Multinational corporations: The new colonisers in Africa

Lord Aikins Adusei

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Surveying a history of exploitation of Africa's people and resources, Lord Aikins Adusei denounces the multinational corporations continuing to plunder the continent's natural wealth. Situating today's ongoing exploitation of African resources within an established tradition of external interference, Adusei decries the ability of corporations to avoid paying taxes and keep dictators indifferent to their citizens' plight in their pocket. But with the emergence of China as a viable funding alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the author concludes that the 'second colonialism' driving Euro-American globalisation may be at an end.

Before the end of the first period of colonialism African nations were properties of their colonial masters who did what they could to rape the continent of whatever resource they deemed good for the development of their citizens in Europe.

Out of nowhere and without any consultation with the people of the African continent, the Europeans met and divided the continent amongst themselves in what has been termed 'The Scramble for Africa'.

Through this scramble France, Britain, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy all went on a looting spree, raping Africa of her resources without putting any of the proceeds back for the development of the continent.

When US President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Gambia on 13 January 1943, he was so appalled by the conditions of Gambians that he made this lamentation:

'It's the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life… The natives are five thousand years back of us… The British have been there for two hundred years – for every dollar that the British have put into Gambia, they have taken out ten. It's just plain exploitation of those people.'

He continued, telling his son Elliot, 'I must tell [Winston] Churchill what I found out about his British Gambia today. This morning, at about eight-thirty, we drove through Bathurst to the airfield.' (Elliott notes that it was here that his father began speaking with 'real feeling in his voice'.) 'The natives were just getting to work. In rags … glum-looking…They told us the natives would look happier around noontime, when the sun should have burned off the dew and the chill. I was told the prevailing wages for these men was one and nine. One shilling nine pence. Less than fifty cents.'

'An hour?' Elliott asked.

'A day! Fifty cents a day! Besides which, they’re given a half-cup of rice. Dirt. Disease. Very high mortality rate. I asked. Life expectancy – you’d never guess what it is. Twenty-six years. Those people are treated worse than the livestock. Their cattle live longer!'[1]

And the exploitation was not peculiar to Gambia. The Gold Coast (now Ghana), Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)), Namibia, South Africa, Congo and Angola all suffered from the same colonial exploitation and underinvestment.

For almost 300 years the Europeans, who were supposedly civilised, devout Christians, irresponsibly looted Africa’s resources and made slaves of its natives without developing their colonies. When the local population protested against this exploitation without reciprocal investment, they were brutally crushed, as happened in the Congo, where King Leopold II of Belgium looted the resources, made slaves and killed close to 10 million Congolese.

In 1904 to 1907 the German, led by Commander-in-Chief Lothar Von Trotha, committed their first genocide of the 20th century by killing 90 per cent of the Herero and the Namaqua people of South West Africa (now Namibia) when the people protested against the exploitation of their resources. And the sad stories of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Namibia, Kenya and Angola, where people were denied access to land, citizenship and basic rights and had to take up arms before they were granted independence, are in many history books. We know how Nelson Mandela (now a hero in Europe) and a number of freedom fighters endured long prison sentences, torture, exile and deaths in the hands of their 'devout Christians' and 'civilised' European colonisers. The idea was that through The Scramble for Africa they had bought Africa and had power to do as they wish, hence the rape, torture, genocide and mass killings.

While Europeans became richer, Africans became poorer. For example, with the looting of the Congo’s resources, enslavement, the amputations of hands and 10 million deaths, Brussels – which now doubles as the capital of the European Union – and Belgium were built.

When they were given their ‘freedom’, the fathers of independence inherited nothing more than empty treasuries. They realised that after more than 300 hundred years of colonial rule their colonial masters had left them nothing; no money and no infrastructure.

This bad situation and their eagerness to improve the lives of their peoples forced them to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for assistance, and when they went lo and behold their former colonial masters were there waiting for them. The colonisers used their majority votes to dictate to the World Bank and IMF about how these former colonies should be helped. Of the 185 members that make up the IMF, six colonial masters and their allies – comprised of the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France and Italy – control 42 per cent of the votes.

The colonial masters dictated to the IMF and the World Bank that for Africans to be helped, they had to open their economies to allow European corporations in. This underscores the numerous conditionalities that are associated with loans from these institutions. The conditionalities are nothing more than a smokescreen designed to ensure that Europeans never lose their grip on the resources of their former colonies. Some of these conditionalities include instituting secret memorandums of agreement, subsidies to foreign corporations and massive tax concessions (such as income tax, usage fees and property tax) – the primary source of revenue for 'export-oriented', developing countries.

The sad thing is that Africans thought independence would give them respite to develop, but this was never to be as the colonial masters used their corporations and intelligence services to deliver vengeance on the people. They encouraged and financed civil wars, unashamedly polluted rivers, wells and the soil through their oil and mineral activities, deliberately understated their profits and falsified profit documents, as well as undervaluing their goods, indulging in smuggling, theft and the falsification of invoicing and non-payment of taxes, and employing kickbacks and bribes to public officials. They also overpriced projects, provided save havens for looted funds, promoted the sale of guns, overthrew African leaders, supported dictatorships and assassinated those who disagreed with them. We know, for example, the tragedy of Patrice Lumumba and the support the West gave Mobutu.

The corporations forced onto Africa by the IMF, the World Bank, the US and Europe have been implicated in a number of cases for corrupting African leaders and stealing trillions of dollars worth of resources. Global Financial Integrity says that '$900 billion is secreted each year from underdeveloped economies, with an estimated $11.5 trillion currently stashed in havens. More than one quarter of these hubs belong to the UK, while Switzerland washes one-third of global capital flight.' Of this $900 billion, $150 billion comes from Africa.

'The idea that Switzerland has a clean economy is a joke; it is a dirt-driven economy,' says Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research LLP. The Swiss Bankers Association claims that four-fifths of the nation supports banking secrecy, which reveals a society deeply embedded in a culture of impunity and exploitation. The fact is that those who steal must find a way to hide their loot, and Switzerland provides the ideal environment for such crimes to take place. And it is not Switzerland alone that does not have a clean economy. Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg can all be described as vampires.

In her article 'Capital flight: gingerbread havens, cannibalised economies', Khadija Sharife writes:

'This policy is especially lethal for developing countries where the poor are now caught in tax brackets, courtesy of the IMF and World Bank’s structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), instituting policies ranging from “tax holidays” to the privatisation of state services [and] carving out huge slices of natural capital at corporate auctions… Africa has collectively lost more than $600-billion in capital flight, excluding other mechanisms of flight including ecological debt (globally estimated at a potential $1.8-trillion per annum), the cost of liberalised trade (just under $300-billion) … and the list goes on…'[2]

Thus with the support and collusion of the IMF and the World Bank these corporations are paying close to nothing for the resources they take from Africa.

