African Poverty: Today African Leadership is Africa’s Worst Enemy

There is a lot of talk right now about taking action to eradicate extreme poverty from Africa. This weekend a series of Live 8 concerts were held across the world to pressurise G8 leaders to do just that. Recently the G8 wiped out IMF and World Bank debts of 14 African countries...

The unfortunate thing about this is that attempts in the past to let Africa earn her way out of poverty have regrettably yielded disappointing results.

Africa, which has abundant human and natural resources, and more farmable land than anywhere else in the world, ought to be able to take care of herself without desperately depending on outside help. Yet she has received an estimated $1 trillion in foreign aid in the past 50 years.

So what is the problem that causes Africa to slide into deeper poverty when Asia and Latin America that used to be part of the Third World, have become richer since the past three decades?

Many people are quick to attribute Africa’s predicaments to colonialism and its ramifications. To some extent this is true. Colonial masters designed African economies to suit their needs and not those of the local people. For example main roads and railways were built to convey minerals and crops for export and not to develop the internal economies.

In addition, Africa was segmented into units with in some cases friends and allies separated and enemies placed in the same countries. This is the situation that now gives rise to most postcolonial tribal, civil and nation wars that do not only destroy existing economies but also discourage potential investors.

But then, colonial experience should not still be an obstacle to African development. Colonialism ended some three decades ago. More to that, not only African countries were colonised. In countries like India, New Zealand and Australia that were equally colonised and exploited, successive leaders have been able to fashion out of the colonial legacy, political and socio-economic structures that have ensured economic prosperity.

Today people point to trade imbalances as a reason why African countries especially those south of the Sahara are unable to get above the poverty level. This claim is supported by the fact that within the last 20 years, sub-Saharan African share of global trade has declined from 6 to 2 per cent.

This is however just part of the problem. Today, the main constraint to African recovery is the role of post-independent and contemporary African leadership. This crop of leaders do not seem to care about the situation of the continent were 30,000 children die everyday and while a further 100,000 do not go to school. For how can one justify the fact that even though African countries have been losing potential revenue because of unfair international trading systems and external debt service payments, greedy and visionless leaders still conspire with their cronies to steal and squander vast amounts of their countries wealth on misguided projects.

How can Africa develop when her elite does not only steal the country’s wealth but are unwilling to invest in their own countries. In corrupt societies in Asia, such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan the citizens still prosper because the corrupt elite keep their money at home. They invest in new mobile phone network, build private hospitals and tourist hotels.

On the contrary, in Africa corrupt leaders steal money from the system and make matters worst by extracting the money from their countries. Mobutu is reputed to have amassed a fortune equal to Zaire’s national debt. The rate of capital flight in Africa is more than in any other continent. It is estimated that $20 billion is taken out of Africa annually by corrupt regimes. According to President Olusegun Obasanjo, corrupt African leaders have stolen at least $140 billion from their country’s wealth since independence. And it is believed that 40 per cent of wealth created in Africa is invested overseas.

Even money used within the country is often spent on ceremonies, activities or goods and services that hardly benefit the economy or those in dire need of government assistance. Lavish palaces like Cameroon’s Unity Palace, fleet of cars and jet planes have become status symbols for African regimes.

Former Emperor Bokassa of Central African Republic for example, squandered over $20 million of his country’s wealth on worthless and unpopular coronation. King Mswati III has spent £8 million on palaces for his 13 wives, £500,000 on eight Mercedes cars with gold-plated numbers, and £330,000 on his 36th birthday while 700,000 of his people live in poverty.

Recently the Cameroon government spent over FCFA30 billion of the country’s money on a new presidential plane even though Cameroon Postal Service customers are currently being owed over FCFA 54 billion of their savings, and several teachers recruited by government have had no salary for a year.

African leaders are not only motivated by greed for wealth, but also by power to crush their opponents. This explains why in many sub-Saharan African countries’ annual military expenditure increase by about 14 per cent when its economic growth increase only by about 1 per cent. More than $15 is spent annually by the region on arms that bring nothing in return but destruction of the economy and refugee crises.

Another reason why African economies have failed to take off is that African leaders have failed to create institutions and systems that would enable their citizens to develop. In some instances they even destroy or abandon existing ones especially if such structures do not happen to be in the region of preference.

In Cameroon for example, successive regimes have misappropriated Southern Cameroons’ financial and economic structures that formed the lifeline of the region.

Cameroon Bank Ltd for example, which was established by Southern Cameroons, in 1972 came under the Ministry of Finance and subsequently collapsed as a result of bad management and large sums granted out without security. By the time of its closure it was being owed FCFA 30 billion.

