Causes of African Underdevelopment - Research Paper Example

College Causes of African’s underdevelopment Introduction Sub-Saharan Africa is a continent which is well known for being richin natural resources which are of immense value to the economy of a country. Diamonds, oil fluorspar etc. are among many resources that African countries possess. Regardless of these wealthy resources that it possess, African continent have not fully exploited its potential since independence to emerge at the top in terms of economic growth. Countries in the west, north and east e.g. United States, Britain and China among others have steadily grown economically over the past years to establish a solid financial system .Africa remain stagnated in shackles of poverty and proverbial underdevelopment . Many African countries are faced with immense challenges and setbacks which deter the continent to economically grow and improve in terms of the general lifestyle of their citizens. These factors have caused the continent a huge deal rendering it to wallow in the shadows of poor political, social and economic standards. Reasons to why Africa is poor The colonization of African countries by European nations has had a never ending impact on the economic and political status on the nations. The occupation of African countries that occurred during the colonial period partitioned the continent leading to the emergence clear demarcation of regions by the imperial powers (Gertzel, 15). This legacy has been considered to be one of the ultimate causes of African instability in the present days. The borders which are evident today have led to emergence of a variety of cultural groups which are divided in their interests, beliefs practices and norms leading to the rebellion. African nations are divided beyond ethic groups, religion and races which have proven to be a menace to the economy. For example in countries like Rwanda and Burundi the r has been tribal clashes due to the scramble for power and resources. Lack of unity among people of African countries has raised a lot of concern. The main aim of the colonial rule was to take advantage of the resources available on African lands. The exploitation of the resources lead to huge tones of agricultural products being exported to European nations for industrial processing thus a huge boost to the economy of the developed nations of the north. Consequently, the processed products were later imported to African countries for sell on a much higher price. This has in turn led to an upraise culture of African countries overdependence on industrial products of the European states to date. There has been a perpetual drain of the resources through the overdependence. The wealthy nations have everlastingly been extracting the natural resources causing a monopoly of resources gaining from the underdeveloped states. Countries like South Africa and Nigeria have largely been affected by the issues of exploitation in terms their natural resources e.g. oil and diamond respectively (Gertzel, 25). The dependence of foreign aids by the underdeveloped countries in Africa is a worrying issue and a threat to the economy. Foreign aids donated to African countries have helped in meeting the short term philanthropic goals and the long term development strategic plans which is considered to be a positive effect. Conversely, too much reliance on foreign aids and donations has been reported to perpetual a culture of dependence thus negatively affecting African nation in terms of democracy and accountability (Mills, 56). The ratio of government expenditure to that of foreign aid has been estimated to be 1:3.This has escalated into giving more power and prestige to donor over their recipients hindering liberal reforms pertaining to a country’s economic policies. A nation becomes more answerable to their donors as opposed to their own citizens. African nations are also still intertwined in huge debts crises which pose as a major challenge. These burdens have been pointed out by activists and individuals in charge of police making around the entire globe. The outrage of debt crisis in early 1970s as a result of a decline in commodity prices and an increase in oil prices paved way for IMF and the World Bank to cease the economic policies in the continent of Africa. Many debts were realized as a result of dictatorship by African leaders who were corrupt ego-centric and lacked integrity in their leadership skills. Loans borrowed from the World Bank were recklessly spent on unsuccessful infrastructure projects and on sponsorship of the militants who participated in Cold war revolution (Mills, 26). The debts incurred have been cited to be more than 50 percent of the continents’ outstanding debts. The issue of liberalization manifested in SAPs focused on empowering the private sectors in order to enhance international trade eradicating poverty level .However, the failure of the plan to work resulted into ridiculous borrowings to pay off the earlier debts which are still ongoing to date. African countries still spends a lot of money on the recovery of debts as opposed to healthcare services (Rutten & Andre, 29). Lack of a strategic plan to improve agricultural sectors and which leads to food security in a nation has been considered to be one of African’s countries undoing. Every African country today depends on the imported food and agricultural produce. The total cost spend on the importation of food across the continent has increased steadily from US dollar 6.7 billion in 2003 to US$ 15.1 billion in 2009.With regards to food crisis and other calamities in the continent researches have shown that the number of individuals who are in need of food redemption has tripped in just two years. A food crisis which broke out in 2008 worsened the situation causing a decline in food security (Rutten & Andre, 33). A shift in the ancient drought resistance crops which produced local food stuffs and small scale farming in the rural area to emphasis on cash crops was the main cause of the problem. The extensive industrial agricultural practices focused on raising revenues to repay the burden of debts. This as a result led to neglecting of local substitute crops which could be used as an alternative in food production. Small scale farmers were rendered unproductive since they couldn’t compete in global markets thus many of them migrated to urban centers giving rise to an increase in slum dwellers that were jobless(Mills, 45). Good governance and political stability is a key enabler to a state’s economic growth and stability. African nation nations have failed in leadership skills to steer the continent to greater heights of economic breakthrough. African leaders have failed to make critical decisions of a county’s interest (Jahangir, 30). Better choices and economic policies can be made. Countries such as Vietnam, U.S.A have significantly grown due to political stability and good governance. African nation need to learn from these successful nations to enable a breakthrough in economic