Brain Drain in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA)
Of all the problems bedeviling the sub Saharan region brain drain is, arguably, the most pitiful. Not that the African
continent can’t produce its talented manpower, but rather the experts, for one reason or the other, see it better to
leave and practice their trade beyond borders. Even the economic power houses of the continent have suffered
this scourge to one extent or another. South Africa and Egypt have not been spared. According to an email
exchange between British Broadcasting Corporation and professor Egweali, he posits that the brain drain from
Africa to the Americas is a four-century-old problem that began with the Atlantic slave trading. The slave ships
dropped of 20 million of the most able Africans in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and
South America. The United States is a nation that was developed with slave labor. The son of an African slave,
Benjamin Banneker, was one of the people that planned and designed the city of Washington, D.C. Today we have
200 million Africans in the Diaspora with expertise that could be tapped to develop the continent. One thing worth
of mention is that this is a problem that spans the world over. Even Canada laments it’s losing its professionals to
the USA! Nonetheless, the reasons obtaining in different regions are equally unique and approaches to solutions
distinctive.
A recent report by the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre has shown that nearly 500,000
Zimbabwean professionals have left the country since 1990 in search of better opportunities overseas (See IRIN
report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp? Report ID=35578). But an internal movement of skilled Zimbabweans
is also under way, robbing the country of much-needed capacity, and shrinking the government's tax revenue
base. The impact is felt throughout the professions. One lawyer told IRIN that his firm lost two junior lawyers this
year alone. "The guys are now cross-border traders, selling sugar, cooking oil and clothes to Mozambique, Malawi
and Zambia. They say they earn at least US $5,000 every month," he explained. The average salary for a junior
lawyer is Zim $450,000 (US $549).
Social worker Michael Phiri said Zimbabwe's formal sector is increasingly understaffed as professionals seek
opportunities elsewhere. In many rural communities where he has worked, clinics were manned by orderlies
because nurses drifted to urban areas to look for alternative jobs, or joined the legion of Zimbabwean health care
workers employed abroad, typically in Britain or South Africa.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimate that
27,000 Africans left the continent for industrialized countries between 1960 and 1975. During the period 1975 to
1984, the figure rose to 40,000. It is estimated that since 1990 at least 20,000 people leave the continent annually.
Until recently, African governments had expressed little concern about the loss of skilled people, while
development lending agencies often compounded the problem by obliging recipient countries to hire foreign
expatriates, as part of the conditions attached to those loans. Moreover, politicians often portrayed countrymen
who opted to work and live abroad as unpatriotic. But the sharp rise in skilled emigration and the serious human
resource constraints facing the continent have forced many to rethink their views.
Factors contributing to the menace
Poor political leadership is proving costly to the region. Politics of patronage and scramble for power has been
known to reward sycophancy. This situation obtains especially so in Kenya. Professionals worth there salt suffer
job dissatisfaction when unmeriting individuals jump the promotion queue. In addition, cases abound of heads of
state striving to prolong their stay on power. This creates an unbecoming political climate. The result is infighting,
a situation that stifles job creation and annihilates economic growth. Unemployment crunches and experts seek
refuge elsewhere. Take the situation that is riding at the moment. The NARC government that was elected by
popular vote is in the brink of collapse. The furore that’s raging between the two factions is baffling. The goodwill
that propelled NARC to power is fast getting eroded. Now the Kenyan people are a very funny lot. The population is
not rebellious enough to keep the government in check. The people are watching in despair at the fallacy that was
NARC. This is a circumstance that’s untenable to professionals
Underdeveloped labour policy and laws. Industrial unrest is the consequence of this anomaly. An ample
illustration that comes to mind is the EPZ wave of strikes in Nairobi and Mombasa. Workers were not allowed to
form trade unions. The terms of service were not also acceptable. Longer work hours and low pay. The firms on
the one hand, claimed they had been promised exemption from existing labour laws. The government sent
conflicting signals regarding the whole issue. It reached a point where a full cabinet minister came out in support
of the firms! In Zimbabwe a similar picture appertains.
Now the labour market is quite a sensitive area, more so where expatriates are concerned versus the natives.
People like to work in a stable environment where job security is guaranteed. The idea of minimum wage
guidelines is not helping matters. Circumstances surrounding the issuance of work permits are non-the better.
Man has to be rewarded for his industry. The most basic factor comes from the issue of remuneration. Africa is
primarily a third world continent and it will be expecting a bit too much for it to compete on an equal footing with the
western democracies. There could be other contributing issues but they almost always boil down to bread and
butter. It is an especial case riding in Kenya at the moment. Who wouldn’t give his arm just win the Green card, an
opportunity to be paid in dollars! It is also illogical to have an individual holding as many as six positions or a
member of a number of boards in a state where manpower is not wanting. This ideally should not be the case.
