Botswana on a knife-edge

REGIONAL economic integration and intra-africa trade took another major step towards fruition, at least in the Economic Community of

West African States (ECOWAS). After eight decades, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo somehow mustered the courage to drop the CFA franc as their currency.

In its place, they adopted the Eco; a common currency of ECOWAS. This left many asking whether this detachment was a true case of Africa breaking free from the perennial umbilical cord to Paris and the European Union.

Created for the first time in

1945, the CFA was purportedly to shield the colonies of France from its battered currency – the French franc.

Apparently, then French finance minister René Pleven said: “In a show of her generosity and selflessness, metropolitan France, wishing not to impose on her faraway daughters the consequences of her own poverty, is setting different exchange rates for their currency”. Yah, right!

Colonists have done untold damage to the African continent and must participate in its reparation. Africa must take the lead in restoring its sovereignty and dignity, but the likes of France, Germany and the UK have a duty to chip away at the legacy of their colonial stranglehold, which continues to stifle Africa over 60 years since the first wave of independence.

Undoing centuries of colonialism is going to take a long time. All we can do is acknowledge every iota of progress and build on it while keeping our eye on the bigger picture. The decision by these eight African countries to ditch the CFA for the Eco must be applauded cautiously. They displayed the courage most of their predecessors lacked.

To this day, their monetary policies have virtually been the preserve of Paris and then Brussels. Knowing how crucial monetary policy is to the economic sovereignty of any country only underscores the significance of this break-up.

By joining the Eco union, these eight have added their 75-odd million citizens into the monetary fold. Hopefully, their national character will eventually lose all traces of colonies françaises d’afrique (colonies of France).

Paris has no business hoarding African countries’ currency reserves. However, there is no value in rushing the break-up when so many French citizens, companies and non-government organisations are invested in Africa. It is the core of multilateral-ism, the only sensible approach to international relations. Besides, so-called Francophone Africans can get quite fanatical about their “French-ness” over their African-ness.

This year ushered in the most momentous breakthrough for Africa. In ratifying the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, the continent proved that it can get its priorities right. We currently trade 17% of our goods and services with one another – compared to upward of 50 in Asia and Europe. For a region that produces the overwhelming majority of the world’s mineral resources, this must change. Without a common currency, this remains a pipe dream; slowly coming true. Africa must jilt more of its former colonists in a similar way to truly be the master of its own fate.