healing. The natural resources of African nations have undermined its advancement. For example, the government needs to promote talent in youth since most of them are unemployed. This step will offer employment to the youngster thus a subsequent increase in the productivity of a nation. African leaders have been categories as being corrupt who compromise the interest of the nation at large to personal gain. The entire populace is as result has been subjected to famine and war which has dragged many of the nations behind. Because of poor governance portrayed, those in authority have also failed to a great extend to press charges on the corrupt leaders. This has given rise to a society of inequalities since the poor people who happen to be the majority are being mistreated by the powerful leaders (Jahangir, 30). World Bank prescribed liberalization to be a huge boost to economic projection and poverty eradication strategy in Africa. African nations have been imposed on with policies which ail them. They include getting rid of subsidies which were used to protect local industries in the recent years from competition. Africa has been locked into unfair trade relations preventing them to devise their own agricultural policies. The exports’ worth on the international market line has decreased .On the other hand, the ready manufactured goods imported from the north are protected. Their prices have been stabilized (Jahangir, 32). Incidences of political conflicts, feuds and civil war are rampant in different region across African continent. The continent has gained popularity thus such cases over year. Such incidences hamper productivity. Furthermore, consistency in such regional clashes poses to be a threat to investors scaring them away. Recently, Kenya, Libya and Rwanda suffered economic setback due to incidences of wars among their citizens. Their recovery process will not be easy tasks since property of immense value were lost in the process (Gertzel, 45). Africa has very poor infrastructure. Their roads; railway lines and drainage system are not standardized. The transportation sector has faced challenge lowering trade in the continents. Transport roads that connect countries have weathered out slowing the transportation of goods and services from one point to the other. There has been delays experience during the transportation process with discourages trade (Rutten & Andre, 34). Prevalent in disease and poor health facilities is also a key contributor to the continent’s underdevelopment. The outbreak of epidemic diseases like malaria, Cholera and HIV/AIDS has consumed the lives of many African citizens. The number of those people infected with these deadly diseases is rising significantly. This implies that a person cannot be productive when her/she is sick and they will use the minimal available resources in treating the sick. To worsen the situation, African countries have poor medical facilities. Late of quality medical facilities renders a state to be quite unstable (Feierman & Jahnzen, 32). There has been an increase in mortality rates due to poor medical care. Huge amount of money is spent to outsource expertise from outside. In seeking medical assistance from a foreign country is expensive since there are a lot of cost incurred in the process e.g. the transportation, free and accommodation. Lack of skilled personnel has led to production of non-quality outputs thus an impediment to the growth of economy. The government has to put a lot emphasis on education sector in these countries. Lot of individuals in these countries is uneducated. Recent researches indicate 49 percent of the entire populace is uneducated. The government should also devise ways to curb the issue of brain drain professional. There have been an increased number of people who shift to the developed countries in such for a well-paying job. African nations have been denied a chance to enjoy the benefits of skilled personnel due to the heavy out flux of their citizens. The civil society activists have come together to try and brainstorm on the possibilities of African growth and development. At the eight World Social forum held in the capital city of Nairobi Kenya, thousands of activists discussed strategic plans to be put in place to fight against marginalization. They passed out that these movements can only be achieved through international correlation and collaboration by the African nations. These steps ruled out that nations should have the opportunity to devise and implement their own economic strategies and break from the shackles of the past. The implementation suggests supported the idea of the local community holding the government to account (Gertzel, 59). Solutions to economic recovery Africa is the richest continent in natural resources but it has remained stagnated for years. The continent is in the processes of revamping itself from the shackles of poverty. Strengthening the government system will be the first step to its success. A stable system of government must be in a position to come up with effective procedures, policies and implementation which will control trade relations with their partners. Promoting local industries and local products is also essential. Many youth don’t have a formal employment; it will enable them to be productive. Promoting local agricultural sector will also reduce the overdependence of import product thus reducing overexploitation of African markets by the north. Education is the key driver to economic development since it enables an individual to gain skills and appropriate expertise. The huge gap of those educated and the unskilled will have to be narrowed which will in turn enable the government to invest in its local expertise effectively. A good legal system will lead to prioritization of the sector which needs urgent attention e.g. health sector (Feierman & Janzen, 53). The main challenge facing African development is the issue of huge debts. Countries will have to come up with ways which will enable them settle their debts which are accumulating daily. Harnessing the local resources and avoiding the projected overdependence on foreign aid will be a gradual step to the realization of the millennium goal. Work cited Feierman, Steven, and John M. Janzen. The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Print. Rutten, M M. E. M and Andre Leliveld. Inside Poverty and Development in Africa: Critical Reflections on Pro-Poor Policies. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Internet resource. Gertzel, Cherry. Towards a Better Understanding of the Causes of Poverty in Africa in the Late Twentieth Century. Canberra: Australian Development Studies Network, Australian National University, 1996. Print. Jahangir, Aziz. The Quality of Governance: "second Generation" Civil Service Reform in Africa. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, Research Department, 1998. Print. Mills, Greg. Why Africa Is Poor: And What Africans Can Do About It. Johannesburg, South Africa: Penguin Books (South Africa, 2010. Print. Read More