Education and regulations are why it is the government’s fault that I am now forced to listen to conservatives blame women and youth for the ills of debt. Much of this debt now comes from gambling, for young men. For women, it comes in the form of small loans in various forms —microfinance, borrowing/lending clubs and suchlike.
The economist Mohamed Yunus won accolades for his work in microfinance, extending credit to people who were outside the reach — or interest — of the formal banking institutions.
The great unbanked are unsurprisingly mostly women and youth, as usual at the bottom of the economic totem pole and shut out of ownership even though we depend on their labour most. As in Asia, in Africa they make up the true workforce and economic backbone of the country. We exploit them merrily for it.
Read: EYAKUZE: Gambling, the new crisis of innocence and ignorance
When Yunus’ Grameen model was rolled out as a tool to recruit the Great Unbanked across the world, I was sceptical. This came when I was just joining the workforce. Luck of the draw meant that I am hostile to gambling by nature and experience so, yes, I bring some bias to this situation. I think we need some negative bias, though, in this case.
Yunus’ model is morally questionable because of the high interest rates that apparently made Grameen attractive to “investors.”
In Dar, it was easy to recognise a number of issues from pyramid schemes to poorly managed clubs to financial illiteracy in the general population. And our financial illiteracy in Tanzania is the fault of the government.
The government requires that every child go to school from the age of seven years, and they provide for this through our public education system. You don’t need me to tell you how badly we invest in said education system, putting our most tender young ones at risk of a lifetime of “failure.”
We would rather buy Boeing products with cash for the glory of the country than make sure that our basic education produces solidly literate and numerate citizens.
Knowing that we have this gap in our education and access to information, our government still went ahead and made gambling legal and much more accessible than primary school. Microfinance is very good when done right and regulated well, and gambling need not be a troublesome thing. But my government is not one to exert itself about such matters, so here we are. Poorly educated, poorly regulated.
Read: ULIMWENGU: Betting is becoming a mental disorder here, someone stop it!
People are learning the perils of the ways of Fortuna the fickle mistress.
Gambling isn’t a pandemic; it isn’t even a massive social crisis yet. But it is revealing about the workings of our leadership class.
We put betting companies on football jerseys and drive big cars bought from taxpayers’ money. It is a lucrative business if you close your eyes to the fact that outside of genuine investment, charity raffle tickets and safe entertainment, gambling is genuinely dangerous. It can ruin lives.
Let me then put the blame where it is due. If I get to endure conservatives lecturing me on the moral ineptitude of women and youth in the face of evil gambling, I am happy to pass the buck to the government. It can do better.
Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report; Email [email protected]