A Response

Dear Sammy,

Thank you for your prompt reply to my post and also for sending in your wonderful article. I really enjoyed reading it. It touched on some of the major challenges our continent is facing today. It also made me realize that even though the issues in West Africa differ from those in the East, our problems are similar in that they are uniquely, African. I relate strongly to the issues that you have raised and have commented on some of them below.

In regard to Africa’s role as a major economic player in the global arena, I agree with you that Africa’s human and natural resources, though exploited for centuries, have not been tapped in a manner that benefits the continent. Due to this, I feel Africa has a long way to go before it can play its rightful role in international trade. I have listed some of the factors I think are hindering this great continent from reaching it’s full potential.

First. By not developing their industries, African nations are not able to add value to their products. This compels them to a future as exporters of cheap raw materials, and importers of expensive finished goods. In Kenya for instance, where coffee is grown in abundance, very few natives can afford to buy a tin of Nescafe or any of the richly blended Kenyan grown coffee, which is processed in Europe and re-imported back as a high end product.

Second. The domestic policies rich Western nations have adopted are killing African industry. The farm subsidies the US government pays its farmers has created an unfair balance of trade in the international arena. African farmers are not able to compete with their European or American counterparts because of these imbalances. Attempts to level the playing field have been met by harsh protectionist reactions from Western policy makers, who in the same breath are arm-twisting African nations to open up their markets to Western goods.

Third. Africa is crippled in trade negotiations. The breadth and depth of negotiating teams Western governments front in both multilateral and bilateral trade meetings greatly outnumber those presented by African nations. It is simply too expensive for most African nations to send sufficient experts to represent them in trade negotiations. The cost of supporting the necessary number of negotiators and experts in NY, for instance, is beyond the budgets of many African states. This handicap overwhelms African nations in trade meetings, sometimes causing them to sign agreements they don’t fully understand or have not had sufficient time or the right expertise to decipher. Western nations know this and use it to their advantage to fulfill their national interests.

Fourth. There is a presence of external forces that do not wish to see Africa rise above its problems. Some Western nations benefit when there is chaos in Africa. It gives them easy access to the diamonds and gold. When there is chaos, these nations also have the opportunity to sell their guns and ammunition. They sponsor one rebel against another or help keep an oppressive authoritarian leader in power. Sometimes they even call in the CIA to assassin enlightened African leaders, as was done to Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. This is done in order to create the ‘right’ environment for a ‘healthy’ gun and minerals trade.

Fifth. Africa is its own worst enemy. Africa’s decay has been accelerated by undemocratic and corrupt leaders, who have stagnated economies and enslaved their people in massive debt. These leaders have misappropriated funds meant for development, education and health care, leading to massive breakdowns in infrastructure, high illiteracy levels and disease outbreaks and deaths through preventable illnesses.

Statistics show that many African economies have shrunk steadily since the 1970’s. Wars, civil strife and famine have created a new face for the African continent. Cries by human rights activists, civil society and right thinking individuals to help regions such as Darfur, continue to fall on deaf ears. Are Africans less human because they are poor? Is the measure of one’s life the value of what his nation has contributed to the global economy? Or is it as you put forward, “what's missing (is) a basic understanding of and appreciation for the true gift of life, the human spirit”.

Regards,

Mark Gaya