Africa has been labelled the world’s most corrupt region because multinational internal mis-pricing makes up 60 per cent of capital outflow, with corporations declaring profits in tax havens, as opposed to the country of performance. Corporations declare about 40 per cent of their profits in the African countries where they operate, siphoning the rest into their safe-haven accounts in order to avoid paying tax which could be used to eradicate poverty. And this is not the end of the corruption and the story of daylight robbery.

We know how Elf operated as an arm of the French state supporting dictators, looting resources and establishing a flush fund used to bribe African leaders to look the other way while the corporation looted Africa’s oil and gas.

The author of Poisoned Wells Nicholas Shaxson wrote of the subject: 'Magistrates discovered the money from Elf’s African operations supplied bribes to support French commercial, military and diplomatic goals around the world. In exchange, French troops protected compliant African dictators.'

This explains why there are so many more corrupt dictators in French-speaking Africa compared with elsewhere in Africa. Gabon's Omar Bongo, Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, Guinea's Lansana Conté, Côte d'Ivoire's Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaoré, Congo's Sassou Nguesso and Chad's Idriss Déby are some of the compliant leaders who were or have been protected by France. And what happened to the non-compliant African leaders? Your guess is as good as mine. Please find time to read more about Bob Denard, a Frenchman who made a career as a mercenary overthrowing African leaders. French author Jean Guisner says: 'Denard did nothing that was contrary to French interests – and he allegedly acted in close cooperation with French intelligence services'.

In the Elf corruption case André Tarallo, the real boss of Elf-Afrique, 'told the court in June 2003 that annual cash transfers totalling about £10m were made to Omar Bongo, Gabon's president, while other huge sums were paid to leaders in Angola, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. The multi-million dollar payments were partly paid to ensure the African leaders' continued allegiance to France. In return for protection and sweeteners from Elf's coffers, France used Gabon as a base for military and espionage activities in West Africa.'[3]

The real deal is that Elf, Shell, BP and their counterparts in Europe and America pay bribes to African leaders to induce them to look the other way when they plunder resources. Ask any Gabonese or Congolese whether they have benefited from the oil and diamonds and the answer will be a big no. What is so tragic is that the people know they have oil, diamonds and see these companies processing them everyday yet do not know where it goes, who buys them and where the proceeds go.

In the UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair was accused of selling a device based on ageing technology to Tanzania. 'The UK sold a useless air traffic control system to Tanzania in 2001 in a scandalous and squalid deal, the House of Commons was told.' Clare Short, an minister of parliament, said, 'The deal was useless and hostile to the interests of Tanzania.' She continued, 'Barclays Bank had colluded with the government by loaning Tanzania the money, but lying to the World Bank about the type and size of the loan.' Short said, 'Tanzania could have paid much less for the same equipment which cost them £28m'. Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said 'BAE had used ageing technology and said the system was not adequate and too expensive.'[4]

And it all happened after they had bought Tanzania officials to look the other way while a device based on ageing technology was being sold to the country. BAE colluded with Tony Blair and Barclays Bank to sell a useless commodity at an exorbitant price to Tanzania. This is nothing but a continuation of the contempt and impunity with which Europeans have traditionally treated Africa before, during and after colonialism. BAE is indirectly saying that Africans do not deserve the latest technology even if they pay a cut-throat price. It is also a message to Africans that they must develop their own technology and not rely on the generosity of others.

It is no secret that the Shell oil company colluded with Nigeria's corrupt Abacha regime to steal oil, pollute the country's rivers, wells, creeks and soil and render millions of farmers and fishermen in the Niger Delta jobless. '[Shell] admitted that it inadvertently fed conflict, poverty and corruption through its oil activities in the country. Nigeria contributes to about 10% of Shell's global production and is home to some of its most promising reserves, yet the country is steeped in poverty and conflict.'[5] So Shell, in addition to stealing Nigeria’s oil and polluting its rivers, wells and soils, also promotes corruption, poverty and conflict.

In the DRC about five million people have died in a war, the underlying motive for which is the satisfaction of the West's insatiable appetite for high-quality, low-price cell phones, laptop computers, Playstations, jewels, diamonds and coltan. And in Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin, New York or Washington, who cares about five million deaths anyway? Why has the DRC's war not ended? Who supplies the rebels their arms and who buys the minerals they mine illegally? Why have Ugandan and Rwandan forces crossed several times into DRC? And whose agenda are they pursuing? A report by the UN says it all.

The panel calls for financial restrictions to be levied on 54 individuals and 29 companies it says are involved in the plunder, including four Belgian diamond companies and the Belgian company George Forrest, which is partnered with the US-based OM Group.

The individuals named include Rwandan army Chief-of-Staff James Kabarebe, Congolese Minister of the Presidency Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Ugandan army Chief-of-Staff James Kazini and Zimbabwean Parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, BBC online reported.[6] The report also accused 85 South African, European and US multinational corporations – including Anglo American, Barclays Bank, Bayer, De Beers and the Cabot Corporation – of violating the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) ethical guidelines on conflict zones.

The guidelines they were accused of violating relate to arming Rwandan, Ugandan and Congolese rebels and profiting from their illegal looting of Congo’s minerals, as the following excerpt shows:

'Despite the recent withdrawal of most foreign forces, the exploitation of Congo's resources continues, the report says, with elite networks and criminal groups tied to the military forces of Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe benefiting from micro-conflicts in the D.R.C. "The elite networks derive financial benefit through a variety of criminal activities, including theft, embezzlement, [the] diversion of public funds, [the] undervaluation of goods, smuggling, false invoicing, non-payment of taxes, kickback[s] to public officials and bribery," and added that such pillaging is responsible for much of the death and malnutrition in eastern D.R.C.'[7]

And so while millions die in Africa with the complicity of these corporations, European and North American citizens, with all their hypocrisy, live to enjoy lavish holidays. And when Africans try to reach Europe the citizens say 'Europe is full. No more immigrants.' Where do the queens and kings in Europe get the diamonds and gold that they show off? Is it not from the blood diamonds from Congo, Sierra Leone and other conflict zones in Africa that are smuggled out and sold in Brussels, Zurich, London and New York?

And this is not their only crime. We know how Halliburton established a $180-million flush fund and bought Nigerian officials to secure a $10-billion oil contract. We know Acres International of Canada paid $260,000 to secure an $8-billion dam contract in Lesotho. We know Swiss, British, German and French financial and banking institutions have made fortunes by providing safe havens for funds looted by Abacha, Mobutu, Bongo, Conté, Kenya's Daniel arap Moi and the rest of the dictators in Africa. And it is no secret that Belgium is angry with the DRC government for inviting China into the country because they are privy to and beneficiary of all the daylight robbery going on in the resource-rich but economically impoverished country.

