CANNABIS WILL UNLOCK ECONOMY

Conspicuously and mystifyingly missing from the budget speech by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg, was cannabis as a catalyst in kick-starting a moribund economy, an omission that may reveal government’s deep-seated lack of vision on how to get this kingdom working again in order to eradicate poverty consuming the majority of emaSwati.

The apparent omission of cannabis from the mix of government’s initiatives, which often times are very thin on delivery and metamorphosing the economy to relative global competitive levels as manifest elsewhere in the region and beyond owing to a pervasive political environment weakened by its overly centralised decision-making processes, to resuscitate the economy may speak to an inherent institutional disability in identifying and exploiting opportunities with the potential to reset and transform the kingdom’s economic trajectory. Or it could be a deliberate political posture to keep emaSwati tethered at the foot of the economic ladder and wholly dependent on periodic handouts.

Meanwhile, elsewhere within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and beyond, people-driven governments have moved swiftly to normalise the cannabis industry by replacing colonial laws with enabling progressive legislation. Hence today a number of these nations are exploiting the benefits of this wonder herb with South Africa’s economic hub, Gauteng, making it a centrepiece of its industrial revolution while Eswatini remains on her natural procrastinatory posture.

While Parliament last week stuttered to some action, charging the Ministry of Agriculture to explore commercialising cannabis post COVID-19 pandemic was too little too late. Ndzingeni Member of Parliament (MP) Lutfo Dlamini may have been on point about the need to exploit the herb to generate much needed revenue but suggesting committees and studies – which could take another lifetime if experience is anything to go by – at this late hour is counterproductive since Eswatini is already lagging behind in terms of her competitiveness in this respect. After all we already have an appreciation of the cannabis value chain gleaned from studies elsewhere.  

decriminalise

As I see it, what is needed now is a bold short-to-medium-term plan to decriminalise and regulate cannabis farming with government issuing current and new players initially with provisional licences while playing a catalytic role in sourcing markets. At the same time government would be formulating a long-term strategy of value addition through the establishment of pharmaceutical and allied industries right on Eswatini soil.

While the latter may prove difficult, especially in enticing foreign direct investments (FDIs) now that they have probably been directed elsewhere to more pro-active countries with competitive economies within SADC and beyond, because of government’s prolonged procrastination, there is always the natural fallback position – that is the complete indigenisation of the cannabis industry value chain culminating in the exportation of fully processed products.

Yes, there ought to be a radical departure from the position that was adopted for sugar so that the kingdom can maximise revenues from processed products as opposed to exporting cannabis in its raw form. But for Eswatini to fast track its entry into this apparently flourishing industry her apparatchiks would need to do things differently if she wants to be a major player because it is already late in the day. This should begin with a moratorium on wasting resources in pursuing and prosecuting current farmers as well as destroying their yields.

Objective

As I see it, cannabis is key in this country’s fight to liberate the majority of emaSwati from the tyranny of poverty, of course assuming this objective is in the best interests of the leadership. Often times one gets the feeling that the political elites deliberately manufacture – by taking from the people in the name of entitlements – poverty to make people dependent on their periodic handouts thus ensuring their relevancy.

Yes, poverty is not a natural phenomenon in Eswatini, ranked a middle income country by global institutions such as the United Nations, but a creation of the political establishment through bad governance to control and secure the loyalty of the people by dispensing periodic crumbs to them. Given the many proven attributes of cannabis, which are second to no other known plant, were this country to replicate the scale of sugar cane farming with cannabis, the kingdom’s economy would be transformed in a manner no one has ever imagined and in the process create a multi-trillion Emalangeni sovereign wealth fund to perhaps even motor the country into the much avowed First World status. In fact cannabis could well lead to the rethink on continued investment on sugar because its returns in comparative terms would be so insignificant that it would be akin to running an odd spaza shop.

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