Tuesday 26 May 2015

Factors exarcerbating poverty in Africa.

What major factors continue to propel poverty in  Africa?Part 1
 The  subject of the underdevelopment of Africa is a question that  has been widely explored and calls for deep academic contemplation,Several scholars have taken to various forums of discussions in a way to expose the main cancer that erodes Africa of its long overdue development. This forum will identify the widely  known reasons that are contributing factors to the lack of development in Africa.In the next exspose the forum will explore the various avenues that can be adopted  in addressing the problems and hence coming up with the panacea to underdevelopment in Africa.
  • Corruption
If you have ever lived in a country where corruption is rife, you will now know how frustrating, disheartening and fundamentally disempowering corruption can be. Tim Harford describes corruption in Cameroon, in his book ‘The Undercover Economist‘. While the most obvious perpetrators are crooked policemen or customs officials, which everyone knows about, they are the tip of the iceberg. Red tape is where real endemic corruption happens – a slowing and over-complicating of simple processes, from starting businesses, buying or selling property, to the law courts, all require ridiculous amounts of paperwork, interviews, visits to ministry offices. in the Cameroon courts in 2001, when it was rated the world’s fifth most corrupt country, chasing an unpaid invoice took 58 separate procedures . Says Harford: ‘Every procedure is an opportunity to extract a bribe. The slower the standard processes, the greater the temptation to pay ‘speed money’.’
Imagine having to bribe your telephone company and all your utility companies, paying an aside for your driver’s license and to pass your exams. Imagine having to bribe the post office every time you bought something by mail order, bribing the bank clerk to let you take money out of your own account, paying your doctor to give you a prescription, and then the chemist to give it to you. That’s the reality of endemic corruption, the abuse of power at every level. It takes strong leadership to fight it, but it can be done.
Visit Transparency International for more, or download their Global Corruption Report for 2007.
The economic growth of Africa is dependent on various factors, among them infrastructure development, higher education and investment.  Nevertheless, inadequate and poor infrastructure, high transportation costs and civil strife hold back Africa’s development. Here’s an in depth look at other factors that are slowing down advancement in Africa. 
  • Poor management
There are often political factors involved in why some countries remain poor, and one of those is bad government. Governments need to do lots of things to encourage development – they need to build and maintain infrastructure, and raise and spend finance wisely, on the right projects. When governments are inept at managing infrastructure, development is impossible. Nobody wants to build a factory in a city where the power could go out at any time.
They also need to set up their laws and business practices in a way that encourages investment and initiative, that protect businesses and individuals legally, and that honour property rights,

  • Limited technology capabilities
It is disheartening that African nations do not understand that the major difference between underdeveloped countries and developed nations of America, Asia and Europe is basically technological capability. This refers to how a country can access, create and utilize science and ICT for solving socio-economic issues. The world is increasingly being driven by technological innovation. Medicine, agriculture, transportation, water and clean are all based ultimately on science and ICT. Hence, it is apparent that to become successful in this modern world, technology elements must be incorporated into the improvement process.
  • Poor economic structures
Due to the reluctance of adopting technology, most African nations have not changed their economic structure since gaining independence from the West. Actually, most if not all African nations still rely heavily on exporting various raw materials like gold, diamond, cocoa, timber and bauxite, all in raw forms. There is completely no value added to the raw materials before exportation so as to earn more money on the global market. If African nations import matches, computers, toys, toothpicks and other industrial products from abroad, what it means is that Africans don’t have the ability to manufacture these things.
  • Lack of education
Education is a vital developmental tool as it promotes entrepreneurship and also creates a highly skilled workforce. Only quality education can give the African populace the correct skills and knowledge to create and manufacture things. Thus, it is true to say that the current education offered in countries within the continent hasn’t enabled the students to produce anything of worth. It is for these reasons that changes must be made in the education system to ensure that students are being equipped with the right kind of information that will enable them participate in the global market.
  • Overdependence on foreign aid
Even though foreign aid is beneficial, over reliance on this aid usually causes a nation’s economy to stagnate. In Africa, foreign donations make up a large percentage of a country’s budget and this should not be the case. It is no longer okay for countries to wait for aid so as to improve the infrastructure or enhance education. Africans should look towards creating revenue rather than just budgeting for and spending what they are given by developed countries.
  • Civil wars
Civil war is a major deterrent to development. This can be seen in some of the poor countries in Africa like Somalia, Sudan, Congo and Sierra Leone. When there is civil war, investors cannot dare to invest in such a country and thus it inhibits the creation of employment opportunities. In addition, infrastructure also suffers since the country will be more inclined to spend its limited resources on fighting equipment rather than enhancing infrastructure.
In conclusion, Africa faces the problem of insufficient technology application, corruption and bad leadership. All these problems are repairable provided the respective parties are willing to work together to ensure Africa takes it place at the global marketplace.

