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Africa, the Poor but Rich Continent
A GNA feature by Esi Barko
Accra, June 14, Ghanadot/GNA – Africa, the second largest continent
and the most endowed in terms of natural resources, has
still not found itself as among the developed continents of
the world.
It is the least developed and plagued with lots of problems
such as conflicts, illiteracy and famine. This caused the
British Prime Minister Tony Blair to once describe the
Continent as “a scar on the mind of the world”.
Western countries see the Continent as a hopeless, hence
when it comes to the discussion of world issues especially
economics, the Continent is sidelined when most of the time
it is the Continent which usually bears the adverse effects
of any unsound economic policies that these Western
countries adopt.
The biggest problem facing the Continent now is bad
governance. Since countries on the Continent started gaining
their independence, almost all the Leaders, who had ruled
their various countries had come with dictatorial
tendencies. Indeed, up till now that characteristic has been
associated with almost all African Leaders.
When an African finds himself or herself at the helm of
affairs, he or she does everything possible to hold on to
power even to the extent of changing laid down rules to suit
their parochial interest. Even the most well respected
leaders are sometimes guilty of this offence.
The estranged Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakr is
facing a lot of problems currently because he dared to
questioned the authority of President Olusegun Obasanjo to
amend that Country's constitution to allow him to run for a
third term.
He has been accused of corruption and stripped of his
People's Democratic Party (PDP) membership and now belongs
to an opposition party. The Nigeria Independent Electoral
Commission (INEC) ruled that he could not contest the last
Presidential Election. He took INEC to the Supreme Court
which ruled in his favour.
The Former South African Vice President, Jacob Zuma is also
facing similar problems and now the support of his staunch
ally, the Trade Union of that country (COSATU), is gradually
waning.
The question now is how can the Continent develop when even
the respectable Leaders on the Continent are so interested
in backbiting?
When African Leaders refuse to leave office even after their
tenure of office, problems are the only things that are
created for their countries.
Africa needs to rise but can it do so with such crop of
Leaders at the helm of affairs?
In many African countries, conflicts have arisen due to
electoral irregularities and what is currently happening in
Nigeria attests to that.
The last elections for State Governors and representatives
for State Assemblies were characterized by vote rigging and
violence.
Media reports said about 40 people, including seven Police
Officers lost their lives during violence at the polls. The
Presidential Elections was just a mockery of democracy.
When it comes to conflicts and trouble spots of the world,
the Africa is the worst affected.
Almost every region of the Continent is plagued by violence.
In Somalia, there is still enmity between the Islamic Court
Union and the Ethiopian-installed government.
In Darfur, violence still rages on. The Janjaweed is still
committing atrocities against the Black Africans while the
government is also doing everything possible to stop aid
from reaching the displaced people.
Now the attackers have turned their attention to AU Troops
trying to stabilize the Region and stop the activities of
the Janjaweed. Seven members of the AU Peacekeepers,
including a Ghanaian Naval Officer, have been killed.
Already the AU Peacekeepers lack adequate funds and
logistics for their operations and if they should come under
attack from the very people they intend to protect, it does
nothing but to demoralize them.
Africa needs to rise up against anyone and anything, which
tries to impede its progress. Africans are no strangers to
wars and their effects. This must guide them so that they
would stand up against anyone whose sole aim is to cause
pain and bring shame unto his people and the Continent.
The progress of every country depends largely on its economy
and so if African countries are to move forward, then the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must do
much more than they are doing now to help the Continent.
Most of the conditionalities that these financial
institutions attach to the loans and grants that they give
to countries on the Continent do not help these countries
most of the time.
There has been an argument that the heads of these Bretton
Woods institutions are only there to serve the interest of
those countries, which sent them there. It is a rule that
the head of the IMF should always come from Europe while the
head of the World Bank should always be nominated by America
and approved by the Group of Eight Most Industrialised
Countries (G-8).
No wonder President George Bush showed support to the
beleaguered head of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz when he
has admitted that he wrongfully promoted his girlfriend who
is a worker of the Bank to a position, which attracted good
salary.
Agriculture forms an integral part of the economy of every
country, so Western governments heavily subsidize the
sector.
If farming in Africa can thrive then farmers on the
Continent must be adequately supported so that they can
compete effectively with their Western counterparts on the
international market.
But the question, which needs to be answered, is whether
governments on the Continent have enough funds to offer such
support to their farmers.
About two years ago some heavily indebted countries, many of
them from Africa, benefited from debt forgiveness by the G-8
countries and several multilateral organisations. Although
that was a laudable idea, it would have been better if that
gesture had been extended to all African countries since
they all owe.
Already African countries do not earn much and so using part
of that money to service external debt does nothing but
impede the economic growth of these countries.
Investment is very vital to the growth of the Continent and
so for it to attract such investments, peace must prevail
and all African countries must adopt sound economic
policies.
Over the years the Western Media have managed to distort
information, which comes from the Continent, projecting the
negative aspects to the outside world. This is the more
reason why it needs one big mouthpiece so that it can
articulate its stories to the outside world.
Western media such as CNN, DWTV, BBC and CFI have done more
harm than good in telling the stories of Africa. It is,
therefore, necessary for African governments to equip their
Media to tell the African story from the African
perspective.
If Africa would wake up from the doldrums and make the
necessary changes for its betterment it would earn the
respect of the West and its energetic youth, who are to stay
back at home to help in its development would not embark on
perilous journeys to the West.
GNA
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