Page 149 - A People Called Afrika

Afrika’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems

On the issue of foreign exchange he explained that there
has been a discussion around a common currency or a com-
mon exchange for some time which would result in Afri-
ka no longer dealing with the Dollar or the Euro, but rath-
er a using a common currency called, for example, Afrika,
which would be equal to a certain value in a local currency.
He believes that Afrika has a big enough market for a com-
mon currency to be set up that would ease the movement
of money across the continent and facilitate trade. Current-
ly only East Afrika has a settlement system, for other coun-
tries in Afrika, transfers must go outside the continent first
and through a US bank and then come back to Afrika.

He added that while the market in Afrika is large enough,
however, because the financial system and economies are
controlled by the IMF and World Bank, then the script still
comes from them and they are likely to discourage Afrikan
countries from participating in such an approach. Afrikan
countries would therefore have to rise up against the impe-
rial systems that still determine how Afrika will behave and
determine what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’ for Afrika, which is
actually what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’ for them. In his view,
a future Afrikan economy would look different from other
economies in the sense that it would not be subject to the de-
pendencies that exist and that trigger market reactions globally
based on what is happening in America. It would be one that
is not affected and an ecosystem that defies every fluctuation
and encourages other countries to run things the way we do.

It is our considered opinion that the ideas that were shared by
the banking official, the approach used in Gaddafi’s Libya - as
concerns sharing of wealth and resources - and the traditional

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