Page 26 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 21

Economy

That question is often raised when and we are capable of having these
I try to explain these continental finances. We are capable of having If they are able to prove that they
taxes. These 55 countries under these finances. are actually doing something
African Union will sit down and When we talk about accountability, with the money maybe, it’s some-
create what I call Pan-African In- corruption and so on, the private thing they can grow towards.
frastructure Fund which is kind of sector will go collect on behalf Right now, the tax regimes seem
a tax union. This institution will be of the African Union. Even if we to be used more as a tool for the
given enough rights to sit with each collect 70% of what we are sup- oppression of the people and
Afrikan country. The tax base in posed to collect, we will succeed. exploitation. Is it possible to
Afrika is too narrow, we must know Corruption cannot make us not do convince 55 nations who have
that our economy is almost 50% that. From 1960 to 2022 that’s when not even vigorously implemented
informal sector. They will help these we started to collect taxes when the the continental free trade area
countries improve on taxation by colonizers went, we did grow. In agreement, to shelve their nation-
rebasing their economies. Rebasing many countries, there were dictators al aspirations and come together
economies is about trying to get who used to take the whole budget to build a continental dream and
statistics on each Afrikan country. home, it is not the case now. Gov- vision; infrastructure and so on
In Nigeria in 2015 they did statistics. ernments in Afrika manage to col- and so forth? Meaning that they
They thought they had a 270billion lect taxes efficiently only it should are actually accepting that re-
dollar GDP but they discovered be more in the informal sector, sources are going to be diverted
it was 510billion dollars. This has enlarge the tax base and use more from national interests towards a
helped them increase taxation. The technology to collect more money continental good. Do you think
same with Kenya, I think it was in as it is supposed to. that is actually realistic? That
2010 they did that they and became We have to know the tax in Afrika they will willingly set aside their
lower middle income; they found is three times lower than in Europe. ambitions?
they grew 20%. Because we depend Income tax in Kenya is 30%, in I think they will accept. Let me give
on statistics for the last 30years, this Nigeria income tax is 24% and when you the example of Uganda, when
helps to increase taxation onto plac- you look for example most of the they produce bananas, they don’t
es and then create new taxpayers. European countries for the past get where to export their bananas,
This is important. This institution decade are at 45%, 50%, some of Burundi this time they produce a
will go there as a separate entity to the countries are at 65% on personal lot of beans or mangoes they don’t
separate local taxes from continental income. That started in 1916 when get the market and those things are
taxes. there was World War I and World thrown away. Why? It’s not because
Is it feasible? Yes, it is feasible War II they increased because they they can’t take it into Tanzania or
because remember between 1970 wanted to create infrastructure, Kenya and so on, it’s because there’s
and 1994 Nigeria created what was railways to be able to supply their a lack of this infrastructure. Re-
called ‘Mandela Tax’ which was col- industries with goods that would member, Afrika is huge it is almost
lecting 2% from every government increase their economies and enable 30-million-kilometer squares and we
worker’s salary and they managed to them to fight; after that, they did it have got 1.3 billion people within
collect 61billion dollars for 20 years to control other countries. As Eu- those kilometers square. You must
to help Southern Afrika to come ropean taxpayers suffer to control remember that United States of
out of apartheid. This happened Afrika it is time for Afrikans to America’s surface area you add it to
by themselves. They sat together as suffer to protect and develop Afrika. India, you add it to China, you add
a government with Obasanjo and Afrika has developed enough coun- it to European Union, you add it to
said they have to collect this money tries, now it is time to develop our Argentina, these five countries have
to liberate Southern Afrika. They continent through continental taxes. got an equal surface area of Afrika
managed to get 61billion dollars We are capable of doing that and I but then they have got 3.6 billion
where their economy was almost 50 am sure that if it is explained to Af- people, us we have got 1.3, Afrika is
billion dollars in the 1990s now their rikans what it is all about: to create empty.
GDP is 600bn dollars. When you our own IMF and World Bank, they For Afrikans to exchange goods
look at the GDPs of Afrikan coun- will easily do that and really support they have one small market, it is very
tries, 55 of them, they have grown our continent to be able to do that important that they be able to have
almost tenfold in the past 20 years and achieve the goals that they are this integrated high-speed railway
and Europe did grow only twofold, able to achieve. that is fast enough for every good

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