Robert Emmanuel Owiny ( reflection 2020)
AFRICA is
the second largest Continent in the world after Asia. This is based on
geographical coverage and population size. It is home to an estimated one billion people
who occupy about 20% of the total land area. Located at the centre of the
earth, Africa is largely made up of tropical climate and comprises 54 countries.
The proportion of the population of Africa living in family units with
expenditure or income per individual below the poverty line has been on the
decrease since 1990 (World Bank 2007)
Poverty is a complex phenomenon that generally refers to
inadequacy of resources and deprivation of choices that would enable people to
enjoy decent living conditions (United Nations Human Development Report, 1998).
Meanwhile the World Bank, (2000), says,
“Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being.”
Generally, poverty refers to a deficiency or lack of basic human needs such as food, shelter, etc. in a society. Poverty indicators includes; lack of income and productivity, insufficient resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and malnutrition, ill-health, limited or lack of access to education and other basic services, homelessness or inadequate housing, unsafe environment. Social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by a lack of participation in decision and in civil, social and cultural life (Ashaver et al 2013). In its most extreme form, poverty is a lack of basic human needs to sustain as useful and working efficiency such as adequate and nutritious food, clothing, housing, clean water and health services (Korankye: 2014)
Underdevelopment on the other hand denotes an economic state characterised by exceptionally low living standard by majority population as a result of an equally low per capita income level due to low levels of productivity versus high population growth rates. The causes of underdevelopment are not limited to the core factors in the standard economic framework, but psychological, social, and cultural factors are fundamental factors (World Bank, 2015)
Despite the widely known nature’s endowments of Africa, a number of challenges have rendered the continent poor and rated as the most underdeveloped compared to rest of the World.
Generally, 45% of people living below $ 1 a day are in Sub Saharan Africa. The poverty situation data also depicts country variations with; Uganda, Mali, Nigeria, Zambia, Niger, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Rwanda having more than 50 percent of their population living below $ 1 a day in 2002. The sub-region also records more rural poverty than urban poverty with 37 percent of the population in the rural areas living below two-third of their national mean per capita income (World Bank 2007).
Poverty and
underdevelopment in Africa is caused by a number of issues such as; corruption
and poor governance, poor land utilisation and land tenure system, civil wars
and unending political conflicts, poor infrastructure, diseases and poor health
facilities, the World Bank and IMF policies, among others (Korankye: 2014).
To dig deeper, Africa’s key challenges that cause the interminable poverty and persistent underdevelopment compared with the rest of the world includes among others:
The effects of conflicts. Civil wars and terror incidences are destructive to wealth accumulation and development initiatives and yet Africa has suffered and still experiences a number of conflicts in different countries. This partly is responsible for making the continent remain poor and underdeveloped. Most countries in Africa are notorious for civil wars, either between neighbouring countries or within the same country. Such incidences render war zones unproductive, in addition to scaring away investment that would otherwise help foster economic development and create employment, which would help people get out of poverty (Korankye: 2014).
In oil rich Nigeria; Boko Haram insurgency has not only caused over 100,000 deaths, but affected the social economic progress of that West African Country. Other countries with critical insurgencies include; Somalia and South Sudan. Wars disrupt businesses, cause sporadic migration, leads to abandonment of professions and jobs, discourages foreign investment, causes food scarcity and dehumanizes people. These attracts poverty to Africa compared to other parts of the World.
Corruption is yet
another chronic disease that affects Africa’s steady development and pushes huge
population of Africans to the wall of poverty. Few individuals especially
within government and politics divert to personal accounts heavy chunks of
public funds meant for addressing development needs such as; improving
livelihoods, enhancing infrastructure, improving health or strengthening
education. This is responsible for the unequal distribution of resources and
poor infrastructures in the continent.
“Dishonest and heartless African leaders are responsible for auctioning and or mortgaging the economic base of their countries for their personal gains. Some of these leaders divert money borrowed from International Financial Institutions and developed countries for developmental projects into their private pockets”, (Tazoacha: 2011).
Land mismanagement. Africa has
large and productive land that could steer economic development; provide enough
food for both consumption and exports, effectively support infrastructural
advancements such as better road network, better institutions and support
industrialisation. However, the land is poorly managed and as such, few people
gain from it while majority lose out. Most African nations have very poor land
registration systems, making squatting and land theft common occurrences. This
makes it difficult to get a mortgage or similar loan, as ownership of the
property often cannot be established to the satisfaction of financiers.
