The continent-Africa and its inhabitants have gone through various phases of exploitation, abuse, theft, injustice, destruction and even genocide as nations of other continents plundered and continue to plunder the continent to sustain their survival and development. Though it is widely acknowledged that, Africa is a rich continent (both in terms of human capital and natural resources), for years, the continent has become a synonym of anything and everything to do with poverty, misery and suffering. The troubles of the continent were and still been exacerbated by the incompetent, corrupt and greedy nature of African leaders across the continent.
Through colonization, the culture and identity of Africans were actively and systematically eroded. In the era which followed the wave of independent across the continent, some selected few, but courageous true patriotic African leaders (e.g. Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Kwame Nkrumah, etc.) tried to rescue the continent image. They attempted to restore Africa’s dignity (i.e. a truly independent Africa; prosperous self-reliant Africa) but history attest to how brutal the lives and effort of these visionary men were curtailed (sabotaged). Through overt and covert actions, they were replaced with incompetent psychopath idiots (e.g. Idi Amin, etc.) who then supervised and accelerated the destruction of the continent. Through the years which followed these dark ages, the people of Africa suffered various adversities and have been enduring a perpetual economic struggle moving from bad to worse in most parts of the continent. Dictatorship continued to plague the continent with incompetent-corrupt-greedy leaders who topple each other through a vicious cycle of coup d’états (often initiated/orchestrated and supported by?).
In recent years, however, there seems to be a dim expression of hope for the continent as all development experts cite Africa as the new deal for investment and growth opportunities. The continuous combined GDP growth of the continent mixed with skirmishes of good governance and stability (here and there) is attracting foreign direct investment (especially from china), presenting a new hope to the continent’s development. However, even with all the hype and the drum beating being paddled around, nobody is under any illusion concerning the Herculean tasks ahead (i.e. reforms, restructuring and streamlining various Africa’s countries’ economies) in dragging the entire continent from poverty painted hopeless-third world into a prosperous era of job driven opportunities and development for all the inhabitants of the continent.
As new players (i.e. China) with non-colonial strategy (win-win non-interference strategy) enter the game (i.e. scramble for Africa’s resources), it presents both opportunities and dangers for the continent stability and development. As china strategies to diversify its economy by transitioning from purely production (of cheap goods) and export base economy to accommodate its increasing affluent number of population consumer needs, China’s partnership with Africa (i.e. investment, mostly in infrastructure in exchange for resources) could be considered as paramount importance for the success of China’s diversification program (vast market for China’s export) as well as securing (on a long-term basis) important resources for its economic growth. China has become Africa’s largest trade partner, and Africa is now one of China’s major import sources and fourth largest investment destination. China and the African continent each made up a third of the world’s population, bringing the possibility of new markets and production possibilities. At a recent summit between China and Africa in Johannesburg, China announced a $60bn (£40bn) of assistance and loans to Africa to help with the development of the continent.
Though other players on the continent (interested in Africa’s resources) worry about China’s deepening partnership and increasing role in Africa’s development, majority of Africa’s leaders view ongoing cooperation and partnership as positive for Africa’s development.
The challenge for Africa and its leaders is how to transform the current opportunities and competitive advantage in terms of resource abundance into real job-driven growth, development and prosperity for the people across the continent. At this critical moment of Africa’s development history, what the continent need is strong-patriotic-visionary leaders to usher the continent into an era of industrialisation and modernisation entrenched in sustainable development agenda for a prosperous Africa. The children of Africa have been waiting and yearning to embrace this golden era. The late Nelson Mandela of South Africa once said: ‘We stand at the dawn of an African century, a century where Africa will take its rightful place among the nations of the world’.
Author: Dr. Amos Mensah
Agricultural and Resource Economist, Consultant-GFA-Group, Researcher-Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
