Africa is experiencing growing concern over the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by credible theses and antitheses to the wildest assumptions. There is no point in getting into impertinent controversies and moving towards a consensus around the essentials, namely how to manage the pandemic by providing the necessary care that infected people need? How to break the chain of transmission of the virus? And how best to limit the adverse effects of this pandemic and its economic consequences? These are the essential questions.

The African through the States, willingly or unwillingly, is committed to facing this situation in the hope of a surge of international solidarity, with the contribution of the national private sector and goodwill to mobilize resources financial resources needed for Covid-19 resilience or response funds. Hope is allowed for Africa through its mandatory and essential questioning in the face of this pandemic:

1. Some people in social networks are talking about conspiracy theory, bacteriological attack, contagious viral respiratory infection for the purpose of domination or trade war motivated by the global economic order. This is without counting on the emerging hope of an unsuspected and unexpected medical treatment, inexpensive and accessible to everyone and to Africa for 70 years. This is chloroquine, once intended to cure malaria (malaria), a tropical disease.

2. The “greats” of the world, repositories of political and economic power, speak of war against Covid-19. A world war against the infinitely small. A coronavirus that confronts Man with his individual and collective responsibilities and his limits: "America First", the Schengen area of the 26 European States and the free movement of goods and people, Africa "Last" and its regional geographical units (UEMOA, ECOWAS, CEMAC, etc.) and its governance.

Hope is allowed to say no to the dictatorship of the privileged economists stationed among the "moneymakers" of the world to make us swallow economic, monetary and financial policies and aggregates from the disastrous structural adjustment programs to the present day. As a reminder, in the face of Africa's debt crisis and David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantages for international trade, the globalization of the economy and factors of production, the level of poverty has been one of the consequences in Africa and its delay in industrialization and its structural transformation of its economy despite its natural resources.

The Covid-19 is about to break the budgetary balances of the States with the famous and mythical ratio of budget deficit as a percentage of GDP of 3% within the meaning of the Maastricht criteria for the European Union taken up by the convergence criteria of the WAEMU and CEMAC. The sustainability of State debt and its ratio as a percentage of GDP is not immune to this questioning. Monetary policies and the intervention of central banks (FED, ECB, BCEAO, etc.) and the use of Quantitative Easing (QE) – a so-called unconventional monetary policy but implemented in times of crisis and which consists of the massive redemption by the Central Bank of debt securities to financial players - are used to limit the nervousness of the financial markets in the face of this tiny, infinitely small virus despite the ability to predict buy and sell orders on the stock exchanges of "traders" high frequency equipped with artificial intelligence. Our certainties are challenged.

Africa is entitled to question the economic theories and the certainties imposed on it since independence. The hope aroused by the advocacy and leadership of President Macky SALL for the cancellation of the debt in the face of this pandemic and the resilience measures that will be imposed on Africa is an initiative to be welcomed and encouraged by all forces. lives of the Continent.

3. In the immediate term, concerns about the economic consequences during this phase of the pandemic and the possibility of a total confinement of populations, like what has been observed in China, in the locality of Wuhan, would require the implementation establishment of a system and logistics for the distribution of food aid for a large segment of the population. Financial compensation for the loss of income of workers in the formal and informal sector cannot be ruled out.

From an economic point of view, the allocation of a one-time income in times of crisis is a relevant initiative on a compensatory basis. Better still, this income will support demand through household consumption and therefore maintain business income to a certain extent. President Donald TRUMP has pledged an allowance of $1,200 for an adult, $2,400 for a couple, and $500 for a child to support American households below an income ceiling.

Despite the economic weakness of African States, some countries including Senegal plan to mobilize financial resources of several billion FCFA to fight against the pandemic and its consequences. President Macky SALL has decided to create a response and solidarity fund against the effects of the Coronavirus which will be endowed with an amount of 1,000 billion FCFA and a food component of several billion FCFA to deal with a possible total containment of populations if necessary. This initiative was welcomed by the entire Senegalese political class and civil society during a broad consultation process around a national front to fight against Covid-19.

President Alassane OUATTARA of Côte d'Ivoire is also considering the establishment of humanitarian corridors if the confinement of certain localities in his country is necessary. The BCEAO also took eight (08) measures to support the WAEMU economy.

What if we paid our taxes?

What if we paid our taxes? What if we definitively eradicated the informal sector that plagues our economies? Why is what is possible in Rwanda barely not to say inaccessible in other African countries? The organization of business sectors by corporation, the establishment of a mobile payment and financial inclusion platform has enabled to collect and pay the Value Added Tax (VAT) upon collection and without passing through the supplier's bank account during purchase and sale operations and the refund of the deductible VAT on the purchase of goods and services. A considerable shortfall in terms of State budgetary resources.

