Special Feature Africa’s Development and the Challenges Ahead With Nana Kofi Sarpong The issue of Africa’s lack luster development, since independence, has been debated on at length at every intellectual platform. Yet, most countries in Africa remained “insomnia” still finding avenues and strategies to keep pace with sustainable development. We all know that, as Dr. MO Ibrahim puts it, “Africa is the second largest continent on earth and has immense resources, and yet African people are poor. The question is “why are we poor”, if we have all this wonderful land, sea, shores? We are poor because of misrule, because we are badly governed? This is a cogent point made by Dr. Mo Ibrahim who heads the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Dr. Ibrahim went on to proffer certain solutions to the “innumerable” problems besetting the second largest continent, describing the Continent’s “exogenous” economic mishaps as bad leadership. I can, however, add my sense of contribution to Dr. Mo’s cogent points, with the assumption that Africa’s leadership in the past and even now are all inward looking. What it means by inward looking is that most leaders and their helmsmen in Africa’s politics are self-centered. Most of them, in leadership, advance their self and family interests, using the nation’s funds in a mismanaged manner to the detriment of the people and the country. In recent years, however, some African leaders are shifting away from the past dictatorial tendencies that breed political maladministration and high-profile corruption. Some of these leaders are striving relentlessly to embrace the dictates of democracy, good governance, human rights and all the trappings that go with international recognition as being good leaders. Yet, these leadership traits to extol the virtues of international community are not enough to save Africa from pervasive poverty. There are more practical things to be done than meets the eye. Dr. Ibrahim also talks about illicit transfers of funds as another important issue. The illicit transfers of funds out of Africa by most of the inward looking African leaders, according to Dr. Ibrahim, “double the amount of aid that Africa receives every year”. Most of the leaders and their helmsmen are raking in millions of foreign currencies and diverting such monies into western banks, without investing in their countries to create jobs for the poor or boost development. This suggests that most of the poor countries in Africa have no business being poor and unable to support these countries in infrastructural development and institutional capacities’ to attract human development needs. But here we are: most of the infrastructural and institutional buildings in African countries are a tinge of donors and international communities’ support. And Dr. Mo Ibrahim said it all that “not any amount of aid is going to move Africa forward”. This also goes further to illustrate that corruption, political mismanagement, and leadership nuisances are still nauseating problems behind Africa’s economic degradation and pervasive poverty. In my own assessment of the order side of the problems of Africa’s prolonged excruciating lack of development and the lackluster performance, over the years, to attract trade in the international niche markets, is also based on other limiting factors of scientific knowledge and technological capabilities. China As the world moves toward global competitive markets, China is penetrating into the niche markets with her brand of technology and markets’ competitiveness. China was one of the poorest countries in the world in the past or seven decades. Today economic reforms, investments spurred on by technology, markets and branding, China stands tall as the second largest economic in the world. Currently, technology – driven acquisitions are still predominant among Chinese purchases, but brand value and market are becoming increasingly weighty considerations. Chinese enterprises in the engineering machinery industry for example, have undergone rapid development in recent years but most are at the lower end of the industrial chain and have no say in the pricing of core components and parts such as engines and hydraulic parts. For the Chinese, acquisition is an important way to obtain core technologies. According to a survey, in 2008, Goldwin Science & Technology acquired Vensys, a German – based wind turbine designer, whose development and design capacity has expanded Goldwind’s domestic and overseas markets. Goldwind has won multiple overseas orders of megawatt-level units by way of transfer of technology licensing. Against this backdrop, Dr. Mo Ibrahim made reference to laying down the basis for the free trade areas across Africa. He said there is the talk about regional integration for ages and its progress. But its progress is proving very slow, saying that many African countries will not be viable without regional integration. The question, however, is to what extent regional integration has worked magic among African countries? Thus he pointed out that we have almost 600 million mobile users in Africa which is much more than European users. We have much more users than the United States but are we really proud of that? How many mobile phones were manufactured in Africa? None! Dr. Mo Ibrahim said Siemens can never sell a single mobile phone in China without building a factory there or transferring know-how? No way! The gist of the matter is that Africa continues to be a springboard for promoting or marketing western and Asian made-goods or products. But, to what extent have most African countries benefitted from the transfer of technology or transferring know-how. The issue of lack of scientific knowledge and technological capabilities make the problems of African countries still becoming a bargaining chip and succumbing to trade at the niche markets’ competitiveness all the more complex. Lack of knowledge to transform our rich resources both natural and mineral into finished goods or products is another limiting factor. With Africa’s vast resources cannot in any way dictate the pace in international trade like the industrial nations as a result of lack of knowledge in technology, markets and brand to attract international competitiveness. At this stage, however, I wonder when Africa’s intellectualism, with reference to the continent’s good number of intellectuals, would imbibe the culture of scientific knowledge and technological capabilities to follow the steps of China’s economic breakthrough and other industrial nations. Investment Investment is another debilitating factor to advance African economics to propel growth, opening doors to job opportunities and wealth creation. The private sector in Africa is not yet up its sleeves to muster financial muscles to meet the mists of challenges of development. Looking at issues of job opportunities and wealth creation in the context of investment, only few African entrepreneurs have the plethora of capital investment in their respective countries to boost government’s aspirations for job opportunities and wealth creation for most of the youths. A large number of the youth populations in most African countries depend on Foreign Direct Investments, leaning their hopes on job opportunities and wealth creation. In recent years, however, China is recognized as one of the major sources of capital for investments in Europe, and policy makers in the EU are eager to attract these vital investors to spur on economic growth and fuel. All thus boils down to the fact that African leaders and policy makers have a herculean task: there are tight ropes around the neck of African leaders to step out of the economic challenges, using the natural and mineral resources judiciously to embrace sustainable development in the respective countries or else Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said it all: “that neo-colonialism would be another form of foreign domination in Africa in the years ahead”. There should be practical solutions to the problems of the poor in countries of Africa other than self centered ideals that put much pressure on the citizens as they wallow in pervasive poverty and neglect. This is food for thought!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:20:49 +0000
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