Africans know that these corporations are making fortunes but they see none of the benefits from these fortunes. Ghanaians know gold and diamonds are being mined at Obuasi and Akwatia but they do not know where it goes, who buys them and where the proceeds end up, and the same is true of the oil in Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, Algeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. And as for the DRC, a nation with one-third of world’s natural resources, the less I say the better.

This corrupt, daylight robbery is what has been promoted as globalisation, with Africa and the Third World being encouraged to join by Europe, America, the IMF and the World Bank. My question is whose globalisation? Is it the globalisation that only those with blue eyes enjoy or what? If the answer is no then the IMF and the World Bank should explain why the world is divided between the 'white haves and the coloured have-nots'. Is this not a second colonialism dressed as globalisation?

Susan Hawley says it all:

'Multinational corporations’ corrupt practices affect the South (i.e. Africa, Asia and Latin America) in many ways. They undermine development and exacerbate inequality and poverty. They disadvantage smaller domestic firms and transfer money that could be put towards poverty eradication into the hands of the rich. They distort decision-making in favour of projects that benefit the few rather than the many. They also increase [the] debt that benefit[s] the company, not the country; bypass local democratic processes; damage the environment; circumvent legislation; and promote weapons sales. Bribes put up the prices of projects. When these projects are paid for with money borrowed internationally, bribery adds to a country's external debt. Ordinary people end up paying this back through cuts in spending on health, education and public services. Often they also have to pay by shouldering the long-term burdens of projects that do not benefit them and which they never requested.'[8]

And in all these, the Western media has kept silent and has not raised a voice against what its governments, intelligence services, corporations and businessmen are doing to Africans. They prefer instead to criticise China for courting the same African leaders Euro-Americans have been protecting for decades. A clear hypocrisy isn’t it? These are the same criticisms King Leopold II levelled against the Arabs who were competing with him for resources and slaves in Congo, and we know what Leopold II, the 19th-century Hitler, did in the DRC in the name of Christianity and 'civilisation'.

With China as a fierce competitor, Africans now have a choice not to go to the World Bank and the IMF for conditional loans. They also have a choice to either give their resources to Chinese companies or European and American cartels. It may be the beginning of the end of colonialism, slavery, instability, dictatorships, corruption and all the ills that Europeans and Americans have been promoting in Africa.

It may be the beginning where Africa’s resources will be bought and payment made to the people and a new chapter that will usher in Africa’s development and close the poverty gap from 5,000 years to perhaps 100, as observed by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

* Lord Aikins Adusei is an activist and anti-corruption campaigner. He blogs atwww.iloveafrica2.blogspot.com and can be contacted atpoliticalthinker1@yahoo.com.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online athttp://www.pambazuka.org/.

NOTES

[1] US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1943, The American Heritage.

[2] www.greenleft.au

[3] The Guardian, November 2003.

[4] BBC News, 31 January 2007.

[5] BBC News,18 June 2004.

[6] BBC News, 21 October 2002.

[7] www.unwire.org

[8] The Corner House, June 2000.

What is wrong with African leaders?

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Corruption and embezzlement are a way of life for African leaders. From South Africa toEgyptthere is no country where corruption is not endemic.

In Equatorial Guinea where oil export has earned the country billions of dollars, the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability.

Nigeria, Gabon, Congo and Angola all of them Oil exporting countries are noted for high level of corruption among the ruling class. All four countries are ruled by a cabal of corrupt leaders and their associates who masquerade as the representative of the people: presidents, senators, MPs, ministers, government officials and the list go on and on... In fact, the type of government in all four countries can best be described as Kleptocracy.

In East Africa Kenya is ranked the most corrupt country in that region. Many MPs, ministers and their associates in that country stand accused of accepting bribes and allowing companies to do as they pleased.

Since oil was first discovered in Nigeria about 50 years ago, several billions of dollars have been realised from its but today the whole population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show for it.

Between 2005 and 2007 several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotlandyard in London on corruption and money laundering charges. Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their 35 million dollar asset frozen by the English court.

Mr. Ibori earns about a thousand dollars a month but during his eight years as a state governor he managed to acquire wealth to the tune of $35m and was a key financial contributor to the campaign of the current Yar'Dua. He owns a private jet and lavish London home.

Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering charges. Mr. Alamieyeseigha broke his bail conditions and evaded capture in Britain by dressing up as a woman. When Police conducted a search in his London home they discovered one million pounds worth of cash in his home.

In Ghana over four ministers and government appointed officials have been implicated in a corruption scandal involving the British bridge construction firm Mabey and Johnston.

In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sudan, Uganda, Libya, Zimbawe, Tunisia a Kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. In these countries very few people continue to remain in power and the people have no say in the way their country is governed or run.

According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants.

Now think of this. What do you think will happen if instead of stealing the money and banking it in Switzerland, Monaco, France, Britain, Cayman Island and the rest as the governors in and the leaders in Africa have been doing, the money is invested in training teachers, doctors, engineers, invested in infrastructure-roads, telecommunication, harbours, hospitals, schools, research institutions? What do you think will happen if every school has library with the right kind of books that will enable students to get the knowledge and skills they need? What do you think will happen if the money is invested in generating electricity for those living in the villages, towns and cities?

What about if the money is used to build water treatment plants to supply the people with potable water?

What do you think will happen to standard of living if the money is invested in agriculture, build canals, irrigation facilities and storage facilities, buy tractors for farmers so they can produce to feed nations?

Are African leaders happy when every negative thing in the world is associated with their countries: poverty, wars, corruption, AIDS/HIV, illiteracy and starvation? Are they happy when children die of diseases that can be eradicated?

What effort are the leaders making to eradicate poverty apart from just stealing monies that could help develop the countries?

Why don’t they use the money generated from the sale of oil, gold, diamond to invest in education, fast and efficient transportation systems that could help increase business activities, create jobs and raise the standard of living of their peoples? Is it because they do not care? Is it because they not know what development is about? Is it because their only aim of seeking the mandate of the people is to steal and mismanage what becomes of their loot?

The whole of Africa South of the Sahara is rife with poverty. What makes the leaders in the continent to have a negative attitude towards development and poverty eradication but a positive attitude towards corruption and embezzlement? When they travel to Europe, America, KoreaandCanada don’t they see the roads and the airports? When they visit their children in these countries don’t they see the infrastructures there and what prevents them from doing the same in their countries?