Granted, the personalities involved might be two heads superior in qualifications and expertise but people have to
delegate these days and furthermore one can’t be in two places simultaneously. More than three positions calls
for the individual to relinquish active management roles and assume himself as an advisor or quit the scene
altogether.
Liberalization has also had an impact on the region. Since this concept stipulates the opening up of the domestic
market, local manufacturers face unfair competition from dumped goods. There comes a time when liberalization
is optimal, not all the time. The benefits accruing from this policy are skewed in favour of the developed nations
since they have the capacity to compete effectively. A relevant case study comes from Japan.
The defeat of Japan in the Second World War left it in ruins. Its manufacturing base had been destroyed, its
economy shattered. At that time, or a few years down the line, subjecting Japan to the dictates of free markets
would have been its death penalty. With the sympathetic aid support of the USA and other related multilateral
donors Japan was able to rebuild its industry and develop the markets. It is worthy of note that during the period of
reconstruction the aid extended to Japan was devoid of the conditions that are so rampant when it is an African
state as the receiver. The motherly hug that the USA threw Japan’s way is about what our continent needs if the
first world is serious in their rescue endeavors.
Countries seeking to develop do not rely excessively on external assistance as the SSA countries do. Over-
reliance on donor prescriptions is our undoing. Loans and grants come attached with conditions. The IMF and
the World Bank are the most notorious on this score. In the last decade the Bretton woods institutions introduced
and subjected the SSA to a variety of financial structures. The most notable was the ESAF programme (Enhanced
Structural Adjustment Facility). This programme failed. It was taken to South American countries like Brazil and
Argentina, it still proved unworkable. Now we have the poverty reduction and economic paper that’s also proving
difficult Not that conditions in themselves are bad, but the idea of using the SSA as a guinea pig for experimenting
on untested theses should not really be welcome.
Counter strategies
Solutions to this problem lie in the region performing a soul searching and deciding what they want. Indeed it
would be realized that the answers to our problems lies within our own hands. It all hinges on how assertive we
get in dealing with our developed trade partners. The best bet for the SSA can also be found in restructuring our
economic systems. Putting our house in order, so they say.
The informal sector needs to be promoted. A sustained policy that is geared towards a long-term development
should be established. The Jua Kali sector accommodates the bulk of the peasantry. The transport network and
electricity should be upgraded and especially in those environs where these artisans are concentrated
The Kenyan economy is agro-based. It therefore makes a lot of economic sense to insulate the farmer. The
wanton collapse of agricultural societies like the cashew nut factory in Kilifi and the Kenya Meat Commission in
Mombasa and Athi River is untenable.
On the same breath, the management of agricultural institutions must be beyond reproach. Power wrangles that
have characterized the institutions boards should not be condoned. Kenya Co-operative Creameries went to the
wolves in such circumstances. We have the Coffee Board of Kenya and Pyrethrum Board being systematically run
down by kleptomaniacs.
All the hype doing the rounds about free markets should not ideally arise for such a basket case economy that
Kenya is. The government has the obligation to uplift the standards of its citizenry. Hence, protocols that go counter
this objective are but a non- starter. Truth be told, the western nations and their developed allies are way above
competing with the SSA. If this scenario were to be likened to soccer, the SSA is in division four while its rivals are
in the premier division. Even FIFA supreme, Sepp Blatter, cannot approve a tourney between the two. As it goes
about its business, the leadership ought to stop and ponder on what steps should be taken to support the
domestic industries. If protectionism happens to be the option, so be it. For the treaties they sign should facilitate
industrial growth, not otherwise. In the long run it is in our best interest if we can be able to export at least semi-
processed goods.
Africa could also reduce its internal brain drain by updating its school curricula to reflect its needs for the 21st
century. African schools produce more graduates in the arts and humanities than in science and engineering. It
does not come as a surprise that there are only 20,000 scientists and engineers in Africa. Since science and
technology can increase the standard of living, it makes more sense to produce more scientists and engineers.
Also important is that scientists should be employed as scientists. The deteriorating economy in Africa has forced
some professors, medical doctors and scientists to drive taxicabs and operate beer parlors. It is an internal brain
drain to have many architects, accountants and pharmacists unemployed.
How can we reverse brain drain. We must admit that African children born and raised in the United States are not
likely to return to Africa. They will be willing to visit Africa for a few months. However, those that are underemployed
in the United States will consider going back to Africa. The typical taxicab driver in large American cities is an
African or Asian with a university degree. Racial discrimination and underemployment is actually a push factor that
is constantly pushing Africans and Asians to return to their fatherland.
On a wider perspective, it is good to note that efforts are being made to persuade Africans to return home.
