Politics
Africa ’ s Quest for Policy Sovereignty
Moses Khisa
A
perceptive graduate student reminded me in class recently that the United States government spends billions of dollars in subsidies , tax exemptions and aid to American farmers . This is the kind of policy the World Bank and the IMF banned African governments from doing at the height of Structural Adjustment Programmes ( SAPs ).
Agricultural subsidies and relief packages to farmers serve a dual role . First , they keep farmers in business especially at a time when they otherwise would be pummelled by a slump in demand or destructive weather . Second , they keep food prices from skyrocketing in the event that farmers make heavy losses , thus crashing out of production and potentially triggering a crisis of supply . In a sense , subsidies subsidise production but especially consumption .
In Africa , the World and its twin , the IMF , told government policymakers that subsidies were a bane not a boon as they were faulted for distorting and interfering with market fundamentals and the free flow of forces of demand and supply .
Instead , the policy prescription went , farmers should be left to their own devices , to tussle it out in the free market arena and that government should restrict its role to providing an enabling macroeconomic environment by nipping inflation in the bud , maintaining currency credibility , providing security and protecting property .
Similar policy dictates were applied in higher education where the World Bank reasoned that higher education is more of a private than a public good , that university education was a luxury to be paid for by those who could afford and that government funding instead should go towards providing elementary education . Needless to say , in Europe and North America , universities including private ones that on their own are incredibly financially endowed nevertheless receive hefty state funding , particularly for research .
The two policies in agriculture and education , among others in the grand scheme of SAPs , turned out to be deeply flawed and represent-
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