What makes Yahyah Jammeh of Gambia an expert in killing journalists but not the slightest idea on how to end poverty in his poverty stricken country? What makes Nigeria Senators and Governors so corrupt as to even steal money meant for the development of their own country? Is it lack of patriotism or is plain selfishness? Is it a genetic problem or is lack of vision and foresight? Is our politics that breed nepotism, cronyism and blind patronage to blame? What makes the leaders in Africa not to think beyond corruption and embezzlement? Why do they always take away poverty eradication from the equation? Why do they substitute development with corruption? Why do they ignore investment in agriculture, sanitation, water, health, education, roads and energy? Why do they refuse to take advantage of solar technology to supply electricity to millions of people who live in rural areas? Do they get satisfaction in seeing millions die of hunger, if no then why do they steal the very money that could end the misery, hopelessness and desperation among the people?

What is Ghana’s Professor Atta Mills doing to end poverty and raise the living standard in his relatively peaceful country?

Is something wrong with our leaders and do they suffer from some genetic deficiency that make them power drunk, corrupt but less interested in fighting to end diseases, wars, hunger, starvation and poverty? What makes Gaddafi so power drunk as to rule his country for 40 years? What makes Dos Santos, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Yoweri Museveni, Hosni Mubarak, Obiang Nguema, Robert Mugabe, Mamadou Tandja and their cohorts to be interested in power and financial benefits that go with the office that they occupy and not the building of institutions and economies that will make their countries and people to be recognised as civilised members of the world community of nations?

What makes African leaders to get it so wrong everyday, every week, every month and every year and every decade? What makes African leaders to have gotten it so wrong in every aspect of human endeavour? What makes it so hard for Nigeria and Ghanaian leaders to use their huge natural resources to build successful economies like those of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan,Singaporeand Hong Kong? What makes it so difficult for Somalia and DR Congo leaders to end the wars that have devastated their countries and driven millions into poverty, starvation and death?

Why are the leaders in Africa only interested in exporting raw materials like cocoa beans, coffee, cotton and uncut diamond and gold and not process them to add value to them before export: a process that could create millions of jobs and fetch the countries billions of dollars?

Why do African leaders shun investment in science and technology and yet would want to use mobile phones, laptop computers and the latest sport utility vehicles?

What makes the leaders to avoid investment in education? Why do African leaders find it difficult to have economic and social policies that will make them self sufficient and less dependent on foreign aid?

Of the over fifteen countries in West Africa not a single one of them has efficient, modern train network or system, not even Nigeria the so called super power in West Africa. The situation in Central and East Africa is not different from the one in West Africa.

So what is wrong with the leaders at all? I mean what makes African leaders intellectually blind, morally bankrupt, and ethically diseased? Why are they so different from all the leaders in the world? Of the over 50 presidents and prime ministers in Africa not a single one of them has been able to build an economy comparable to that of Korea despite some of them staying in power for more than forty years. You want to know why Mo Ibrahim refused to give the five million dollar award to the nominated leaders? Don't you think the corruption and embezzlement that took place under their administrations as well as their indifference towards eradicating poverty might be a factor?

Why do they fail to react against challenges such as HIV/AIDS, food shortages, malnutrition, hunger, homelessness, wars, climate change and the cancer of corruption? Are they all sleeping behind the wheel?

Please don’t blame colonialism because Korea, Malaysia and India were also colonised but they have shaken themselves off the shackles of colonialism.

When will Africa leaders ever shake themselves from the colonial mentality that makes them subservient? When will Africa leaders ever shake themselves from the colonial mentality that makes them to think that they cannot do anything without France and Britain? Will Africa leaders ever grow up, pull themselves together to end the relationship that allow French, British and American Companies to have control over the resources of their countries, destroy agricultural lands, pollute rivers and put millions of Africans at risk? When will Africa leaders dismantle the corruption and bribery infrastructures that allow multinational corporations to pay bribes and then rape and loot African countries of their resources? When will African leaders put the corrupt multinational corporations in the dock for the pollution, bribery that continue to fuel corruption and poverty throughout the continent? When will Africa leaders stop conniving with multinational corporations to steal from their countries and deposit their loots in the banks of their former colonial masters especially France, Britain and Spain?

Can’t Ghana do with the huge gold, diamond and other mineral deposits without going begging in foreign countries for loans that have done the country no good? Can’t African leaders find ways to raise revenue without incurring heavy debts that continue to be a yoke for all the people?

Will African leaders for once put on their thinking cap, build strong institutions, build infrastructures, develop local talents, local businesses, end poverty, wars, starvation and stop depending on foreign aid, and allow democracy and rule of law to function?

African Leaders are saboteurs of development

By Lord Aikins Adusei

It is a waste of time to argue that there is anything remarkable or worth emulating about the brand of leadership that is seen in Africa. Throughout Africa not a single country has been able to deliver its people from poverty, malnutrition and diseases. Almost all countries in Africa South of the Sahara are facing deep poverty and that includes resource rich counties like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, and even South Africa.

Everywhere in the world whenever the word Africa is mentioned four words come to mind: poverty, hunger, wars and diseases. Apart from Botswana where the leaders have relatively been able to use their resources to advance the development of their people, the rest of Africa is nothing but misery. Misery in sense that the average African is hardly able to live one-third of the comfort that a citizen of the global north (US, Canada and Europe) is able to enjoy in his/her lifetime. Apart from the corrupt politicians, dictators and their cronies who live in luxury, the rest of the population have to survive the harsh realities of the African economy on less than two dollars a day.

Why is black Africa so different? Any time the question of poverty is raised black African leaders are quick to point to colonialism and slavery. But it is a fact that the era in which everything is blamed on colonialism and slavery is past and gone. India, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong were all colonised yet they have been able to shake themselves of what Damisa Moyo terms the 'four apocalypse of hunger, disease, war and poverty'.

A visit to rural parts of Ghana shows that very little has changed economically since independence more than 50 years ago. In spite of the availability of tractors and other advanced farming technologies that can be employed to increase productivity, farmers in Ghana still cultivate and harvest their crops with cutlasses and hoes, tools their forefathers used before they were colonised. The situation in Niger, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Togo and Benin is not different from that of Ghana. The extreme poverty and deprivation in countries in the Horn of Africa region and Ethiopia in particular continue to baffle economists and development thinkers after so much aid money has been poured into that region to no avail as politicians divert aid money into their own private bank accounts.

Any major study about why Africa is so different from the rest of the world points to the kind of leadership that exist in Africa. The leaders in Africa love power and will do anything to get it: rigging elections, organizing thugs to cause mayhem and violence, refusing to step down when their term of office end. The likes are Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who employed violence and intimidation against members of opposition parties after loosing elections.

