Spare a moment to consider the
plight of luckless slaves pursued by their benefactors for taxes and treats
across the continent. But just who are these slaves? They are ostensibly called
the middle-class; the 5% of the population that carries the economic burden of
state. While government targets employees in formal employment to pay for legislation
that maintains the state; the rest of the population prey on wage earners for the
essentials of food, shelter and school fees.
This privileged 5% of the
population has an enviable profile. Each will have an education far above the
rest of the population. Most live in urban areas where access to the pleasures
of life are easiest. Nonetheless in this position they are subject to multiple
legislative burdens unheard of in the village. They will be punished for
enjoying the privileges of urban existence by paying for everything they
consume, use or make an attempt to own. 98% (of the 5%) live in houses they do
not own and work on jobs that belong to the upper class, the government and
foreign investors. They may drive a car on loan but owning a house is well
beyond their reach. The broad majority of the lower middle-class, will be
scaling public transport before 8am and after 5pm. While they appear fashionably
dressed, a cost they must pay for whatever economic empowerment they earn, their
income is frequently raided by inflation and vandalized by any number of pretentious
rent seekers.
Nonetheless, while employees have
a source of regular income they do not have access to capital! Bank interest
rates are so high they do not support individual enterprise. It is better to
remain employed than try to break into the murky waters of entrepreneurship. Incidentally
the same two benefactors are ready and waiting to punish anyone who thinks of
abandoning the employment lines. A host of legal agencies are instructed to
punish any initiative to depart from the workforce with licenses, levies and
all manner of innovative tolls and tariffs.
Because employees have a number,
their records are sped post haste to government advisers who ensure that
employment income is directly taxed to the tune of 35% or more of gross
earnings to pay for the privilege of being employed and the support of those
who escape formal jobs. While employees fund 60-80% of national coffers, their
vote (less than 5%) does not influence the economic destiny of the nation. The
ballot box remains a balkanized conspiracy of the wealthy, ethnicity and
religious bias. No one really cares where the money comes from so long as it is
a democracy. Yet the middle class in wealthy nations directly influence the
vote.
“The creative class, which comprises a third to more than forty percent
of the workforce in the advanced nations, includes scientists and technologists;
artists, cultural creatives, and media workers, as well knowledge-based
professionals in business, education, and health-care. While the varied members
of the working class had physical skills as a shared trait, the diverse groups
of workers that make up the creative class all draw on their underlying human
creativity. The even larger service class is made up of lower-skill,
lower-wage, routine service occupations in fields like health care support,
food preparation and service, low-end retail, and office and administrative
positions.” GLOBAL CREATIVTY INDEX 2015.
The global creativity index lists
talent, technology and tolerance as the keys to economic advancement and credits the creative class as the drivers.
Luxemburg has a creative class of 54%, Singapore 47%, United Kingdom 44% and
USA 33%. Ghana stands at 8.61%, Rwanda 3.76 % but the majority of countries in
Africa are unlisted. It is not hard to see that while the working class in the
west creates wealth, the working class in Africa is drained of the wealth it
creates. Around the world the middle class is known for its professionalism,
creativity, productivity and enterprise. Unfortunately the percentage of the middle
class in Africa is shrinking. Economic slaves are dying younger by the
generation. They hardly remain employed more than a few years. They are coming
under such pressure as to abandon the state and migrate to other nations where
they can enjoy a measure of the wealth they earn and send a little back home by
western union, Mpesa and a number of other transfer vehicles.
The reason I plead for employees is
that there can be no meaningful development and national growth without the
empowerment of the people of a land. While skewed per capita incomes and GDPs can
be manufactured by inviting a few foreign investors to put up factories, real empowerment
only comes from the creativity of the people. Unless this 5% is nurtured,
encouraged expanded and empowered countries will continue to fleece the life
out of its wealth creating citizenry. But to whom do I plead? My plea is to
policy makers at all levels and every sphere of society to ensure that policy
is not punitive to wealth creators and discouraging to innovators to the extent
that it kills the will to take initiative to produce value.
While I have a great concern for
the plight of employees across Africa, I am desperately worried about the
majority of employees who do not comprehend that they create wealth and consign
themselves to be slaves! After producing wealth for their employers, economic
slaves retire distraught, disillusioned and penniless. Distraught; when they
look back at how much they have earned and yet do not own. Disillusioned;
because they were promised that education and employment would elevate them
from poverty. And penniless; because they have no clue as to the purpose or
principles of money!
Allan Bukusi is the author of
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