The late Great Kwame Nkrumah said "political independence if
Not link with economic independence is sham".
We know that from the colonial days to now we have never been
economically independent. Are we politically independent?
Beran
A new report by the World Bank says many African countries are worse off now
than they were at independence in the 1960s.
The bank says the total combined income of 48 countries in Africa is little more
than that of Belgium.
The World Bank report, called Can Africa Claim The Twenty-first Century?, says
major structural changes are needed if Africa is to catch up with the rest of
the world.
Africa's problems
Roads: only 16% paved
Telephones: 10 per 1000
Electricity: 80% lack access
Aids: 35m infected
Sanitation: inadequate for 75% of rural population
Source: Can Africa Claim the 21st Century
Even just to maintain current levels of poverty, African economies will have to
grow by 5% because of rapidly growing populations.
But, the report says Africa has "enormous untapped potential and hidden growth
reserves", if it can mobilise its human resources and improve its political
systems.
Years of neglect
In the last 40 years, average incomes per person in Africa have stagnated while
they have grown in most of the rest of the world.
Africa now accounts for only 1% of the total world economic output and 2% of
world trade.
On average, African countries have economies smaller than a town of 60,000
people in a rich country.
And infrastructure is far less developed as well.
With only 10m telephone lines, half of them in South Africa, there is little
chance of most Africans gaining access to the internet.
Africa has fewer roads than Poland, only 16% of which are paved, and only one in
five households has access to electricity.
Two-thirds of rural Africans lack adequate water supplies, while three quarters
lack adequate sanitation.
Investment in human capital
The World Bank also points out that Africa is under-utilising its human capital,
particularly its women.
The average schooling for African women has increased by only 1.2 years in the
last 40 years, the lowest gain anywhere in the world.
Instead, women typically work longer hours than men, collecting water and
firewood, and lack access to credit, land, or educational resources.
Africa's human resources are also being decimated by disease, with Aids
infection rates reaching 25% in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
And decades of civil war and conflict, which have affected at least 20 of
sub-Saharan Africa's 48 countries, have increased poverty and violence.
The political system, even where there are elections, is generally based on a
winner-take-all system that is not sufficiently inclusive of Africa's diverse
ethnic groups.
"Political changes .. would do much to empower people and communities and help
energise the development process," the report says
Debt burden
Africa is the world's most indebted and aid-dependent region, with 17% of GDP
flowing out in debt repayments, three times what the Bank believes is a
sustainable level.
But foreign donors are reluctant to give more control to corrupt and ineffective
governments, and are insisting on strict conditions in return for debt
forgiveness.
"Resolving the dilemma posed by aid dependence requires a radical rethinking of
the relationships among Africa's civil society, governments, and donors," the
World Bank says.
It has favoured giving more grants directly to non-governmental organisations
who have roots in their communities, effectively by-passing those governments.
The report calls for four key steps to improve Africa's economic prospects:
* Better government and fewer wars
* More investment in people
* Diversification of the economy
* More aid from rich countries
The report comes at a sensitive time for the World Bank, which has been under
attack from rightwing critics in the United States who would like to cut its
funding radically.
They argue that the Bank has had little effect on poverty reduction, and in some
cases actually helped corrupt governments stay in power.
The new report was produced in conjunction with the UN Economic Commission for
Africa and the African Development Bank - ironically, one of the organisations
that some argue should replace the World Bank. Search BBC News
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See also:
10 May 00 | Business
Can we trust the market? </hi/english/business/newsid_741000/741024.stm>
12 May 00 | Africa
Aids initiative 'no magic cure'
</hi/english/world/africa/newsid_746000/746207.stm>
29 Jan 00 | Business
Is the web widening the poverty gap?
</hi/english/business/newsid_623000/623643.stm>
02 May 00 | Africa
IMF settles Uganda plane row </hi/english/world/africa/newsid_732000/732971.stm>
16 May 00 | Africa
Zimbabwe's loans suspended </hi/english/world/africa/newsid_751000/751072.stm>
13 Apr 00 | Business
The World Bank defends itself </hi/english/business/newsid_711000/711587.stm>
16 Mar 00 | Business
Plutocrat for the poor </hi/english/business/newsid_677000/677485.stm>
Internet links:
UN Economic Commission for Africa <http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/>
African Development Bank <http://www.afdb.org/home.html>
Global Coalition for Africa <http://www.gca-cma.org/emenu.htm>
World Bank <http://www.wordlbank.org>
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
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