Page 116 - Afrika Must Unite

RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 101
Investment capital is our great need. O ur colonial status pre­
vented us from accumulating as individuals the reserves of
capital necessary to establish on a private basis those major
enterprises which will lay the foundations of a sound indus­
trialized economy and expand and diversify our agriculture.
Only the government, in fact, has resources large enough to
make a realistic approach to the problem of reconstruction and
development. And even government, because of low national
production, is obliged to seek investment from abroad. But while
wanting to attract capital, we are continually on the alert to
ensure that this does not endanger our independence by making
us subordinate to a new form of imperialism. The kind of invest­
ment assistance we prefer is that which will enter into a partner­
ship arrangem ent with the government, or any of our statutory
institutions, under which our own citizens will be trained to take
over management, direction and technical posts at all levels. We
are already receiving assistance of this kind, and more is on the
way.
I must say that we are rather chary of the fortune hunters who
come to our shores in shoals, seeking to make use of what they
regard as our innocence and naivete in these m atters; or of that
army of business people, who have followed in one delegation
after another, more intent upon taking money from us in the
form of commodity sales which would enhance their own
national revenues, than upon contributing to our economic ex­
pansion. There are circumstances in which the import of foreign
capital is of benefit to the importing country, especially in the
case of the emerging developing country where large-scale
sources of capital accumulation are small and not so easy to
mobilize. Foreign capital is thus useful and helpful if it takes
the form of a loan or credit to enable the borrowing country to
buy what it needs from whatever sources it likes, and at the same
time to retain control of the assets to be developed.
One of the worst things that can happen to less developed
and emerging countries is to receive foreign aid with political
and economic strings attached. These aids are very often
wrapped up in financial terms that are not easily discernible.
Foreign investment made in an emerging and developing
country by a foreign company in order that such company can