The United States’ deportation of criminals to Eswatini is likely to contribute to improved national governance and enhance investor confidence.
Southern African Research Foundation for Economic Development (SARFED) micro economist and research consultant Dr. George H. Choongwa said government should use this as a basis for strengthening investor confidence because there was a positive relationship between investor confidence and sustainable economic growth. He said though investor confidence was broad, it could also be established by revising policies that promoted the formation of economic crimes. Dr Choongwa said it was for this reason that most African countries continued to attract unprofitable and unsustainable investors due to weak assurance against crime and other socioeconomic vices.
He said taking the decision of accommodating the so-called barbaric criminals might merely be perceived as unreasonable, but the opposite could have positive long-term returns on the recipient countries. Dr Choongwa said it was a matter of having an effective and operational strategic precaution and working in favour of sustainable domestic policy reforms.
“Eswatini’s action to embrace America’s proposal is what can be termed as ‘strategic economic cooperation’, of which many other countries can be swift enough to learn from the kingdom’s move in cooperating with the USA’s policy reform for sustainable governance,” he said. Adding, Dr Choongwa said research proved that crime and economic growth and sustainability could not co-exist. He said research equally stated that both crime and economic growth were products of good governance practices. He said with the existence of diplomatic relations and embassies, a country could negotiate to transfer certain activities, including prison and military activities, to its other counterparts in other countries.
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He stated that Eswatini’s acceptance of hosting the prisoners posed no socioeconomic threats to its wellbeing. “The decision taken by government has a lot that other countries can learn from. This includes demonstrating good leadership, policy reform, human capital development, and strengthening strategic diplomatic cooperation,” he said. He added that from a socioeconomic perspective, the action taken by Eswatini and other countries in being receptive to America’s call for policy reform contributed to Eswatini’s support for universal human rights call to action through sustainable leadership and governance practices.
Choongwa, however, advised government to be more transparent as a means to instil public and investor confidence in the country. He said this could be done on the basis of dissolving possible built propaganda against it. “Information about anything can either be used for or against its government in these days of social media, where information and misinformation tend to be travelling faster than normal. They need to strengthen public dialogues where stakeholders would equally participate as a basis for information sharing and inclusive governance,” he said.
Eswatini Observer Press Reader