what do you think can be done to remedy the situation?
will there ever be a time when the poverty of Africa will be history?
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Location: Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ), Zimbabwe

8 comments:

  1. Unknown29 May 2015 at 02:29

    the problem is there is for collective thinking amongst african states including Zim. We belive in 'i' instead of 'we'. i brought development to this village for example. compare africans and US and the EU block, you will get what i mean. Africans can mot agree on anything, even at household level.

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  2. Sihlesenkosi Ncube29 May 2015 at 02:45

    @Nkululeko Mpofu In a way you are saying "lack of consensus" in addressing the problem of poverty in Africa is also a driver.How can Africa achieve consensus?,what needs to be done to speak with one voice as a continent?

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  3. Unknown29 May 2015 at 03:03

    brazil, india, and china used agriculture to leap out of poverty. We dont believe in agric, we dont like our rural areas. More we prefer to fight each other instead of discussing our differences. solution is to open borders and promote free trade. Those states that have already noticed that they will grow while others benefit form "trickle down effect". Let the rich be rich and then save money, and then develop infrastructure. poor people have little to save.

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  4. Unknown29 May 2015 at 06:26

    I do not know what happened to my previous comment, but I would like to add another point. Maybe Nkululeko Mpofu can argue better on this one. Looking at the example of Zimbabwe and the land reform programme tells you everything that is wrong about how some African states perceive agriculture. How on earth can we expect agricultural productivity and profitable commercial farming without security of tenure. To establish a successful value chain in agriculture you need security of tenure whereby you know that if you invest money in farming, you will still own that piece of land after 20 years and you can pass on the ownership of that land to your descendants to continue the farming tradition. Unless there is security of tenure and investment is encouraged and protected in agriculture, then it will always be difficult for some countries to feed themselves and generate profit in agricultural production.

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    1. Unknown29 May 2015 at 07:09

      Khangz you are right but in China land is state owned. the only difference between Zim and China is that in China farmers are given targets on state land for which if they fail the farm is reallocated to someone else. So, families that rely on farming try by all means to make the best out of the allocated land

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    2. Unknown29 May 2015 at 07:18

      I suppose that is another model of ensuring productivity from agriculture where the state is heavily involved and enforcing targets for farmers. This perhaps goes back to Sihle's point about poorly structured economies. In essence, what is needed is clear planning, clear targets, and judicious implementation and monitoring of those targets

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  5. Sihlesenkosi Ncube29 May 2015 at 07:16

    I would say gross mismanagement of resources is a highly contributary factor.Africa as most people know is a highly endowed continent with natural resources all over.Countries such as Democratic Republic,Nigeria,South Africa are rich in mineral deposits but looting by the top elite means there is uneven distribution of the mineral wealth.Like Khangelani Moyo says The land reform in Zimbabwe is a good example,How on earth can Agriculture prosper without security of tenure?So it starts with the intentions of those in power.The land reform,was it sincerely meant to benefit the masses or it was a political pony?The second assertion holds more sway as 15 years after the land reform we are yet to see the gains of it.Africa suffers from lack of visionary leadership as leaders tend to pilitick at the expense of development.

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    Replies
    1. Unknown29 May 2015 at 07:24

      I agree with you that we lack visionary leadership and I attribute many of our problems to greed and corruption. Many of our economic problems in Africa are political, the political will of those in power is questionable and many are driven by self interest and greed rather than genuine leadership intentions. For instance, there is nothing difficult about enforcing fiscal discipline and ensuring that a country lives within its means rather than overburdening already overtaxed citizens with huge debt overhangs.

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