The leaders love to be worshipped and served as kings even though they claim to be servants of the people. They love to live in fine palaces, drive in convoys, attend state functions, deliver long speeches yet do not raise a finger to fight poverty and deprivation that are so common in their countries.

African politicians and traditional leaders and those in control of economic and political affairs are always interested in titles and the financial rewards that go with their office not the responsibilities attached to the office. Ghana's current President is a Law Professor but he seems to have no clue on how to move his country forward. He is surrounded by others with academic titles similar to his but the ministries, departments and the sectors they head have not changed since they took office earlier this year.

Malawi's president holds a doctorate degree but his country is no different from that of Togo, DRC or Gabon which are all being governed poorly by children of former dictators and thieves who took decades to mismanage their countries' economies and resources. Nigeria's current president has been titled "the first graduate president of Nigeria" but Nigeria with all its oil revenue and human resource is still steep in poverty, sometimes not even finding enough petrol to feed her economy despite being the biggest oil producer in Africa.

This contrasts the president of Brazil, Lula Da Silva who used to be a shoe shine boy and street vendor but is increasingly turning his country into economic power house thereby steering his country into economic independence and freedom. Where did Yar' Dua leave his thinking cap when he became president or what did he graduated from? I want to know because I still wonder why they are not applying what they learnt in school to free their countries from the international disgrace and weakness that have come to be associated with the continent. A poor Cuban seeking to leave her communist country said she "would be prepared to go anywhere except Africa". When asked why she said "how can I jump out of a frying pan into fire?" Meaning she cannot leave a bad situation in Cuba and get into a worse one in Africa.

In a conversation with a female Professor in Stockholm, Sweden about the poverty situation in Africa she asked angrily "well the leadership in Gabon claim to have used the huge oil revenue for infrastructure investment but is that the reality on the ground?" She continued, "Democratic Republic of Congo is a mess, Angola, Congo and Equatorial Guinea are an eyesore and as for Nigeria well I reserve my comment".

The monumental failures on the part of African leaders have given birth to the phrase 'Africa South of the Sahara' and the leaders seem to be happy with that phrase. Black African leaders have accepted the phrase with all the negative connotations it carries without reacting to challenge it. The phrase in its proper sense refers to a part of Africa which does not count in global politics; a toddler in everything important in the world, a backward part of the continent that continues to stand still while the rest of humanity is moving forward both technologically and scientifically. Africa whose people live in darkness despite 365 days of sunshine and availability of solar technology to convert the sunshine into solar energy.

It means Africa which is so poor in economic, social and political sense despite being rich in natural resources and hard working people: an Africa which is so poorly governed, whose leaders are corrupt and lack the capacity to plan and to initiate any programme of development on their own without being told to do so or helped by outsiders.

Africa where infrastructure decay is a norm, where rural life is nothing but a condemnation to abject poverty, hopelessness, misery and frustration.

Africa where ethnicity and tribalism are exploited by corrupt dictators and opportunists bringing a wave of negative tendencies of cronyism, nepotism, corruption and conflicts in its trail. Africa where politicians are happy to exploit the ignorance and illiteracy that have enslaved and prevented its people from taking their rightful place in the world community of continents.

Africa that has not learnt anything from its colonial experience and whose leaders continue to dance to the tune of Western and Chinese rhythm to their own peril; Africa which can be and is being recolonised by China and its rival competitors in Europe and North America through their multinational corporations. (Have you heard of Africom)? Africa whose leaders can be bought by multinational corporations with some few thousand dollars and allow multinational corporations to plunder their resources without any accountability.

Africa which is both economically and politically fragmented, have no common foreign policy, and no economic, immigration and agricultural policies and whose leaders see no wisdom in unity and are without a mouth in world affairs.

Africa which is so militarily weak and technologically paralysed to defend itself against external forces, their ideologies, philosophies and cultural pollution.

Africa whose leadership are morally bankrupt to criticise one another. Africa whose leaders have great ideas about how to rig and win elections, kill journalists, stifle press freedom, freedom of speech and association but have not the slightest idea as to how to fight chronic poverty. Africa whose leaders prefer to steal from their countries and bank their loot in foreign countries instead of using the money to build roads, hospitals, railway tracks, irrigation facilities, schools, electricity, housing and other social and economic infrastructures for the development and benefit of their own people. It symbolizes Africa where natural resources are a curse rather than a blessing.

It implies Africa where an illiterate soldier with a gun in hand can easily become a president of a country tomorrow. Examples are Yahyah Jammeh of Gambia, Moussa Camara of Guinea, Gaddafi of Libya, Joseph Kabila of DRC, Mamadou Tandja of Niger, Museveni of Uganda, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz of Mauritania, Al Bashir of Sudan, François Bozize of Central African Republic, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Valentine Strasser of Sierra Leone, Sergeant Doe of Liberia, and Kolingba and Jean-Bedel Bokasa of Central African Republic.

Egypt a purely desert country and a member of 'Africa north of the Sahara' recently sent food aid to Uganda, a country rich in minerals, soil, natural lakes, rivers but whose leaders see no wisdom in employing irrigation technology that could be used to increase food production to reduce hunger.

The phrase also signifies Africa which continues to beg for and depend on foreign aid despite sitting on huge natural wealth. It means Africa which in spite of its cash trapped economy its leaders continue to siphon at least $148bn annually into their safe haven accounts in foreign countries notably Switzerland, Monaco. Instead of money flowing from rich countries in the global north into poor one in the global south including Africa, it is the rather the other way round, an act that defies any economic wisdom.

It stands for a continent which continues to depend heavily on natural resource exploitation as the main economic activity and which sees diversification as unimportant despite the dangers of depending on raw material export.

It represents Africa where women are treated as second class citizens, denied political representation and are coerced and used as sex objects and commodities by those in power. Africa where child bearing is a matter of life and death, where pregnant mothers die of preventable causes of deaths; where so many children die before they reach the age of five; where child labour and child poverty are the norm, and where both rural and urban children grow without proper education, healthcare, food, shelter, clothing and without future or hope.

It also means Africa where economic hardship put people on death roll and cut short young bright lives. Africa where there is no mortgage, safety net for the poor and the aged and where owning a house or a car can be as daunting as climbing Everest. That is the true meaning of 'Africa South of the Sahara' which the leaders have accepted without a fight.

Most of these leaders make annual pilgrimage to London, Washington, Tokyo, Berlin, Beijing and see the infrastructures and the living standards of the people in these countries yet nothing pricks them to help their countries to do the same. When they are sick they are quick to take the next available plane to America, Europe or North Africa for treatment but forget to build the same hospitals and other institutions and infrastructures for the good of their countries. After blaming their monumental failures on colonialism and slavery they have now found a new scapegoat: climate change and with it they can continue with their decades of inaction without having to lose anything.

