What makes a nation prosper? In a globalised world, allowing for ubiquitous benchmarking amongst nations, the question of why some succeed where others have failed is on everyone’s mind. More so in Africa, where the Africa Rising narrative is confronted with critical voices arguing that Africa will again succumb under the weight of its own contradictions. Typically, economists dominate the debate with facts and figures to assert whether the noticed growth in Africa is the result of structural transformation or just commodity boom. What is certain is that economic transformation only occurs in the presence of local productivity, the famous “Made In…”. It is therefore important to look out for structural organisational changes within the society. In a recent article in the Financial Times, Paul Collier convincingly argued that “the problem in Africa is not a missing middle class but a missing class of organization”. His argument centered on the necessity of multinational manufacturing companies “that make ordinary people productive by harnessing the potential of scale and specialisation while preserving worker motivation”. Whoever has dreamt about a private sector-led growth, however, must have quickly noticed that private sector only comes into play once the government is willing and able to provide some forms of guarantees or fiscal incentives, cater for infrastructure and be an efficient partner to do business with. Thus, the organisational capability of the State matters a great deal in practice. Carlos Lopes, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, illustrated eloquently the idea of an efficient State as business model while addressing the National Dialogue (Umushyikirano) in 2014: “Part of the success attributable to Uruguay was to offering what its giant neighbours could not: predictability, easiness and reliability of a first class public service. The country turned its peaceful and security environment into an attractive call for investors looking not to its market but to its neighbours”. Two weeks ago, President Paul Kagame signed a new form of Performance Contracts (Imihigo) with mayors and ministries. For the first time, the private sector is also a formal signatory of performance contracts touching on key priorities such as job creation and urbanization, the so-called Joint Imihigo. This new form of public private partnership will enable mutual accountability towards achieving structural transformation. It is one of the most recent examples of how President Kagame has used his presidential authority to stimulate organisational change within the society. Whereas, initially, the President used his authority to fast track accountability of local leaders vis-à-vis their constituencies by signing performance contracts on the delivery of public goods, this time around, in line with the country’s progress, performance contracts are increasingly about public private partnerships. Performance contracts are monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of local government and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The symbolic gesture, however, of signing in parliament a performance contract with the highest authority elevates the technical planning process into a matter of national priority. This is how Rwanda has arrived as front runner amongst Africa’s most efficient and least corrupt countries. Through Joint Performance Contracts between different ministries, agencies and the private sector incentivizes team work as all actors are all bound by one contract. The resulting efficiency is the bedrock of more Made in Rwanda products. Notably, the entire export sector is now governed by one single performance contract with a clear division of labour and key performance indicator such an increase of traditional exports by 35 per cent. Looking at the well established culture of imihigo, one cannot help but think about the manufacturing chain of a product. Like in the manufacturing sector, public service requires team work on a product one doesn’t consume directly. One could as well argue that State efficiency does more than attracting foreign investments, in Rwanda at least, it seems State efficiency is the precursor of business efficiency. Interestingly, this year has also seen the revival of Umuganura (Thanksgiving) where the whole nation will not just celebrate agriculture produce but overall productivity. Imihigo and Umuganura are shaping both national consciousness and state consciousness towards home-grown productivity. This silent revolution bears the promise of home-grown prosperity. The writer is a policy commentator.
