Why I have been pessimistic on the WTO conference in Nairobi

The moment I got the indication that the World Trade organization 10th ministerial meeting was headed for Nairobi I was really happy. I was happy because it would significantly expose Kenya as a good country where one can visit and sample the beauty and the many nice things there in. It was also significant to me more so with other confirmed significant visits by US President Barrack Obama and Pope Francis. All these coming after a lot of image dent caused by terror attacks on Kenyan soil that almost completely wiped out important industry tourism made me optimistic. I have however been very pessimistic on the outcomes of the talks having combed the past meetings and many other trade conventions in the world.

One must take cognizant that trade and global politics go hand in hand. If you study bits of European and the discovery of new lands (the Americas) and colonialisation you would strongly link the fortunes of nations to economic prosperity or lack of. Africa has borne the brunt of two significant devastating, milieus that has failed to wash away at least for now – namely slave trade and colonialism. These two were a direct consequence of the fortunes of foreign powers in Europe and Middle East. This with more clout and significance in Europe as the Middle east were traders in slaves to feed the demand for free labour in European empires while at the same time serving the prestige’s and needs of Arab kings and merchants. European economic woes and expansionist need fueled greatly global colonialisation and Africa with abundance of raw materials and ‘free’ labour then was important in the mix.

This is a slight peek to a complex background is to highlight part of the history of expanding global trade dynamics. The world has changed significantly since slavery and colonialisation era but little has changed in the perceptions of trade routes, fortunes expansion, fear and control. The developed world would obviously want to remain so but how to sustain that is also suffused with fear. Just like the way pastoralists communities fear losing grazing lands or would also want to expand their stock at times through hand of sleight, the world of trade has the same denomination. If you dig deeper on trade since mercantilism and physiocracy era you will find a denominator of domination and control all filled with the fear factor. Nations need to grow wealthy and it is prudent to preserve and protect wealth but this cannot thrive forever in an environment of inequality.

Inequality is what spurred a lot of radical changes in global power that wrought a lot in slavery, colonialism and the many wars that have engulfed the world.  Just as the feudal system ensured that the landlords survived by subjugating the serfs, apparently the changes that have encumbered global relationships still leaks remnants of this immoral relationship. Fear is a problem. It seems there are many who don’t appreciate that a world that has equitable trading is good for all of us. It seems for some skewed systems seem to serve them better.

Therefore, having surveyed the history of economics and trade for that matter, I have had little expectations on this forum happening in Nairobi. Deals on Doha round that would help the developing economies particularly those in Africa seemed from the onset not in the priorities of developed nations. The underlying theme is opening of markets that would disadvantage the developing economies without ceding of any ground from developed nations particularly on matters agriculture.

So other than image building and obviously some revenue in our kitty, what do we achieve on this important summit? Methinks this will open some eyes that the global trade is not at all equitable. Already you can see that even amongst the industrialized nations there are fights on the big cake. See that China and US have a spat on ICT products market. Will Africa realize that we have a lot to fight for in the global space than the internal pettiness that we seem to love?

Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda

Nairobi.

THE WRITER IS A RESEARCHER AND CONSULTANT