Yoweri Museveni seems to be okay living in his palace enjoying almost three decades of his loot of Ugandan resources with his family and cronies. Obiang Nguema and his circle of friends live in their mansions surrounded by bodyguards yet the only 600, 000 people in his oil rich country live in 18th century conditions and likewise Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville and Dos Santos of Angola.

The black African leader will accept bribe from companies and interest groups to stop implementing policies, programmes and projects that could help alleviate poverty in his country. The failure of Omar Bongo of Gabon to make his country the Switzerland of Africa can largely be linked to the hundreds of millions of dollars he received as bribe from Elf which allowed the company to loot Gabon's oil proceeds.

It is sad despite being the continent's biggest oil exporter Nigeria does not have a well developed petrochemical industry and has to import most of her oil products abroad. How come Cameroon is so poor when the country exports oil every day? How come Equatorial Guinea is so poor when it is the third biggest oil exporting nation in Africa?

How come Angola is mired in deep poverty when oil revenues bring the country billions of dollars annually? How come Nigerians live in 18th century environment when oil proceeds flow into the country every day? The answer is the leaders. They are corrupt, power hungry, arrogant, ignorant, illiterate and visionless buffoons, who can neither think out of the box or understand what it means to be president, prime minister, senator, MP, councillor, Assemblyman, or a chief and who prey on the ignorance and powerlessness of their people to stay in power while amassing wealth at the expense of their countries. Chief among them is Yahyah Jammeh a murderer, blood sucker, sometimes a president, sometimes HIV/AIDS healer who makes a mockery of himself and the seat of the presidency in The Gambia and who like the rest of his colleagues in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, CAR, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania and Ivory Coast cannot devise plans to steer their countries out of economic predicament.

They are what Ghanaians call 'Konongo kaya' which literally means saboteurs who will not raise a finger to do anything to help their countries and yet will not allow others to do it. Saboteurs whose continuous stay in power is the cause of Africa's woes and underdevelopment. If you happen to be in economic or business class and economic or development regions is discussed you will be surprised to know how Africa is bypassed several times even though it is strategically located at the centre of the globe. The discussion moves from North America to Europe to South East Asia then back to Latin America and to the Middle East without the mention of Africa. All these leaders do not seem to worry about it. They are not bothered because they themselves are aware of the tragedy they are causing Africa, they know they are the cause, they are saboteurs and enemies of Africa's progress and development.

Black African leaders must put on their thinking caps. It is very disheartening to see women, and children die of starvation in many parts of Africa. At least we know these leaders don't care but at least they should give the people the chance they need to initiate their own development. I hope that some of the advice I have offered will be adhered to by the leaders so that Africa can also take her rightful position in the world community of nations.

Breaking the Poverty Cycle in Africa-the Case of Infrastructure Investment

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Infrastructure investment and democracy as a form of government in Africa is the only solution to Africa’s underdevelopment and impoverishment. The continent is lagging behind all the continents in the world in terms of economic and social development. All the countries making up the African continent have similar economic problems namely unemployment, higher deficits, poor state of economic and social infrastructures including roads, harbours, education, airports, telecommunication, health and sanitation.

Centuries of slavery and colonialism deprived the continent of her able human and economic resources. Where as the able men and women were carried away to work in the plantations of the Americas (in all about 30 – 40 million), the natural resources where looted by the European countries namely Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy. After slavery was abolished the looting of the natural resources continued. The irony is that virtually all the income from these resources was used to finance the economic and the infrastructural development of the European countries with little or nothing used to develop the various countries where these resources came from. A clear example is the case of Democratic Republic of Congo where King Leopold II of Belgium enslaved the Africans, forced them to work without pay, killed about 10 million and looted the country of her resources and virtually nothing was used to invest in the country except guns which the Belgium army used to kill the Africans. When the DRC was transferred from Leopold II to the Belgium state the looting and killing continued till DRC gained her independence in the 1960s. In fact DRC (Congo Free State) was the main supplier of rubber a vital raw material for the tyre industry and all the money from the sale of the rubber went to Belgium. King Leopold II was able to transform Belgium as one of the poorest countries in Europe into one of the wealthiest courtesy the enslavement and looting of Africans and their resources.

Belgium was not alone in what they did to the continent. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy all looted Africa of her gold, diamond, ivory, timber, cobalt, and all the minerals you can think of. The Africans who resisted the illegal activities were killed in their millions as happened in South West Africa (now Namibia) where the Germans in 1904 to 1907 committed the first genocide of the 20th Century by killing the Herero and the Namaqua people. While Europe became richer Africa became poorer and the trend continued till the 1950s when the African countries started to gain their ‘independence’beginning with Libya in 1951, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia all in 1956 and Ghana in 1957.

With little or no investment in the continent the various post colonial governments inherited countries with practically no infrastructure: roads, rails, harbours, telecommunications, education, health and sanitation and airports. The only areas which saw some few infrastructure investments during the colonial days were those where raw materials were heavily extracted. The attainment of independence did not come on silver Plata. Algeria, Zimbabwe, Angola, Kenya, Namibia and to some extent South Africa all attained their independence from their colonial masters through arm struggles and in most cases the few infrastructures that existed were destroyed due to the conflict.

As if slavery, colonialism and the looting of the continent’s resources were not enough the continent became a battle ground during the Cold War as the two super powers and their allies battled for influence and control on the continent mainly for her resources. As a result many African governments who were deem to be pro-Russia or America were overthrown using the military. A case in point was the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana on February 24th ,1966.Another example is the overthrow and assassination of Patrice Lumumba of Congo on January 17th 1961.Other leaders such as Nelson Mandela were imprisoned for either advocating for independence or improvement of conditions of Africans. CIA and the western intelligence community have been implicated for engineering the assassinations and overthrow of elected leaders of Africa. For example Larry Devlin, the CIA Station Chief in Congo during Patrice Lumumba’s days spoke to Washington Post in December 2008 saying he refused an order to assassinate Patrice Lumumba but his refusal did not stop the CIA and the Belgium government from overthrowing and assassinating him. The assassination attempt on Gamal Nasser of Egypt on 24th October 1954 and the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 were alleged to be the work of Britain M16 due to their refusal to hand over the administration of the Suez Canal the British. The CIA, KGB and their allies encouraged and financed wars and political instabilities throughout the continent. Angola became the battle ground for the CIA, KGB and the Chinese as each tried to gain control over the country, her people and resources. The civil war that engulfed the country in 1975 only ended in 1991 after 26 years of conflict. When the war ended the few infrastructures that remained after the war of independence (1961-1974) were gone.

