Comesa Has Teeth But Begs Dollars For Bread: Courage Or Another Communiqué?

Theme: “One Market, One Future: Advancing Inclusive Industrialisation, Investment and Regional Integration in COMESA".

There is no One Market when 21 nations must look for dollars to pay each other for bread. You cannot preach Pan-Africanism and settle it in foreign currency. The banner says One Market, One Future. The correction we must add is One Market, One Payment, One Future.

A market without monetary sovereignty is not a market. It is a trading ground where Africa consumes what others produce.

COMESA IS NOT JUST ANOTHER BLOC

COMESA is Africa's largest REC. 21 states from Tunisia to Eswatini, 12.8 million square kilometres, 640 million people, about $1 trillion GDP. When it speaks as one, the world must listen. When it whispers as 21, it is ignored. Most RECs have a secretariat and a photocopier. COMESA has teeth.

It has TDB Bank that funds trade when global banks say Africa is risky. It has a Court of Justice that actually bites - Polytol Textiles v Mauritius proved it. It has ATI insurance, a Competition Commission, and a Yellow Card - one insurance that lets a truck move from Cairo to Eswatini.

It has tools that work for people: Yellow Card stops bribes at Chirundu. Simplified Trade Regime lets a trader carry beans without a 20-page declaration. It is the driver of the Tripartite Free Trade Area - 29 countries. Without COMESA, there is no AfCFTA.

And yet COMESA still begs dollars to pay for bread. That wound must not enter the Strategic Plan 2026-2030.

More than 400 exhibitors met at the Business Forum Oct 19-21. The Monetary Institute met on exchange rates. A new Chairmanship of Council began. Partnerships were urged.

Partnership without ownership is just employment. If we launch another five-year plan with four beautiful words - Digital, Infrastructure, Industrialisation, Integration - and carry five old gaps, then 2030 will be 1994 with Wi-Fi.

FIVE GAPS AFTER 31 YEARS

1. A Market Without Its Own Money. Digital Without Sovereignty.

Intra-COMESA trade is stuck at $12-14 billion, barely 10% of total trade. Imports from outside exceed $200 billion. An Ethiopian must find dollars to pay a Zambian.

We liberalised trade before we liberated money. PAPSS settles birr to kwacha in 10 seconds for $1 instead of $40 and 48 hours via SWIFT. That is sovereignty. Yet only 11 COMESA central banks have joined.

The 2026-2030 Plan promises digital transformation. Whose digital? 640 million people - where does their data sleep? Whose server? If we digitize on external clouds and external payment switches, we have not transformed. We have digitized dependency.

Solution: Mandate all central banks join PAPSS by December 2027. Target 30% of intra-COMESA trade settled in local currencies by 2028 via PAPSS and AfCRA. Anchor PAPSS clearing in COMESA and prioritise COMESA hosting of trade data. Make payment to Lusaka faster and cheaper than to Paris. Otherwise digital is faster begging.

2. Infrastructure To The Port, Not To Each Other.

Every regional plan builds road to Beira, Djibouti, Mombasa. So raw lithium leaves faster.

How many links connect Ethiopian wheat to Zambian mill? Malawi groundnut to Zambian crusher? DRC copper to Zambian cable factory?

If road connects us to outside, it is extraction. If it connects us to each other, it is integration.

Solution: Publish an Inward Map - 10 priority rail and road links that connect COMESA to COMESA. Finance them via blended finance: TDB, AfDB and private capital. Connect farmer to factory first.

3. Industrialisation Confused With Assembly.

Import fabric, sew, call it Made in COMESA. Import wheat, bake, call it food security. That is warehousing.

The Business Forum is not success because 400 exhibited. Success is if 40 deals keep value inside.

Will 2026-2030 export copper wire or copper ore? Cooking oil or sunflower seed? Leather shoes or raw hides?

Solution: No ban, but incentive. Introduce 15% export levy on raw lithium, chrome and soya unless at least 30% processing is done inside COMESA by 2030. Enforce existing 35% Rules of Origin with a digital cumulation certificate and publish compliance. Make Made in COMESA mean made in COMESA.

4. A Market For Conglomerates, Not For People.

Ask a trader at Chirundu what COMESA means. Queues, visas, bribes.

Mai Ncube is 34. She carries 50kg beans worth $80 from Chirundu to Lusaka. STR limit is $2,000 but paper-based. She pays $20 bribe and loses a day. Tomatoes rot while goods with lawyers fly through.

We integrate capital fast - Yellow Card. We integrate people slow - 21 visas.

If a driver moves Cairo to Eswatini on one Yellow Card, why can't a teacher move on a single document?

One Market is not containers moving. It is people moving.

Solution: Raise STR from US$2,000 to US$5,000 and make it digital on phone. Create a COMESA Small Trader Passport enforceable at Chirundu, Beitbridge, Kasumbalesa. Until Mai Ncube moves, there is no market. There is a mall for big shops.

5. Treaties Without Consequences.

Free Trade Area exists for 16 states. Customs Union on paper since 2009. Why stalled? No reward for compliance.

Solution: Link reward to compliance. States that respect COMESA Court rulings and keep borders open per treaty gain preferential access to TDB low-rate window and regional infrastructure funds. Create a Trade for Peace Facility that prioritises border infrastructure in stable corridors. Reward what we want repeated.

The problem is not capacity. It is courage and compliance.

WHAT HARARE SUMMIT MUST LAUNCH

Not a glossy PDF. Five deliverables with teeth:

1. Digital Sovereignty: PAPSS mandatory, anchored clearing, 30% local settlement by 2028.

2. Inward Map: 10 links connecting COMESA to COMESA, financed by blended finance.

3. No Raw Export Without Value: 15% levy unless 30% processed inside, enforce 35% origin rule.

4. People's Passport: US$5,000 digital STR, small trader passport.

5. Court With Teeth, Bank With Reward: Preferential TDB rates for compliant states.

If Harare launches this, then:

- Borderless Trade: 640 million trade as one.

- Lower Prices: No tariffs, no bribes.

- Industrial Jobs: Jobs stay in Africa.

- Free Movement: One Carrier's License, One-Stop Borders.

- Global Power: 21 voices as one at WTO, COP, G20.

COMESA is not just another bloc. It is the test whether Africa can own its market.

If Harare 2026 delivers PAPSS, food value chains and a passport for the small trader, One Market, One Payment, One Future stops being a banner and starts being a birthright.

Courage or another communique. Harare can choose.

Acronyms

COMESA- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

REC- Regional Economic Community

STR - Simplified Trade Regime

TDB - Trade and Development Bank

PAPSS - Pan-African Payment and Settlement System

TFTA - Tripartite Free Trade Area

AfCFTA - African Continental Free Trade Area

AfCRA - Africa Credit Rating Agency

AfDB - African Development Bank

F.Madondo (African Teacher) [email protected]