Compulsory subscription to universal health coverage, to the compulsory pension scheme for informal workers, the collection of national micro-savings from households are made possible by financial inclusion platforms that are completely independent of mobile telephone operators. solutions that go in the direction of strengthening the resources of our States and local communities. Rwanda has done it and it works wonderfully.

In these times of crisis in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, hope or despair will come from the State, its public service, its economic, financial and social governance.

If the treatment of chloroquine fails us and we are not immune to this virus after infection and recovery, woe to the people who have been lax in the choice of their rulers and their representatives in legislative and municipal bodies. Africa will once again be the continent to "sacrifice" in this urgent fight against this pandemic and an eternal restart after the consequences of slavery, the two world wars, colonization, structural adjustments, devaluations of our currencies.

4. The concerns inherent in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period and a probable economic crisis. We base our hope on the welfare state and its ability to manage this pandemic of contagious viral respiratory infection, to alleviate the economic crisis and the stigmatization of the sick and contact persons at risk.

The epicenter of the pandemic is moving from country to country, from city to city, from neighborhood to neighborhood, from one continent to another, erecting barriers to entry, causing withdrawal, the closing of borders, the partial or total containment of populations.

It is worth recalling for educational purposes the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 with tens of millions of deaths. The concern is justified and we must avoid gratuitous and irresponsible statements such as “flu does not kill in Africa. The Covid-19 is beginning to claim its victims in Africa and among Africans.

I dare to hope for a profound questioning of social life and of the economic, monetary and financial models imposed on Africa and accepted by the rulers on the basis of the principle that these models have governed the contemporary world after the Second World War, since the independence of the colonies of Africa to the present day. The succession and the oppositions of theories and economic models starting from liberalism through the invisible hand of Adam Smith, a hand which did not see coming an invisible virus capable of changing the face of the world and which showed the limits of markets in balance; the socialism of Karl Max and the determination of social classes according to the relations of production embodied by the China of Mao Zedong after the fall of the USSR, passing through Keynesian theory through the active intervention of the State in the he economy and monetary policy within the framework of recovery policies offer Africa, through its political class, its intellectuals and its youth, avenues for reflection and a break in economic thought based on access to knowledge and know-how, entrepreneurship, competitiveness in business and intra-African trade.

When is Africa First?

When will Africa be “First” in thought, attitude, work, business and in perfect competition with the rest of the world? Will we have to watch a pandemic relegate us once again? Money, banks and financial markets are no longer fixed doctrines with excessive interest rates. Short-term economic fluctuations, employment and unemployment, national or domestic income and its measurement through the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its externalities, the basic universal income to be allocated to each active person or during the period job loss, unemployment insurance, are all important and decisive issues for Africa.

The Covid-19 pandemic has occurred in a world characterized by instant access to information for a better understanding of health, economic, financial and monetary issues in the face of enlightened people with common sense. It is clear that chance, intuition, critical thinking and a sense of responsibility have always been the salvation of humanity and prosperity. Who would have thought that chloroquine, a molecule discovered 70 years ago, swallowed by millions of Africans for the treatment of malaria, would be an effective medical protocol against Covid-19 infection?

Peoples of Africa and of the world, it is time to wake up once again to play our part and demonstrate our civic-mindedness to take charge of our destiny. Our economic and social development necessarily involves improving our governance both within our companies, our States, our homes, our localities, and our relationship with others. But also to pay our taxes to demand and access a quality public service, a medical platform capable of treating us in times of pandemic or in normal times. The insurance industry will have to fully play its role in this continental wager. This is not an unattainable dream. Rwanda knew how to reveal itself from a genocide to borrow the chenin of prosperity without significant natural resources compared to its neighbor of Congo.

The example of Rwanda

Apart from coffee, tea and chilli in a limited territory with rugged terrain, Rwanda has been able to capitalize on its human resources and value-added services in the field of technology, financial inclusion, artificial intelligence boosted by strong leadership from President Paul KAGAME. This African leadership should be observed at all levels, both within public and private sector companies and at State level. This challenges us in the choice of our rulers and our managers. Let's waste no more time and let's move forward together and in the right direction and base our hope on the invisible hand, not that of Adams Smith but that of the Almighty and his immeasurable knowledge accessible to all humanity. Many thanks to Professor Didier RAOULT, a native of Africa, precisely from Dakar, for his expertise, his courage and his advocacy in favor of the use of chloroquine from the first symptoms of Covid-19 infection. It is up to our doctors and our public authorities to take up the issue and take the appropriate decisions in the interest of the populations.

*Ousmane DIENG has 17 years of professional experience in consulting and auditing. Mr. DIENG founded INGENIOUS Partners Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in strategy, financial advice, entrepreneurship, organization, performance optimization, control and economy.