The product of these assassinations and coups were the political instabilities and the wanting destruction of lives and property including infrastructures that have bedevilled Africa till today. As the elected leaders of the continent were assassinated, overthrown and subjected to all forms of cold war tactics including bribery, arm twisting and blackmail the continent degenerated and faulted on all aspects of human endeavour. The new crop of leaders who replaced the post colonial independence leaders and who were largely puppets of the European and American governments became increasingly authoritarian and corrupt. Joseph Mobutu Seseseku who became the choice of the Americans after they help to assassinate Lumumba ruled Congo for 32 years and in those years the country became poorer as Mobutu and his cronies got richer and the western countries notably USA and her allies had free hand looting the mineral resources most importantly cobalt a very important mineral needed for missile development. Little infrastructure activities was carried out by Mobutu. As a result Congo today can only be accessed by boats and canoes mainly through the River Congo.

As tyrants and dictators gained the support of western governments and did whatever they wanted with their economies without questions their people became poorer and hopelessness and desperation were the hallmarks of their lives. As the little money that came into government coffers were taken by corrupt government officials and civil servants there were almost no money to carry out infrastructural development and the poverty deepened. Poverty, desperation and hopelessness visited the people and coupled with their inability to change their leaders democratically, dissents were sowed among the population which serve as breeding grounds for more coups, civil wars and civil disturbances. This was evidence in Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, Algeria, Gabon, Togo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sierra Leone all experienced coups in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and even in the early 1990s. These waves of coups were followed by civil wars that hit Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Congo, Chad, CAR, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Angola, Niger and Guinea. These wars apart from it human cost also contributed to the destruction of roads, harbours, airports, rail lines, telecommunications, hospitals, schools and many more. With the absence of infrastructures the countries have been unable to make any headway in terms of economic development. To reverse centuries of slavery and colonialism on one hand and decades of coups and civil wars on the other hand, governments should focus their attention on building the infrastructures on the continent.

This is because the state of infrastructures on the continent is nothing to write home about: the roads, harbours, telecommunications, health, education, market and airport are either none existence or are in a state to appalling to describe. We have neglected the few that have existed to decay yet we have forgotten that no continent or nation no matter the size of the natural resources that she has can develop without investing in infrastructure. That is why Democratic Republic of Congo has every mineral you can think of yet they are one of the poorest on the continent. That is why Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong have developed and that is why President Elect Obama is talking about building US infrastructures because they are the engines that run the economy. You cannot export if you do not have harbours and airports to support it. You cannot attract tourists if you do not have airport, hotels and other infrastructure that support it. You cannot move goods from centres of production to centres of consumption if you do not have roads, rail lines and inland water infrastructure to deliver it. You cannot supply the industries with doctors, architects, bankers, lawyers, planners, engineers, teachers, nurses if you do not have the educational infrastructure to deliver it. And you cannot run an efficient and vibrant economy if you do not have the energy and telecommunication infrastructures in place. Africa has been experiencing serious disruptions in the energy sector for years and no government has seen any wisdom to solve. As a result factories are folding up and are laying off workers and we are waiting for nature to help fill our dams before we rectify the problem. Could these do nothing approaches to problem solving help our continent and nations to develop? What are we doing with the abundance of sunshine on the continent? We have not taken advantage of it, have we? We have sunshine 365 days and we have not tap into solar energy which is cheap and more reliable than hydro. It is another indication of the useless institutions that we have and lip service paid by the various political parties and their leaders to development. Look around yourselves and see if any of the goods you see are made in Africa. I mean the mobile phones, computers, televisions, cars and all the flashy things that Africans are crazing for. It is sad to note that almost all the raw materials needed to build these mobile phones, cars etc are obtained from countries on the continent.

To appreciate the importance of infrastructure as the bedrock of the continent’s development let us consider transportation infrastructure in a country for example. The development of every country is strongly dependent on a reliable transportation infrastructure system for internal transportation and for linking rural communities to market centres. The role of infrastructure to the economy of a nation cannot be overemphasized especially its effect on sustainable development, GDP growth, inflation, and poverty reduction. Efficient and effective provision of transportation infrastructure in a nation underlines all attempts to reduce poverty.

Transportation infrastructure plays essential role by unifying all sectors of the economy including agriculture, health, education, trade, industries, and services. It is therefore said that transportation is the life wire of the economy. Without transport infrastructure social and economic activities and development in general will stagnate. Transport infrastructure ensures that raw materials are brought to the factory, while industrial finished goods are also distributed to market centres and communities where they are mostly needed. Agriculture commodities such as food crops are made available to urban dwellers through roads, rails, airports and harbours. Transportation infrastructure also ensures that services produced elsewhere are available where they are needed and at appropriate time.

Transportation infrastructure again makes the administration of political entities such as districts, boroughs and regions easy because it provides access to social infrastructural facilities such as schools, clinics, hospitals, markets, security services, and administrative offices. Transportation infrastructure has a correlation in the improvement of the overall living standards of people living in both rural and urban communities. It improves the quality of life of the people and has added advantage of ensuring rapid growth and sustainable development and has a long run effect of alleviating poverty.

In areas where transportation infrastructure facilities are unavailable or have deteriorated in the serious difficulties are encountered in the production, distribution and marketing of goods and services. Such situations also have negative implications for the patronage of goods and services produced as well as usage of such facilities such as clinics, hospitals, markets, and schools. This has a negative repercussion on the state and quality of life of the people affected by such situations as well as a down trodden effect on production and productivity levels in the areas where the transportation infrastructure condition is bad. It is a well recognized fact that transportation infrastructure and for that matter all infrastructure investments have correlations in development and hence the standard of living of the people.

To move the continent away from its current predicament, public transportation infrastructure works should be carried out by all governments. Fast speed rail lines should be constructed to link the various parts of the continent. This will make the transport of bulky raw materials and goods easier. Roads should be constructed to make transportation less difficult. River Nile which is the longest river in the world should be developed as a major internal water transportation network so that goods could be transported up and down the stream. The other major rivers such as the Limpopo, Zambezi, Congo, Niger all should be developed to make it possible for goods and people to move easily. Every effort should be made to develop the technology that will harness the solar energy potential of the Sahara Desert so as to make access to energy easily.

Major harbours such as those in Durban, Cape Town, Lagos, Tema, Mombasa, Port Said, Tunis, Tripoli and Benghazi should be developed be expanded if necessary and every effort should be made to remove every administration bottleneck and bureaucracy that will cripple trade and development. The airport infrastructure should be developed to make it easier for people to move with ease throughout the continent. The international airports in each country should be expanded if need be and should be equipped with modern technology to make less cumbersome for passengers to go through. Besides bureaucracies, administration bottlenecks, delays that inhibit easy flow of people should be eliminated. Therefore there should be a common immigration policy which is well streamlined to take care of the people. The benefit of transportation investment is enormous and therefore should be given a priority.

