Editor,A minimum wage law is a luxury law commonly associated with economically better-off nations. These nations pass such a law primarily to address the problem of inequality among their workforce, not to address living standards.The latter is only achieved through pareto optimality. Why, you may ask! As inequality grows, the government is charged with addressing this problem by devising a policy that rewards all sets of employees who add to general output.Look at this scenario in the spects of the recent financial crisis. Governments, especially here in Europe, found it extremely difficult to cap bankers’ salaries, given that they couldn’t measure their performance output.Bankers kept on earning millions whilst making the most ridiculous economic decisions. If it was possible to cap inequality from the top-bottom, believe me, this would have been done years ago.Secondly, introducing a minimum wage in present day Rwanda would undoubtedly deter investors that the country desperately needs.When China, Singapore, India embarked on an economic revolution, they eliminated the word ‘minimum wage’ from their policy catalogues. Allowing salary to be determined by output is a major attraction for an investor who has alternative markets at their disposal.This is not the time for Rwanda to engage in such luxuries. They’re luxuries because as the world has become a global village, it is of little expense for a businessperson to move business to places with low production costs.Rwanda would not fare well. Let businesses grow; output increase, and then the workforce will have bargaining power. Junior London
