Building a De-Americanized World

A friend of mine, and a senior lecturer in the University of Nairobi commented that it is failure when some Kenyan governors go benchmarking to the United States while the real thing is happening in Machakos County.

One R. Alai, a blogger and critic posed that some Kenyan media houses and personalities brag of winning CNN (an American TV channel) awards as if CNN was Jesus Christ!

I recently read through the Kenyan Public Debt Management Report of 2005/2006 and realized that Japan was the leading bilateral creditor to Kenya at the end of June 2006 (18.4 percent of total debt) followed by France (4.3 percent) and Germany (3.2 percent). To be more credible, I also checked some current data. China is currently the leading bilateral creditor, followed by Japan, France then Germany.

America is not even classed among our lenders! Yet all the above figures are given in US dollars.

It is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world or brace harder times!

China is setting the pace. Her emergence as a leading economic powerhouse is on the offing. During the US government shutdown, China called for ‘Building a de-Americanized World’, and went ahead to sign a $57Bn currency swap deal with the European Union Bank _ a Chinese focus on being world leaders. Key among her strategies is the creation of a new international reserve currency to replace the present reliance on U.S. dollars, a necessary step to prevent American bumbling from further afflicting the world.

China’s entry into emerging markets with a strong Yuan will favour her balance of payments and exponentially grow her economy. We should not be surprised therefore, next time you buy a ticket; you may not use the dollar but Yuan. It may not be soon, but the worlds’ dynamics are fast changing.

The self-serving US has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.

Remember recently when the Kenyan shilling depreciated against the dollar and hit around Kshs.114/US$ mark? A situation not hitherto imagined! Many argued that the price of the dollar is a function of its supply and demand, but that ksh114 was beyond the market mechanism. There must have been something else to that! The rest of the world needs independence, and a currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run.

Toppling the dollar alone isn’t enough, but it is a bold first step.  Several cornerstones should be laid to underpin a de-Americanized world. Kenya has a role to play, and so is Uganda and other nations. USAid alone won’t build our nation, we need more productive structures. Thanks to the Kenyattas’ presidency that does not tolerate the US!

The world needs some independence from US reliance, but this is ultimately not the American problem, as the effects of the bubble may ultimately be seen when the bubble bursts: global recession which will make life bite, especially with the already biting Kenyan VAT Law.