If we can benefit so much from transportation infrastructure then how about our education sector upon which the development of the continent and our nations rest? The education infrastructures on the continent and in our nations have not been developed. Have they? Look at the world ranking of Universities and see where the first university on the continent falls. Can we afford to develop the continent and our nations with low quality graduates not to mention the millions of illiterates and semi-literates that roam around the continent and in our countries? Of the about 9,760 Accredited universities in the World, less than 10 universities were able to make it the top 500 and even those that made it about 90% came from South Africa which is the most developed country on the continent (source: topuniversities.com). It is abundantly clear that our education system is not producing the architects, engineers, planners, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, social workers, nurses and the scientists that we need in the 21st Century. That is why every major architectural and engineering activity on the continent is undertaken by foreigners and foreign companies especially from USA, Japan, China, India and Europe. And any continent and for that matter any nation that depends on foreign expertise for her survival is doom to fail in the long run.

The Universities lack well trained lecturers. They lack modern facilities such as state of the art libraries, laboratory simulation facilities, studios, computers, and books. They lack them because we cannot build them; we cannot build them because the curricula have not prepared our students to build them. As a result we have to import the equipments and books from countries that have done their home work well and have invested heavily in education notably in science and technology. In many of our universities, Polytechnics and secondary schools lecturers/teachers are still teaching students the same way the 19th century academic institutions taught forgetting that we are in the 21st century. The same notes given a final year student four years ago are still being given to first year students with no addition and subtraction. Lecturers cannot write books for students because they do not have the resources to carry out research that form the basis of any academic material.

Whereas students in advanced countries get their hands on books immediately they are released those on the continent have to wait 4 years or even more to get the same books. What is more the academic facilities including libraries are in a state too appalling to describe. Not a single of our universities can boast of more than two million volumes of books in their libraries. Even the few books that they have are so old that information contained in them are useless. Very few books have been published by Africans. Due to this most students have to rely on the notes that lecturers give them. This is state of our universities and the little I say about our Polytechnics and secondary schools (High Schools) the better. Our research institutions have achieved very little because they are underfunded and the researchers do not have the expertise and the facilities to carry out any meaningful research. A case in point is Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) located at New Tafo in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Despite decades of its existence Ghana still exports raw cocoa beans for peanuts. No value has been added to the cocoa. CRIG has not been able to come up with other ways in which to use the beans to benefit Ghanaians despite the mounting evidence that the beans have several potential uses. In order to make Africa continent and the governments should make education a priority. They should as matter of urgency and of necessity invest in educational infrastructure.

In addition to these institutions of higher learning should be structured to produce engineers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, sociologists and all the various human resource needed for nation building. Exchange programmes should be established between the institutions and universities on the continent so that students on the continent could meet, interact and share ideas. Every effort should be used to raise the learning and quality of learning on the continent. Effort should be made to attract Africans in the Diaspora to come and share their expertise with their colleagues and contribute their knowledge towards the development of the continent. Research institutions should be established across the continent and funding provided to them to come up with how the various natural resources on the continent could be used to benefit the people. With the right human resource capacity Africans could now embark on their journey of liberating her people from poverty

How about the state of the housing infrastructure? A visit to any village or town gives the same picture of poor housing and poor quality of public service. People are living in mud/thatched houses with bamboo or raffia leaf as roofing sheet with no electricity, potable water and clinics. They live in a subsistence environment without social security, health insurance and are condemned to poverty, desperation and hopelessness. Those living in urban areas are without jobs, without mortgage, and face high utility bills with poor service. They face constant barrage of water and energy disruptions everyday. In every country, region, district the situation is not different. On the other hand our MPs, ministers, vice presidents, the presidents and political leaders, their cronies and families live in total luxury with mansions, SUVs, bodyguards, fat salaries, fat bonuses, house servants and they have all the resources of the continent at their disposal. Yet they claim to be serving the people. How can it be? Governments should invite the private sector to take part in the delivery of housing. Land and other service infrastructure such water, electricity and waste management should be provided to make it less difficult for the private sector to join.

Look at the state of the agricultural sector. How many of our farmers have their own tractors and farming equipments to produce beyond the level of subsistence? Virtually none. Nearly all the important equipments needed to make the agric sector viable and productive have to be imported and how many of our farmers have their own resources to buy even the basic machinery to expand their farms? Although we are in the 21st Century yet our farming practices indicate that we have still not moved beyond the 19th century. This is the more reason why we continue to hunger even though rich soils abound in Africa. During the early part of the 2008 financial crisis violence broke out in Egypt, Sierra Leone and in many other countries on the continent. Why is this so? The answer is we have neglected the sector for quite too long. Farmers have no access to irrigation which can make farming all year round possible. They have to rely on nature for rain before they can start planting. They have no access to credits could help them to expand their farms. Yet Ethiopia for example could afford millions of dollars to buy military hardware while famine threatens to annihilate her people. She cannot afford tractors and irrigation equipments that could help put food on the table and bring back her people’s dignity. Lack of agricultural infrastructure has brought famine to millions on the continent. There are no silos for storage during bumper harvest. No roads to producing areas. We under utilise our land for lack of political commitment. We cannot develop our economies if we fail to invest in infrastructure.

Besides, trade among the countries should be encouraged at all levels. Africans must know that together they stand or fall and therefore the old politics of former colonial master first and neighbours second should be discouraged and stopped straightway. This is the more reason why it is so important that these countries trade among themselves, develop their market, share their resources so that the lives of their citizens will improve. The continent should not be allowed to serve as the dumping ground for European manufactured goods. Import substitution industries should be adopted widely on the continent and trade should be encouraged at all levels. The era where raw materials with little added value are exported for peanuts should be given the boot. As the Americans used to say to the Japanese‘if Japan wants a share of the American market then their goods should be manufactured right here in America. The same yardstick should apply to any company or country that wants a share of the African raw material.

All national interests should give way to a common interest for the good of the people on the continent and the allegiance and influence of outside bodies should be treated as detraction. Africa and her people must be given a serious consideration in all matters of economic, social and political developments. The old philosophy of selling out the continent to international cartels and corporation should be given the boot. Africans should know that the Europeans, Americans and their Bretton Wood Institutions have no interest to see them develop at best they would rather that slavery and colonialism were back.

The above mentioned issues should be given a priority if Africa is to break away from the cycle of poverty which the people have endured for decades if not centuries.

Hope that the 21st Century will be different for the continent. Hope that infrastructure building will be given a higher priority by the various African Union members.