Time for Africa to chart new economic path

The more cities I visit in China, the more I feel that something is terribly wrong with Africa’s experiment with western democracy and its capitalist development model.Dub me an impatient disparager if you like, but I believe we have been experimenting for too long without much success since the first African country got independence from colonialists. Is it time Africa started considering new development and governance models?Like most, if not all African countries, China is still considered “a developing economy,” yet it is the leading source of investment capital and development aid to the continent. Why? When and how did this happen?While Africa wasted the past three decades trying out templates of democracy inherited from colonial masters, China refused these ‘imported models’ of both governance and economic development to launch aggressive reforms based on their home-bred socialist market economy approach. The state, under single party leadership, has been at the heart of this transformation.From the comfort of your office, you can point out flaws in the China’s system such as alleged human rights abuse, lack of democracy and many others but before you finish, tell me where these allegations don’t exist? Even the United States of America will not let Edward Snowden back home even if his only crime was to reveal wrongs such as human rights abuse in his own government, the world’s model for democratic rule.The templates of governance and development that the colonial masters left us have only succeeded in setting Africans apart as supporters of different political parties and politicians have gone after each other’s throats, fighting and forgetting to work. As a result, we continue to battle disease and poverty.In China, after every ten years, the entire party leadership, right from the president is shuffled to bring in new managers to oversee the administration of the country and further the national development agenda. This way, many Chinese agree that even if they don’t get to vote, they are assured of new leaders after every ten years.I was born in a country that practices Western democratic politics yet I have not seen change of government since my birth year, 1986. During this time, China’s ruling party has changed leadership three times.In my opinion, Africa’s problem is in the fact that we have accepted to be importers and consumers of foreign models of governance and development, hatched in the Western world. We have become a continent for experimentation of theories forgetting to research and manufacture our own models.Rwanda’s successful case of applying home-grown solutions to resolve Genocide crimes, through Gacaca courts, is good evidence to show why African countries must start designing own administrative and economic development approaches. As we battle conflicts in the name of democracy, China enjoys political stability, a major pillar for economic development. Chinese have also adopted their minds to accept that politics is not a source of employment, so the youth study hard to undertake professional careers outside politics.In Africa, children don’t want to be doctors or professors because these are poorly paid professions. So, they all grow up aspiring to be members of parliament, councilors or local administration officers—the top paying jobs. Meanwhile, we continue to be aid recipients as China sends its third expedition to the moon, a sign of advancement.When in China’s capital Beijing, you simply have to admire the resources put in developing a modern transport system. The subway system that moves millions of travelers daily, the high-speed train network which connects all major cities in just a few hours is simply amazing.One of my pastime activities in Beijing is admiring the hundreds of sky scrapers in the city shining in bright colors at night. I was in Shanghai last week and for a moment I thought I should seek a job and stay there to permanently be a part of this beauty, a manifestation of what well intended leadership not democracy can do to a country’s transformation.Over the past thirty years, China has been home to the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10%. As of end of 2012, China’s unemployment rate was only 4.1% despite having a huge population of over 1.35billion people, more than the entire populations of Africa. China also feeds its own people, unlike Africa whose people are starving despite fertile soils.African leaders need to seriously consider revising their development approaches while taking note of what can best work in their local contexts if we stand a chance of replicating China’s success story.If we don’t do that, we risk wasting another three decades experimenting on models we didn’t create. The writer is a journalist studying in China

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Time for Africa to chart new economic path