Africa's Dependency Syndrome

N. Mhango

Sujets

• Social sciences
• African Studies
• Regional Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 06 août 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 5
• EAN13: 9789956763092
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

There are milliards of off beam assumptions that Africa will always remain immobile in development of whatever type. This pseudo take has mainly been propounded by Western thinkers in order to dubiously make Africans internalise and reinforce this flimsy and flimflam dependency. Africa needs to embark on paradigm shift; and tweak and turn things around. Africa has what it take to do so quickly, especially now that new economic powers such as China and India are evolving as counterweight to the West. Shall Africa use these new economic forces to its advantage based on fair and win-win cooperation? To do so, Africa must make sure that it does not slink back into business as usual vis-a-vis beggarliness, dependence, frailty, gullibility, made-up backwardness, monkey business, and pipedreams, not to mention the nasty and narcissistic behaviours of its venal and navel-gazing rulers. Verily, Africa needs, inter alia, to use its God-given gifts, namely, immense resources, young population, abundance of vast and unexploited amounts of land. Equally, Africa must, without equivocation, invest copiously and earnestly in its people, the youth in the main. Most of all, Africa needs to shy away from all colonial carryovers and encumbrances. This volume shows many ways through and by which Africa can inverse the current imbroglio-cum-no- go it faces for the better; and thereby actualise the dream of being truly independent and prosperous.

NKWAZI MHANGO is the author of

AFRICA’S DEPENDENCY SYNDROME Can Africa Still Turn Things around for the Better?

Nkwazi N. Mhango

Africa’s Dependency Syndrome: Can Africa Still Turn Things around for the Better?

Nkwazi N. Mhango

L a ng a a R esea rch & P u blishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com

ISBN-10: 9956-762-11-3

ISBN-13: 978-9956-762-11-8 ©Nkwazi N. Mhango 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements…………….……….………… v

Preface………………..………………….…………vii

Abbreviations……………………………………… xiii

Chapter 1: Aid Dependency and Aid

Vicious Circle………………………………………1

Chapter 2: What Africa Needs Socially? ………… 59

Chapter 3: World’s Duty-Bound

Responsibility to Africa……………………………95

Chapter 4: The New Scramble for Africa…………117

Chapter 5: How Did It Start and

What Should Be Done? ……………...…………… 135

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Chapter 6: What Africa Should

Do Politically? …………..…………………………153

Chapter 7: Africa Still Has the

Wherewithal for Development………….…………179

Chapter 8: How Should Africa Address

Economic Quandaries? ………………..…….……199

Conclusion………………………………………… 211

References……………….………………………… 213

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Acknowledgements This volume would not have seen the light of the day had my wife Nesaa not stood by my side. I wholeheartedly acknowledge her immense and unconditional help and support. So, too, my brother, friend and mentor, Prof Sean Byrne did a lot to convince me that I can still churn wealth materials. My brother Prof Munyaradzi Mawere as well kept on bugging me to write even more. Prof Jessica Senehi also encouraged me a lot not to mention Brothers, Sirili Akko (Arusha-Tanzania); and Salih Hassan Ibrahim (Winnipeg, MB, Canada) who always want to be the first to read my books. Langaa Publishers have always been instrumental in my writing. Our children Ng’ani (Nyanyi), Nkuzi (Kuji) and Nkwazi Jr., (Genius) have always inspired me to do more. I, therefore, disingenuously acknowledge and appreciate all who in a way or another contributed to making me who I am today.

