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.