In the Heat of Africa's Underdevelopment

W. Forje

Description

The ever growing disparity in living standards between the developed and developing polities constitutes a striking feature of life on Planet Earth. This publication is an attempt to highlight some of the factors dividing the worlds apart. A new North-South synergy is needed in creating a balanced world at peace with itself. As long as more than half-the population of the world go to bed hungry there can be no peace. A sting rich world and a sting poor world cannot cohabit peacefully. How to build a more equitable and balanced world is the challenge facing us. We need to embrace and practice our long-aged concepts of �ubuntu�, �harambee� and �batho pele� among others in creating, and consolidating the new world order. Africa is underdeveloped. It requires serious structural modification in our current mindset, thinking and actions which calls for total involvement of every citizen. The ideas advanced in this book are strategies and pathways for dealing with the problems of poverty, corruption, the distribution of power, deterrence, good governance, health, human capacity building and the challenge of bringing about a systemic structural-functional governance construct for the African continent.

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 23 août 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789956551484
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 15 Mo

Extrait

In the Heat of Africa’s Underdevelopment In the Heat of Africa’s Underdevelopment Africa at the Crossroads –Time to Deliver

John W. Forje

IN THE HEAT OF AFRICA’S UNDERDEVELOPMENT Africa at the Crossroads – Time to Deliver John W. Forje

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: 9956-550-95-7 ISBN-13: 978-9956-550-95-1 ©John W. Forje 2019 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

Acknowledgements Although small, it is precious and held in high esteem. In The Heat of Africa’s Underdevelopmentcould not have been written without accumulating tons of debts to many people known and unknown to me. Without doubts, my greatest debt is to the many journals, organizations, scholars, and writers who have ventured into this area with vast literature which in various stimulated as well as crystallized my thoughts including with whom I sharply hold different views on the continents current state of underdevelopment and exploitation; and how to find a way out of the prevailing dilemma. My special thanks go to Professor Njimanted who found time in the wake of his increasing work load to write the foreword; to my wife, who in spite of academic commitments pushed many ideas into my head; and the children and grandchildren, Gert, Ellinor, Lina, Noah and William for being wonderful, helpful and providing supportive assistances in many ways ever since I scribbled the first lines of this publication; and to friends and family members who pushed me along. Many thanks to my publisher and especially colleagues and students for the motivation. To readers, for sacrificing their time in browsing through the pages of the book so that we can jointly make a significant difference and contribution in building the Africa We Want. Have great fun as you read through my rambling thoughts and let us all collaborate in building a great continent. JWF

Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................... vii Foreword ........................................................................... ix Introduction: Dangerous crossing or what? ..................... xi Chapter One Africa’s Curse and Blessings: The Mineral Resource and Manufacturing Paradigm. An Analytical, Developmental and Comparative Perspective Approach within the Context of FOCAC........................................... 1 Chapter Two Wrong Education Reinforces Exploitation in Equality and Underdevelopment: What Africa Must Do ........................................................ 65 Chapter Three Debunking Africa’s Golden Age of Scientific Evolution - Exploiting the Latecomer Advantage in Building the Africa We Want ........................................................... 113 Chapter Four Articulating a New Public Sector Reform towards Enhancing Good Governance and Quality Services Delivery in Africa............................................................... 147 Chapter Five Repositioning Africa’s Public Administration within the Context of Achieving United Nations Sustainable Development

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Goals (SDGs) 2030: and African Union (AU) Agenda 2063: Challenges and Prospects for Constructing the Africa We Want................................ 179 Chapter Six Moving Towards Integrated Public Governance; Improving Socioeconomic Aspects of Migration, Integration, Development and Poverty Alleviation. Experience from Africa in Light of Western Xenophobic Attitude........................................... 201 Chapter Seven Unleashing Peoples Power: The Promise of a New Democratic Revolution and Evolution for Africa ................................. 215 Chapter Eight Facing the Challenges behind the Business Race in Africa: Escaping the Cross-Roads of Disaster and Despair..................................................... 243 Chapter Nine Unlocking Africa’s Economic Heart ................................ 273 Conclusion Getting Away from Scorn; Building a New Mindset and Decolonising Foreign Policy and Influence in Africa........................................... 307

