Embrace fiscal and political discipline for development

The recently concluded forum for China Africa cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing in September was the largest ever China-Africa gathering and potentially the most impactful, the gathering was attended by 53 out of 54 African states including a record 51 heads of state, China, the chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the UN Secretary General. It was also the most successful over a dozen of summits organized by global powers hoping to expand their diplomatic footprint in Africa, including the USA- Africa leader’s Summit (2022) and the Russia Summit (2023).

Listening to China’s transformational Journey from Communism to Capitalism, presented by different political leaders in China, one gets interested in how fiscal and political discipline shaped the future of Asian tigers. I have been interested in understanding how the Asian giant was able to transform its economy under communist ideals. It became clear that China implemented Karl Marx’s economic theories thus preventing exploitation which has helped public services. 

Some level of equality to a population of 1.4 billion people, the key historical events and dates that have paved way for the China’s transformation. Two of those were the founding members of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and 1978 when the government implemented a reform policy.

The first was an important event because the government realised that to succeed in development transformation, it needed to be “people centered”, however even with this good political ideology, the leaders stated that China’s transformation did not happen until 1978 when the National Congress Party embarked on a reform policy that ensured fiscal and political discipline, for the first time government officials were disciplined for mismanaging resources, that is what got China to take off” to its transformation. Discipline is the cornerstone for every successful institution.

In Uganda we have had a good example of Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) that has been able to do a lot in the country and the region because of discipline. When discipline is absent in a family, organization or country, no amount of good ideologies or strategies can be implemented. Some of our failures since independence has been attributed to behavior of some political actors failing to adhere to existing rules or fulfilling their responsibilities.

As a nation, we have made quite some progress in various fields of endeavor in the last 63 years of Independence, but we need to focus more on leadership at different levels. We can still do better when we prioritize in our different departments with state officers improving on their discipline. 

This year’s theme “Independence Day” a recommitment to secure and fortify our Destiny. Our destiny will depend on how we get organized, therefore it’s possible to build a strong nation since we have already given a firm foundation with four principles of NRM i.e. Patriotism, Pan Africanism, Social economic transformation and democracy. During colonialism we could not unite because most African countries were fragmented and not free. As Julius Nyerere once said, most African leaders wanted to remain big (fishes) in small ponds, said, therefore as we celebrate Independence, leaders should continue to tackle the issues that delay our total independence. 

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living the world owes you nothing and it was here first as Mark Twain says, we have an obligation to shape our destiny and continue building united, integrated, balanced, social, economic, political, culture that does not exaggerate some aspects at the expense of other dimensions of National life. 

Around the world it is the state that has been used to undertake the social engineering and to mobilize people into common imagination and shared National Identity, collective National Identities are built around both sense of shared history but also feeling of common destiny which some countries have not created and did not have a chance to create, we cannot continue to blame the rest of the world for our problems, we must wakeup and deal with some of the challenge as we move forward. The book of Proverbs tells us the King gives the country stability but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down, a country’s fiscal and stability depends on instilling patriotism and discipline on those who manage state affairs. As Nkwame Nkurumah said Backward Never Forward Ever.

Happy Independence Day

Stephen Asiimwe, Pan Africanist. [email protected]