In recent times, we’ve seen banks declare profits of well over $3 billion across African countries. A country ravaged with poverty and highly underdeveloped yet we failed to ask ourselves how do they transform to such money making machine. Most multinational companies producing and distributing goods and services to the billions of people in that region could not boast of such a high turnover of profits. Yet most governments of the countries in Africa are fantastically unanimous in their selfish attempt at forcing a cashless system on the populace.
How do you enforce the cashless idea on a continent where 60% of the population is unbanked? a continent where about 30% of the populace does not have access to phones or mobile network coverage in their various localities? People who most are unlettered and poor ? The cashless system in such entities is nothing but a rip-off for the majority.
With such glaring indices and various other multifaceted challenges facing an ordinary African man, a clique of selfish and overbloated bourgeoisie are on the verge of fostering a cheating form of policy that ends up favouring less than 10% as against the rest, who will end up bearing the brunt of such absurdity.
The cashless policy, no doubt, is a tremendous banking revolution that has really aided developed countries. Note the word “developed ” as against a developing continent like Africa. A country faced with a lot of economic challenge amongst various other ones. People are grappling to survive on an horrendous minimum wage that is less than $100, yet a select few are working on the drawing board to technologically and officially steal from that less than $100 take home through an official thieving policy called the “Cashless Policy.”
You wonder why in recent time banks across African countries are declaring unheard of profits after taxations running into billions of dollars? Such gross profits for handling transactions of less than 40% of a total populations. A profit far far greater than multinational companies providing products and services to over 80% of the chunk of that same population.
A typical scenario of how some few bank shylocks and government criminality make their billions at the expense of millions of us.
If I have a $20 note and go to Charlie’s store and pay for the stuff I buy, Charlie used the money for groceries, and Michael also used the $20 to buy clothes. The clothes seller now uses the same $20 for dinner at a restaurant. After the unlimited number of payments with that unfortunate $20, it will still be a $20, which has fulfilled its purpose for everyone who has used it for payment. It remains same $20 on value because it was used hand to hand not digitalized. Unlike the cashless thing, which has to go through virtual banking from myself to the chain of transactions, thereby making the $20 lose its value with every transaction made by myself to Charlie, Michael, and the rest. For every transaction, it loses the value of that initial $20. At the end of 5 transactions, the bank would somehow have taken about $6 out of that $20 from each transaction through transaction charges, debit fees, etc.
The above digital deductions are not limited to our contributions to their home-grown profits declarations, as you are also made to pay a monthly card maintenance fee, stamp duty, SMS alert fees for every transaction, balance inquiry charges, etc. Imagine the bulk of such accumulated charges going into the covers of a CEO locked up somewhere in a fully air-conditioned office, sipping champagne, beaming with satisfactory greed while the automated, programmed modem helps him do the deed of ripping us all off on the disguised fraud called cashless policy.
With the digital accumulation of such charges over a period of 12 months from over 50 million customers, they are certain of their selfish innuendo at the expense of their striving customers.
Forcing such digital robbery on a poor and striving environment like Africa by a few fellow Africans for whatever reason is morally, religiously, and ethically wicked. Especially when there are other areas to better the lives of people rather than digitally enslaving them this way.
Disclaimer:The opinions expressed in this article is solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of Media Africa or its affiliates.
An acute writer of various genre of literary values. A lover of nature and adventure. Loves reading, table tennis and explorer of new ideas/ventures.
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