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Preface The ever growing disparity in living standards between the developed and developing polities constitutes a striking feature of life on Planet Earth. This publication is an attempt to highlight some of the factors dividing the worlds apart. A new North-South synergy is needed in creating a balanced world at peace with itself. As long as more than half-the population of the world go to bed hungry there can be no peace. A sting rich world and a sting poor world cannot cohabit peacefully. How to build a more equitable and balanced world is the challenge facing us. It is not that such a world cannot be constructed. It is a question of overcoming our current egoistic attitude. What is happening is that there is in us and in inside the weird world a monster of greed haunting us. Can we have a new mindset that small amount of love, of give and take, of caring for one another? We need to embrace and practice our long-aged concepts of [‘ubuntu’, ‘harambee’ and ‘batho pele’] among others in creating, and consolidating the new world order. Africa missed out on its most articulated development plan (Lagos Plan of Action –LPA); we equally missed out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and run the risk of missing out in both the SDGs 2030 and AU Agenda 2063 if the right policy measures and implementation strategies are not put in place now. Everything that happens to Africa especially the stinking poor afterwards bears the stamp of not only the moment but inhibits long- term consequences even for the stinking rich. But in life, there are always patterns, however shallow, and they have a way of finding the stinking poor and neglected silent majority that one day things will get better. It is hoped a new vision, mindset and new ways of doing things emerges as we ponder through the different pages of the book. Just only a tiny fraction of the tips of the iceberg of the continent’s problems are taken up in this publication. Each chapter is well documented and can be read independently as discussions on numerous historical examples and contemporary situations pertinent to the subject without missing the very essence of the focal direction of the book which is educating the African public to articulate and

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own its development trajectories. Africa is underdeveloped. But it does not mean the people cannot rise again to claim its place among other nations of the world. It requires serious structural modification in our current mindset, thinking and actions which calls for total involvement of every citizen. This book could not have been written without accumulating heavy debts and the support of the various authors and sources, some known and unknown to me. I am grateful to all who directly or indirectly contributed to seeing the fruition of the publication. Needless to state that, the author alone remains responsible for the shortcomings of the publications. The book is intended for both experts and the general leader. The ideas advanced here are strategies and pathways for dealing with the problems we encounter, such as poverty, corruption, the distribution of power, deterrence, good governance, health, human capacity building and other tactic efforts necessary for a systemic structural-functional governance construct for the continent.

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Foreword In the Heat of Africa’s Underdevelopment:Africa at the Cross-roads, Time to deliveris an interesting book written with wisdom, rigour, skills and intellectual insights into the subject matter with a lot of reflection to the age of the author as well as his experiences. Other text books on the issue of underdevelopment are somehow difficult due to the fact that they look abstract even when all the illustrations have living examples drawn from the African continent. It is within this background that this book is conceived to provide readers with the time situation of the countries in the African continent. It identifies the potentials of the African man-made and natural disaster which could be examined under the paradox of curse against blessing. It provides a breakthrough in its comparative approach in overcoming the issues of underdevelopment which has to do with general poverty, resources underutilisation, dualistic economies, and exports bias and import concentration not leaving out culturalism. The book highlight issues of underdevelopment with focus to the mineral resource and manufacturing backwardness, wrong educational practice which enhances exploitation hence high degree of planted inequality as a fertile environment for underdevelopment. It also reminded Africans of the position of the endogenous growth hypothesis to African development as it is the case with the previous and their current dependence on the exogenous paradigms. John W. Forje (PhD) has acknowledged the fact that students and some users of developmental texts are bored by the volume of some of these texts and the difficulties associated with the extraction of the relevant substance since one has to read through so many pages to get the real message. These made the readers and learners sometimes confused rather than strengthen their understanding of the subject matter. This book,In the Heat of Africa’s Underdevelopment is easy to understand as dates, maps, tables, etc. are carefully explained to capture the interest of the users. An important feature of the book is its visibility, comprehensiveness and chronological presentation of the chapters and the visual instructional materials that follow. The

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