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Preface This book is intended to act as a wakeup call, if not an eye opener, for African countries to take their destiny into their hands. It aims at encouraging Africans to negate the dependency they have been forced to accept as true while it is a hoax based on the propensities and resources Africa boasts having. Mhango [forthcoming] argues that dependency in some cultures, especially collectivistic ones, is wealth based on Social Capital Theory under which “social relationships among people" can be productive resources” (Coleman 1988 cited in Chiu, Hsu and Wang 2006: 1875). However, the same is vice versa in individualistic culture. Although it is not the first book to have embarked on such a journey, I believe it will add up to the call for Africa to turn things around for the better so that it can do away with pointless dependency while it actually sits on humungous resources of high value (Mhango 2015; 2016). In my journey to addressing the problems that Africa has faced for many decades, I am showing where the said problems lie and what should be done to turn things around for the better based on the present opportunities such as investing in science and technology, the rise of China and India, and competition these emerging powers are going to cause. However, there is a caution here that the coming of China and India may end up exacerbating exploitation if Africa is not going to play its cards smartly. The difference this book makes is the fact that the author is optimistic that Africa will one day turn things around for the better. And the difference the book is the fact that the author exclusively and specifically shows how Africa can turn things around. However, this will not be a walk to the park. It needs a lot of soul searching, commitment and high moral authority for African leadership to start thinking like dignified humans-cum-

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creatures. For, in many African cultures, nobody should live on charity or handouts from someone without having any means or plans to reciprocate or returning the charity. It is from this backdrop, among others, that Africans never know any social assistance provided by the government. Instead, they are the ones that offer social assistance to the government through their taxes and labours that many corrupt Africa mumbo jumbos spend without any gist of accountability or remorse. As argued, this volume is different from many books that have addressed the issue of Africa’s dependency. While many scholars have appointed one or a few particular issues to address, this book takes a multifaceted approach of addressing many issues in one volume. While many scholars such as Walter Rodney, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Didia Dal, Munyaradzi Mawere, Francis Nyamnjoh and many more have addressed one side of the coin by blaming colonialism on everything on foreign causes of its destabilisation, underdevelopment, poverty and whatever ills Africa faces, this book, to the contrary, blames both sides namely the colonial powers and African governments that took over after colonialism for the quandaries Africa has been in. Eme (2013) notes that the approach the so-called international community– led by the United Nations (UN)–was more or less a treatment of symptoms instead of causes, and the gap gradually widened between the so-called developed and less developed countries of this world (p. 118). Ironically, despite this anomaly being known for a long time, nothing has ever been done to address it. Instead, it has been reinforced and internalised so as to become the new normalcy if not thesine qua none of development–that has never been actualised–for Africa. To do justice for both sides so that they can see their contribution to the quandaries Africa is in historically, I have decided to implicate both sides not just because I wanted to do so. It is because of the roles they intentionally or unintentionally

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played in creating the cleft stick for Africa this volume addresses. This is why it is stated from the outset that Africa needs to venture into both sides of the divide when it comes to its anguishes and stumbling blocks in its efforts to turn things around for the better. Essentially, this approach helps the duo to see their culpability or the role they played so as to accept liability; and thus, thereby help each other by working together to address the problem they both created either by commission or omission. On the one hand, there are problems that are purely colonial that caused Africa’s underdevelopment, dependency and poverty. While, on the other hand, there are some causes and problems that are purely African either committed intentionally or otherwise all depending on how one looks at them epistemologically based on the true history of Africa. You can divide these problems in two categories namely external and internal or inflicted and self-inflicted ones. So, too, the said problems can be divided into three typologies namely economic, political and social. For, if we critically examine the concepts of development, dependency and underdevelopment, we find that Africa has never depended on the West. Instead the reality is vice versa. This is so if we avoid manipulative politics that has become therealpolitikof the current world where lies are made truth and vice versa. If anything, this is the line of logic Africans need to know. Again, how will they know this and why? They need to teach each other the reality about their predicaments so that they can see the problem in its true colours. Knowing this reality will encourage them to ask very crucial questions: Why should they depend on us but tell us the opposite? If our dependency is a myth, does it mean we can demystify it and move forward just like others humans and societies in Europe and Asia did? This volume strives for justice for Africa and anybody else. The underlining philosophy is that charity always begins at home. One needs to do justice for him or herself before

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