Produce Marketing Board Reserves accumulated in Southern Cameroons from the sales of farmers produce and kept for price stabilisation by Produce Marketing Board, was confiscated and transferred to Yaounde and misappropriated while Southern Cameroons farmers for whom the money was being saved were left destitute

Victoria and Tiko, are good examples of towns affected by this policy of exclusion. Victoria deep-sea port and Tiko wharf operated efficiently and were used to export CDC produce abroad. But after unification both were closed down. Even look at what has happened to Nkongsamba that used to be the third cosmopolitan town in Cameroon after Yaounde and Douala. Today the town that used to bustle with agricultural entrepreneurs, is nothing but a shadow of her old self.

Any long-term solution to African poverty depends more on a change of attitude and the creation of the right environment by African leaders, than on debt cancellation, aid and fair trade. These external factors will no doubt generate essential revenues for African nations. But there is no guarantee at the moment that if things do not change corrupt regimes will not end up recycling some of the funds back into their private accounts overseas instead of investing all of it on education, health care systems or communication infrastructure and transport network.

What Africa needs is committed leadership. The New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) created by African leaders to take care of African failings can only succeed if these leaders actually decide to put in place acceptable practices of good governance, accountability and transparency towards their own citizens and the world.

NEPAD is seeking $64 billion from the West in investments, but if they (African leaders) are committed to helping Africa, they leaders can start investing their own wealth- legitimate or not- at home, and also by reducing the amount spent on arms and military to fight wars or crush opponents.

African countries especially those south of the Sahara are not destined to remain poor. Botswana’s success story is there for all to see and copy. Today Botswana has succeeded in managing its diamond revenues to the extent that she now has reserves instead of debt like all others nations in the region.

Human Nature--in all its glory, in all its stupidity and in all its all. Read it and understand the history of the human race.

It's astonishing to me to realize that most of human history is unwritten and unsaved. What we see today is likely close to what history has always been since time began.

Shivers.

" ... there must be some return to colonialism and the reintroduction of adherence to freedom and law."

Bert; "colonialism" and "freedom" are diametrically opposed. I presume what you meant was a return to a relatively competent form of government.

"colonialism" and "freedom" are diametrically opposed.

There's a sliding scale here. You can have personal freedom, especially economic freedom under colonial rule. You would not have freedom to change rulers. That's a step up from life in Zimbabwe right now, where all freedoms are being suppressed for much of the population.

Colonialism might not be a nice thing, but there are worse things. And Africa seems to have a taste for the worst.

The choice seems to be to either let them be, to live in the stone age, or to commit continental suicide, or to educate them to Western ways through colonialism.

We'll be considered the great satan, no matter what choice we take.

I believe our past policy was that we didn't care which choice the Africans took, as long as it wasn't to become another well armed outpost of our 1st world enemy, Russia at one point, and China now.

Without a religious basis (which should drive individual effort, not gov't effort), what possible motive does the USA government have to do anything in Africa, except protect our interests in not having the Chinese or Russians or Iranians build nuclear missle launch points or other military bases there?

....I presume what you meant was a return to a relatively competent form of government.....

More specifically I meant the end of Tribalism. The tribe is the source of highest allegiance and strong men control the tribes. The tribes are genetic pools and the inter -tribal friction is natural Darwinian selective action. There can be no nation, not even artificial nations with synthetic colonial established borders, until the tribal tendency is abolished. The foremost example is the slaughter in Rwanda. The same forces are at work over most of the sub-Sahara in varying degrees. The genetic predisposition for action in small tribal populations is not working well in modern large populated societies.

The imposition of order and legal spacers between the tribes is the best way short of extermination of some in favor of others. The imposed colonial democracy over say 100 years or two or three generations is necessary.

Strangely believe it the Movie "Coming To America" taught this theme. The great hope is the introduction of some new genes into the mix to bring salvation. Eddie Murphy realized what was needed and came to America for his bride.

Giving aid to the utterly corrupt African governments is exactly what fuels their cruel and repressive habits toward their population.

Sometimes, the kindest thing is not to help. Throwing money at them to make liberals feel good about themselves is actually a vicious form of racism. More than that, the idea that people of African descent are somehow inherently incapable of improving their own lives is more liberal racism.

We must stop funding these kinds of governments altogether. Far better that we should rely on missionaries to adequately supervise charity than that we should grant money to our government to give to corrupt African leaders to spend on useless luxury and tribal warfare.

I think the article should have focused more on the misery and destruction caused by the growing Islamic presence in Africa.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.