Debt relief won’t make our economic woes disappear
24 November 2020
Debt relief, even if successful, will not make our economic woes vanish, however eloquently our President makes the case as he did last week, his speech coinciding almost exactly with both Moody’s and Finch lowering our credit ratings.
In truth, the President’s appeal sounded much like a former colony claiming perpetual victim status, counting on post-colonial guilt to open wallets: an old tune played on a badly-tuned instrument.
Someone should tell the President’s speech writers, that the colonial-guilt horse has long left the stables, too old now to gallop to our rescue.
Our creditors look at us without blinkers. What they once saw was a people that inherited a going concern, elected a fully -democratic government, made one of the best constitutions in existence, backed by an independent judiciary, and a thriving and free press, all resting on the best infrastructure in Africa, with an efficient civil service, well maintained roads, steady electrical supply and all the accoutrements of a semi-developed economy.