Last week I attended a rather informative forum on productivity. Right! You know how human resource turn abstract resources into wealth. I left with one goal in mind; encourage Africans to have real catharsis over why this continent is an exemplar in; underdevelopment, poverty, famine and other negative conditions that follow Africa’s name like an afternoon shadow.
Because I am African I can pretty much say it like it is and write subjectively about Africa without the fear of drawing the ire of all you who are dedicated to sanitizing Africa’s name by window dressing. I can do this without the fear of pulling a Justin Sacco. I will do this without fear even some will accuse me of hanging this continent’s dirty linen on the open.
The first question I will pose out there is, are Africans inherently lazy? Back in my high school days our teacher for literature told us a fable about an experiment carried to ascertain levels of creativity among different children. Three children; one Caucasian, one Oriental and one African were put under the crucible, well not under a microscope but each of them were left unattended with lots of food in a locked room with various experimental objects. The Caucasian ate and the Oriental children ate and discovered the environment, sampling this or that thing, while the African child ate, slept, woke up and ate some more. At the time we dismissed our teacher as a ‘self-hating’ Africa. After all the races in the world fall into the folly of believing in their own magnificence and we young Africa boys were no exception. Perhaps unbeknown to us and owing to our teacher’s experience with life he was in a better position to discern life in Africa than we young souls could, he had stopped romanticizing about Africa and started telling it as it is.
Which leads me back to my original question are Africans inherently lazy? No, I would say, but they aren’t inherently hardworking either. Although African oral history is replete with examples of adages and proverbs that encourage hard-work I have seen nothing in terms of sociocultural philosophy that abhors laziness and sloth. I mean in some societies being called lazy would be one of the highest forms of insult a person would suffer, being lazy would provide grounds for social ostracization, but no not Africa.
Before you accuse me of throwing words around here are the facts, according to the Global Talent Competiveness Index (GTCI 2013) African countries perform dismally, in the 103 country index African countries occupy positions edging towards the hundred; Kenya occupies position 95, Senegal 93, Algeria 103, Tanzania 97, Ethiopia 99, with the most top ranked country in Africa being South Africa at position 55 in an index topped by Switzerland. From the foregoing it seems Africans are untalented as well, whereas I know there are some certain historical and structural issues that might be used in defence of this phenomenon. It has been 50 years since most African countries gained their independence but most African countries have had little to show in terms of human capital development.
Indeed African countries have shorter weekly working hours, way below international hours. In Chad the working hours limit per week is 39 hours, in; Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Madagascar, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the Congo the working hours limit per week is 40.
In; Tanzania , Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco Angola, Burundi, Cape Verde, Democratic the working hours limit per week is 46, Tunisia and Mozambique and have a working hours limit per week of 48 hours. In Africa only Kenya has a working hour limit per week above 48 hours. It is work of note the global ILO standard is a 48 hour work, and clearly African countries in their droves fall below the global standard. Such statistics are inimical to progress and development.
Africa also has a smaller appetite for increased productivity than her most synonymous benchmarks read South East Asian countries, according to the Productivity Commission of Kenya between the years 2001 and 2012 Kenya posted an increase in the Labour Productivity Index of 18.0% whereas that seems decent enough that translates into a measly annual increase of 1.65% which pales into comparison when Chinas statistic are put in consideration, China had an annual growth in its labour productivity index of 10.5% between 2003 and 2012.
For a long time Africa’s growth model primary based on extractive material exports has ignored the role a vibrant and competitive labour force plays in the in economic growth. Work ethic and service delivery especially in the public sector is poor. It is time Africa flips the coin and realizes that; oil gold or diamond will not change this continent, its people will and they need colossal changes in attitudes to.
Alex Ndungu Njeru wrote in from Kenya
Views expressed are solely the author’s
Hi Alex, I came across your article while looking for defenders of the ‘Africans are lazy’ narrative. As predicted, I do think that you are wrong and your facts are based on white-washed definitions and opinions. Allow me to kindly remind you that in this continent, we are not paid per hour, thus our level of productivity is not based on the number of hours worked. That would imply that we are all formally employed, and our employers ensure that we work only the maximum specified number of hours- False. On the ground in Kenya, where the informal sector makes up to 83.1% of our economy, mama mboga’s, farmers and small business owners work at least 12hrs a day, 6 days a week, and often 7. That my friend is 72hrs a week. In a country like France, where they have Wednesdays & weekends off, 8 weeks of vacation, paid leave and summer! I wouldn’t say the same. Never have I heard a French man being called lazy though. On behalf of Africans, please conduct secondary research next time you make such colonial claims instead of basing your research on conference papers written by white people to seek donors. In case you change your mind, consider writing for us instead, at afrika-yangu.org.
Africans that l work with or have partnered with in Sierra Leone especially are downright poor thinkers and definitely as lazy and unreliable as l have ever come across. Sorry, but that ls real life experience.
As a Chinese I want to point out that despite we do have a “struggling culture” that promotes hardworking, there’s also an increasingly dominating view in the youth called “laying-down culture” that promotes low-desire and “being lazy”. Leftists in China often criticize “struggling culture” as an exploitation of workers. Also as a personal opinion, I wouldn’t choose to work 12 hours a day for 28 days a month, which is the norm of average workers in China. In face I think hardly anyone would “choose” that.
Sorry Joy, but you are out to lunch. The African s l work with although good people are not hard workers. it’s just the way they are. Maybe it is the heat, or just the way they are use to but their productivity sucks very very badly. They are a rather lazy lot. All your fancy liberal words and thinking can’t take away the facts.
very interesting article.
I’d like to get an Africans view of what they thought of colonialism?
Generally is it seen as good to get rid of them, or do you feel let down, all take no give? or more a useful exchange which helped develop economies but ended too soon, before a decent level of overall educational attainment was obtained. I know the Europeans had and still have a racist approach to Africa, but human history is about 3000 years of Empires building, growing, exchanging and also destroying.
would be good to find out what Africans think. I’ve had enough of White academics telling everyone how and what they should think.
thank you, to anyone, who responds.
kind regards
Bret
Africans that l work with or have partnered with in Sierra Leone especially are downright poor thinkers and definitely as lazy and unreliable as l have ever come across. Sorry, but that ls real life experience.
Stop picking on the Europeans! They are simply smart hardworking people and showed (with extremely limited success) the African natives how to work! I’m just calling a spade, a spade that’s all. Poor thinkers for the most part, with a very poor work ethic. ok…LAZY.., There, l said it!