Opinion
China-Africa: The dragon dealmaker has Africa dazzled and dizzy
Should the Chinese commit management resources in their bid to push a deal forward and yet the project fails to take off, it is, to their mind, the failure of the debtor nation. While this may sound straightforward, it is actually quite profound when you realize that most African deal makers have been spoilt by operating in the Western milieu.
Frankly, the Chinese have not really got enough consultants with the language skills and international exposure to throw at the giant projects they are committing to. And at any rate, they expect the debtor nation to get its own house in order and then show the viability, and very often profitability, of the project to the Chinese evaluator, whose job does not include fixing any internal mess in the debtor’s strategy, execution or analysis.
Theirs is to say, ‘We are not convinced yet,’ or ‘We are.’ Case closed. So you need not be surprised when you hear that after nearly a decade, the $8bn pledge to modernize Nigeria’s railways is now only showing signs of materialization with the inauguration of an approximately $870m stretch expected to be completed in 2015.
By making the sound and prudent choice to diversify their sources of funding and having already seen billions of dollars in benefits from such countries as Brazil, India and, above all, China, African leaders cannot continue to expect uniform treatment by all these diverse new friends.
The angst is fine. It comes with the territory
Bright Simons is President of mPedigree Network, member of IMANI, Ghana
Copyright: The Africa Report 2014
