Africa:
Narrowing the paradox of plenty
BY
WORKU BELACHEW
Africa despite the
cliché of resource abundance and second largest continent, its
development had been hampered due to the economic, political and
social interactions of Africans among other big powers of the world
in different periods. These dynamics put a stumbling block in the
progresses of the continent until today.
Some
may wrongly understand Africa’s underdevelopment associating it
either with only lack of skills to germinate and nurture development,
or absence of innovation. However, the people of the continent
achieved various developments in the pre-colonial periods. The prime
reason that caused Africa’s existing underdevelopment has roots in
the slave trade period particularly trans-Atlantic slave trade,
colonialism and neo-colonialism.
Pre-colonial
Africa was in a normal cycle of development until it received a
shock wave from large scale slave raids which took the fittest
Africans out of the continent.
Even
now we have so many people that sell their intellect in various areas
outside the continent—i.e., Africans who passed successfully
through the dictates of modern education. But, the legacies of
colonialism and slavery that left their protracted scares on the
continent did not allow all to invest their knowledge in their
homeland and on their people. In fact, the point this writer would
like to make has no direct relations with brain drain.
All
ancient values and civilizations fall to the vast plantations off the
African continent. The weakened kingdoms could not overcome the
colonial powers who came changing tactic after tactic, and all with
the exception of Ethiopia has no choice than to subdue for the will
of the colonials.
Present Africans,
African Diaspora and ancient Africans all contributed for the
betterment of our world not only from the exploitation of their
labor, raw material and innovation, they were also forced to depart
their birthplace suffering mental and physical tortures. It is not
hyperbolic if one says Africans cost their lives to prosper other
continents. Still, the continent's mineral resources, labour and
fertile land is far from taking the people out of poverty, while the
resources quell the voracious appetite of others.
The
sad issue is that despite most understands root causes of problems
such as boarder conflicts, ethnic hatred and the likes as they
naturally crop in Africa, the reality remains quite different. True,
political mistrust is everywhere in most African countries, of course
with varying degrees. True, Ethnic hatred deepened in sub-Saharan
Africa. Secularism, democracy , equality and so on seems luxury for
the second largest land mass of our world. Yet, these are not the
exhaustive list of problems. But, all have one foot chained into the
period of slavery and the other in colonial, and both hands shackled
in neo-colonialism.
The
paradox in Africa is that, the labour and raw materials that shot the
industrial world high are
factors contributing Africans to run downhills. British economist
Richard M. Auty in 1993 described “how countries with rich
resources often develop more slowly, more corruptly, more violently
and with more authoritarian governments than others” and he
coined catch phrase, “resource curse”. This curse is now evident
in DRC, CAR, and more recently in neighboring South Sudan. The vast
fertile land of DRC with tropical rainfall and its minerals have not
got a chance to help Congolese people. South Sudan too, its oil did
not build schools and hospitals, its capital Juba is nothing but “a
glorified village”.
Many
would argue that most problems has origins outside the Continent, and
try to shift the blame on others. And to the view of this writer, the
shackles of colonialism and slavery have accounted and are
accounting a lot as has been argued above. Nonetheless, these bugs
themselves have ironic component of African origin. Of course there
is no reason to downplay the impacts of exogenous factors for the
crisis which have trapped us head-to-toe. Africans who lived in
harmony for centuries have seen engaging in a deadly conflicts. And
external factors are also implicated for that. But, these forces
could fuel the fire, than starting the fire itself, the writer
believes. We Africans created loopholes that have boomerang
effect on us. Let's discuses it with examples: Who pioneered Slave
trade in Africa? literature that tell as Africans started slavery,
over centuries ago before the Europeans set their feet on African
soil, stands tall. It is often said that Europeans did not begin
the Atlantic trade, and they simply tapped into a human trade that
already existed in Africa. Likewise, one may dare say that the root
cause of problems in the past and even now are stemmed in Africa.
Africans raided
Africans and sold them into slavery. And the disunity between the
various traditional kingdoms led the continent into a viscous circle
of crisis.
The
disunity among same people living in African soil has caused
countless of menaces here and there. Absence of democracy and good
governance and/or the presence of nominal democracy and good
governance are triggering armed conflicts. Lack of tolerance among
political forces and people even within government in office is
ushering nations to a brief war. We can mention the case of South
Sudan here. What
we have witnessed on the ground proves as the intolerance between the
parties strong men has brought the people of South Sudanese to suffer
a catastrophic consequence.
The war forward
Africans
and African governments need to work hard to pacify the continent and
to utilize the resources for development. Both the problem and the
solution are in their hands. Crisis branded in Africa and which may
be modified by external agents need to get lasting solution. The key
that unlock the problems are on the hands of the governments in
office in particular. It is up to them to give peace a chance and
discharge their historic responsibility. First and foremost the
people of Africa demand a government that draws a legitimate cult
from the hands of the people. Sitting back and blaming others for
fueling problem would not take us an inch forward. External actors
stretch their hands in times when the locals demonstrate their
disunity. And it is high time for Africans and African leaders to
look deep into the real causes and cure them.
Moreover,
the resources be it human, raw material, or land, should bake bread
for the people of the nation. Governments should denounce exchanging
the dire resources for arms!
Africa
is a continent which had been robbed its human capital and raw
material in a broad daylight. Still, the resource be it human, raw
material or fertile land are abundant to prosper the people. Thus
governments need to be bold to lift the continent our of social,
political and economic mayhem.
African
governments has a lot ahead to end “the
pathology of
technical backwardness” as termed and explained by Ali
A. Mazrui [Kenyan Professor]—“What
is true of Saudi Arabia as a country is substantially true of Africa
as a continent. In terms of resources, Africa is one of the best
endowed regions of the world, but it is still the least developed of
the inhabited continents.”
More
importantly, the governments in office should not accept and echo the
wrong branding of Africa. Africa should not be branded as a raw
material reserve of the world, and the largest commercial market.
Rather, Africa should be branded as breeding ground of innovation,
hence Africa need also to be branded as a continent that can hammer
on import substitution. Governments need to draw sound policies that
can protect their manufacturing industries from entering into the big
mousses of giant industries of the world. In addition it is in the
capacity of governments in office to transfer technology know-how in
a context that comforts African cultures.
As Africa is home
for diverse cultures, the technological take off need also to strike
a balance. What the Japanese did in this regard is a good lesson.
Their model of westernization had been selective. The whole purpose
of selective Japanese Westernization was to protect Japan's
indigenous culture than merely submitting to Western cultural
attractions. The Japanese slogan of 'Western technique, Japanese
spirit' at the time captured this ambition to borrow technology from
the West while Japanese culture continues flourishing.
In
the final analysis, African problems are sourcing in Africa and get
sort of modification from other external actors to harm Africans. To
the opposite, the solution is still in the hands of Africans. Given
the governments could live up to the exceptions of the people,
granting all kinds of rights and freedoms with a legitimate cult
sourcing from the people, the current crisis in most African nations
will leave the floor for development. This could lead to narrow the
continental paradox of rich continent, home to poor people.
Ed's.
Note: The writer may be contacted at workuasfaw.asfaw@gmail.com.
