Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: RE: CFA

Dear Professor Mbodj:

I have reproduced what you wrote recently so that I can comment on it. Here is your statement:

"I rather be in Sénégal than in Mozambique or Tanzania after all: no mining bonanza, but higher GDP per capita, higher standard of living, lower inflation, less internal displacement, larger middle-class. Overall, the CFA countries were a bit better off and definitely not worst off at all! The argument of the consumerist elite is valid for all of Africa and Abacha or Mobutu's children didn't need the CFA to plunder their countries."

The sentence with my emphasis on it reminds me of what the purveyors and architects of the evil and inhumane apartheid system in South Africa used to say: they argued consistently that the non-white South African population, particularly its black population, was better off than citizens in the rest of Africa. And hence, according to them, apartheid was not such a bad policy. Colonialism also followed this twisted logic: it claimed that its mission in Africa was one of a "civilizing type" and that Africans were being rescued from their barbaric ways. This was, after all, the basis of first, assimilation, and then, association, in French colonies in Africa. You are missing a very critical point here. Assuming that what you say about living standards in Senegal versus Mozambique or Tanzania is true, there is no evidence that the progress that Senegal has achieved is accounted for by their membership in the CFA Franc Zone. Senegal's recent improvements in human development have more to do with significant improvements in governance than with their membership in the CFA Franc Zone. [Take a look at neighboring Ghana: levels of human development there have increased tremendously during the last 20 years and that progress continues; yet, Ghana is not a CFA Franc Zone country.] In fact, I just finished reading an empirical study of Senegalese economic performance since the 1960s conducted by professors at l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Sénégal)--the study attributes the country's robust growth to improvements in governance. The critical issue here is whether the CFA Franc countries can be considered independent and sovereign countries if they remain subjected to an arrangement that has taken away from them the right to manage their own affairs.

Should not Africans be allowed, like any other peoples, the right to self-determination? With that right, of course, comes the risk of failure. I would rather live in a country in which citizens, and not some external actors, exercise that right, even if we end up with a lower standard of living. After all, as many economists have argued, human development is not just about earning more money; it is also about having the freedom to make your own decisions and determine how you want to organize your private life.

On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 11:50 PM, kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

dear all
these are thoughts on the cfa from professor mohamed mbodj
ken

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	RE: CFA
Date:	Thu, 27 Jun 2013 20:04:14 +0000
From:	Mohamed Mbodj <Mohamed.Mbodj@mville.edu>
To:	kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>

I rather be in Sénégal than in Mozambique or Tanzania after all: no mining bonanza, but higher GDP per capita, higher standard of living, lower inflation, less internal displacement, larger middle-class. Overall, the CFA countries were a bit better off and definitely not worst off at all! The argument of the consumerist elite is valid for all of Africa and Abacha or Mobutu's children didn't need the CFA to plunder their countries.

Mohamed Mbodj, Ph.D.
Professor,
History Department and
African & African-American Studies
Manhattanville College
2900, Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Phone: 914-323 7183
Email: mohamed.mbodj@mville.edu

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From: kenneth harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 3:50 PM
To: Mohamed Mbodj
Subject: Re: CFA

hi mohamed
so what is the overall assessment? in the final analysis, better or worse? guinea is only one case; what about other countries in africa that might be compared? say, tanzania or mozambique or some other country without lots of oil
ken

On 6/27/13 12:13 PM, Mohamed Mbodj wrote:

Dear Ken,

I am following the thread and would have liked to contribute but in the past my submissions were rejected (some technicality probably). A few points though:
- What had non-CFA countries done more/better with their "sovereignty"? Guinea has been given as an example in 1958. What does it have to show for it? The largest number of emigrants within       the region? As of the limited sovereignty signed on by these states, it is an unflattering fact, but again, these accords were signed during the Cold War. 
- I appreciate traveling in so many countries without having to worry about banking/currency arrangement or to recourse to a "black market" exchange network: what's wrong with that? And this         provided the basis for ECOWAS, the most successful regional grouping in Africa so far.
- Inflation does count: I spent a sabbatical in London in 1986-87, y, and I can tell you one one of the surprises was to discover "real inflation" (much bigger and almsot one week to the next) there.
- France went through two massive devaluations since 1945, the CFA once under the insistence of EU and IMF.
- After independence, France (the EEC) maintained for some years preferential tariffs (33-100%) for agricultural imports from their former colonies: not sure howo that was so bad.
- Until very recently, China pegged its currency toe the Dollar..

Mohamed Mbodj, Ph.D.
Professor,
History Department and
African & African-American Studies
Manhattanville College
2900, Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Phone: 914-323 7183
Email: mohamed.mbodj@mville.edu

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
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