called Mansa Musa.
He paid a visit to Cairo in 1324 while making a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was so generous in distributing gold that he ruined the money markets there for more than 10 years.
So abundant was the gold that was found and produced in his country that he was the richest and most noble King in all the land.
Morden estimates suggest that Mansa Musa was the richest man the world had ever seen; richer even than today’s billionaires.”
True.
Because of production, the Mali Empire had great riches through gold production throughout the empire.
That economy which relied on Malians relying on themselves to produce goods for trade and consumption was capable of producing millionaires and billionaires.
Today, Mali relying on fiat money from the West which comes in bits and pieces will never make their president a millionaire.
If they want to produce billionaires like in the past, they must abandon their pursuit of fiat money from the West and produce massively in agriculture and mining, among other sectors.
Another empire which grew very rich and made its leaders and people very rich and developed was the great empire of the Mutapas.
The Mutapas produced a lot of agricultural products and gold:
“The dominant economic activity throughout the whole history of the Mutapa State were the following main branches of production; agriculture, pastoral activities, trade, mining, hunting and small-scale crafts and industries.”
The production in the above industries was carried out to very great heights, especially in agriculture.
“Fr Gomes claims that the subjects of Mutapa had plenty of food and cattle.
The fields of the Mutapa stretched beyond where the eyes cannot see. And the people never saw the bottom of their matura or granaries.”
What this means is that the people in the Mutapa Empire never got ‘donor fiat money’ to buy food.
Or in fact, no food relief was ever given to them.
They had so much food that they were able to build excellent towns with beautiful decorations.
“The beautiful chevron, dentelle, herring bone, check and cord forms of decoration found on the large structures in the towns tell us of the wealth and aesthetic appreciation of the dwellers of the towns.
The town structures are said to be poetry or political statements writ in stone for much the same reasons Europe built the famous cathedrals and Versailles palaces.”
Great!
And all the above great developments were achieved without any Western fiat money.
Besides agriculture, the Mutapa Empire produced lots of gold which was exported to India, Europe, Middle East and China.
It is in fact said some of the gold that decorates buildings at the Vatican in Rome came from the Mutapa State.
The great trade in gold made the Mutapa people very very rich.
And those riches were based on gold and agriculture, and not fiat money.
This is why we are saying that Africans should drop the idea that they can develop by getting handouts of fiat money from the West.
Aid, No!
They must produce.

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