“In most
African countries, people own vast land that are underutilised or sometimes not
even used at all. This is partly because they are either not educated on what
to do with the land, or because some people are just stuck in their rudimentary
ways of doing things. Some people just use the land to grow crops which are
just enough for subsistence survival. Nothing goes to the market for sale. This
is a contributor to poverty in Africa,” (Korankye: 2014, page 152)
Challenges of diseases. The health infrastructure system in Africa is weak and this guarantees poor health condition of most people, thus affecting economic performance because unhealthy human capital cannot work effectively. Equally more investments are diverted to treat diseases rather than deploy it to bolster economic growth and development. Impediments caused by Malaria, HIV/AIDS, cancer among other diseases puts the continent at the losing end compared to the rest of the world. According to the UN, the vast majority of people living with HIV are located in low- and middle- income countries, with an estimated 25.5 million living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among this group 19.4 million are living in East and Southern Africa which saw 44% of new HIV infections globally in 2016, (UNAIDS 2017)
Foreign aid. Most, if not all African countries are tied off by donor/developed countries through foreign aid. On the surface, aid appears like a positive initiative for Africa and yet it is in fact a draining tube for Africa’s potential. According to a report by Health Poverty Action, “While $134 billion flows into the continent each year, predominantly in the form of loans, foreign investment and aid; $192 billion is taken out, mainly in profits made by foreign companies, tax dodging and the costs of adapting to climate change. The result is that Africa suffers a net loss of $58 billion a year. As such, the idea that we are aiding Africa is flawed; it is Africa that is aiding the rest of the world.” Furthermore, aid funds are largely misappropriated by corrupt government officials in Africa, e.g. the GAVI fund scandal in Uganda. Such ‘technical irregularities’ weakens the economic potential of Africa, thus rendering the continent poor and underdeveloped.
Foreign aid dependency inhibits economic development or mobilisation of domestic resources it undercuts countries’ ability to chart their own development strategies, which is what is needed if development is to really take root. It does this by reducing developing countries policy autonomy, undermining recipient governments’ accountability to their own citizens, and making it harder for them to plan development programmes due to its unpredictability (ActionAid 2011)
Geopolitics. Despite the glaring structural challenges Africa has also been stepped on by European powers for several centuries. For instance, slave trade disorganised the human resources in Africa let alone creating a depopulation of the continent and inflicting injuries and pain on the black people. At the same time there is continuous exploitation of Africa’s resources which end up being repatriated to developed countries at the expense of African countries and people. In the nineteenth century, the slave trade was replaced by direct colonial rule and a century of exploitation by European imperial powers, who left very little behind in education, healthcare, and physical infrastructure. Adding to the burden, during the Cold War politics of the late twentieth century, many African countries found themselves to be battlegrounds in a global ideological struggle. (McCord et al, 2005)
Illiteracy barriers. Education
or level of literacy plays a fundamental role in propelling development and yet
most African countries significantly fall short of this. Illiteracy has remained an ulcer on the foot for
development in Africa. It is one of the impediments that have not enabled
Africa to achieve sustainable development. It is one of the forces turning the
wheel of sustainable development in Africa anticlockwise. From the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCS) 1997 selected human development indicators, we
will notice that some African countries still fall below 40% of adult literacy.
These are Niger 14%, Somalia 24%, Mali 31% Sierra Leone 31%, Senegal 33%,
Guinea 36%, Ethiopia 36%, Benin 37%, Liberia 38% (Tazoacha,2001)
“If a panacea is not sought for, Africa will remain vulnerable to underdevelopment, ignorance and insecurity”, Tazoacha points out. Thus the continent is underdeveloped and lags behind compared to other parts of the world due to the apparent low literacy level.
Infrastructure challenges. The challenge for Africa is to achieve regional integration of its infrastructure towards turning the continent’s geography of 54 separate countries into an economic and social advantage, (World Bank, 2014). Unlike other continents such as America, and Europe which heavily work through stable blocs with excellent infrastructure, Africa is highly fragmented, with a large number of landlocked countries and generally poor transport and communication infrastructure. This is to the continent’s disadvantage in terms of trade efficiency, communication etc.
Environmental abuse. Destructive activities in Africa are also responsible for slowing down development effort in the continent. Deforestation caused by illegal logging, the felling of trees for firewood and charcoal for cooking, and “slash and burn” farming practices has reduced biodiversity in Africa, and weakened the ability to adapt to climate change. Yet this situation reflects the reality of energy insecurity in Africa in terms of increasing demand due to population growth and dwindling supply of traditional fossil fuels. Heavy reliance on non-renewable fuel sources for domestic energy supply in most of sub-Saharan Africa contributes to ecosystem degradation, which is threatening wildlife and endangered species, and destroys natural forests (Besada, et-al 2009).
In conclusion, Africa remains deeply impoverished and rated as the most underdeveloped continent compared to the rest of the world due to a number of factors. Some factors are man-made –politically bread while others are natural factors that need to be addressed today. Despite the available resources, much work is needed around policies, education and adoption of new technology if the continent is to improve and try to catch up with other continents.
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