Organizations such as African Recruit and Common Business Council (CBC) organize job fairs aimed at hiring
talent to African positions. Africa Recruit is an initiative taken by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) to
build robust and enduring productive capacity throughout the continent. Africa Recruit is an innovative service
delivery vehicle with its focus on capacity building through the African Diaspora and its various networks within and
outside Africa. It even runs a search engine, FindaJobinAfrica.com. South Africa has launched a similar approach
by the establishment of South African Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA). The launch of the global network of highly
skilled South Africans could turn South Africa's brain drain into what is potentially a huge intellectual resource for
the country.
SANSA is a joint initiative undertaken by Associate Professor David Kaplan and Dr Jean-Baptiste Meyer who are
both based at UCT's Development Policy Research Unit.
Using electronic and other methods of speedy communication, SANSA plans to link skilled South Africans now
living overseas, with local projects and researchers in order to contribute towards the development of a
competitive, knowledge-based economy. Professor Kaplan and Dr Meyer intimate that studies have shown a
rising shortage of high-level skills in the country.
In the longer term the solution is to be found in the training of far more people locally, but in the short-medium term
South Africa will have to make use of its existing resources. This means drawing on the expertise of skilled South
Africans who live abroad, but who are keen to make a contribution to the country that nurtured them.
The researchers point out that the "brain drain" is not a recent phenomenon. Every year, at least since World War
II, very sizeable numbers of qualified human resources have departed from this country.
While this appears at face value to be a "problem" SANSA sees these South Africans as a potential asset. "These
countrymen could aid in transformation by applying their own skills and providing access to their own very
extensive networks. This is what SANSA is all about," explains Prof Kaplan.
The researchers are quick to point out that the network is not restricted to South African or ex-South African
citizens, though it is primarily directed to them. "What is important is that network members possess skills and
that they be interested in making them available," says Dr Meyer.
SANSA is a joint venture between the Science and Technology Policy Research Centre (STPRC) and a leading
French agency for scientific co-operation, ORSTOM.
ORSTOM has recently been involved in the establishment of a similar network in Colombia and, SANSA is
benefiting from lessons learnt during that exercise.
"In today's world, distances and borders are no longer an obstacle to the exchange of knowledge and to
undertaking co-operative work. Individual members of SANSA will make their own decisions as to the kind of
contributions they could or would wish to make," says Dr Meyer.
Some examples of the type of contributions that could be made include:
receiving South African graduates in laboratories or training programmes;
participating in training or research with South African counterparts;
transferring technology to South African institutions;
transmitting information and results of research which are not readily available in South Africa;
facilitating business contacts; and
initiating research and commercial projects.
The first step in building the network involves compiling basic information about network members and their
potential contributions. A basic information data sheet is being prepared and data will serve as an information
bank, initiating ongoing network activity. Kenya could experiment that route with quantifiable level of success, from
the mother country. The BOMB initiative is but an illustration (Bring Our Money Back) especially in view of the
enthusiasm with which the Kenyan community abroad is known to embrace such well-meaning ideologies.
Far from material aspects of this crisis, there’s reason to believe that a good number of our compatriots simply left
because of the dirty politics and the inherent political blackmail that goes with it. Changing the political structure
into a more focused and objective perspective is bound to go along way in instilling confidence to the African man
or woman out there in the land of manna and honey! The Kenya people have tasted such a change and the
reverberations were felt as far as the UK where an ordinary Briton was forced to adapt to the corrupted word
‘unbwogable’ which was supposed to mean a state of progression without fear. The recent election of president
Mwai Kibaki sent a wave of euphoria and a wave of returns by exiles hoping to rebuild a country that had all but
collapsed under the weight of 24 years of rule by former President Daniel arap Moi. President Kibaki has been
quick to invite Kenyans "who have been hounded out of our shores by repressive policies of our predecessors to
come back home and join us in nation-building.
Alternatively, as measures are being put in place to enhance the work environment focus should also be directed
at the expatriates. Governments have put various tax proposals forward as it dawns on them that the large
numbers of citizens living outside their borders are a potential economic resource. Proposals range from one-
time exit taxes to bilateral tax arrangements, which would require the receiving nation to tax citizens of another and
remunerate the home country.
Another strategy is the adoption of international agreements by industrial and developing nations under which
wealthy countries pledge not to recruit skilled people from developing states. However, the two most popular
strategies involve transferring skills through networks of professionals and intellectuals and the time-tested
approach of repatriation
Kenya has no option but to roll up her sleeves and take to the ring. As it is, this is a game not for the faint-hearted
and the more readily a nation can bare its fangs out the greater the piece it shall bite. This theorem applies to the
wider region that is the SSA. A wake-up call has been sounded and it is upon each state to rein in her prodigal
sons. The state that addresses this problem decisively will have the last laugh. At the end of the day, Africa must
take up her place and be counted alongside those who matter.
By: Oduor Saviour Adongo
4th Year Mathematics Student, JKUAT
References
1. The Internet services
2. The Japan of today – The international Society for Education