African Economic History

PROGRAM : BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN

EDUCATION

COURSE CODE : HIST 322

LECTURER’S NAME :DR. FLORA MUTWIRI

STUDENT'S NAME : MULE ALEX MULI

REGISTRATION NUMBER : EDA-1-5322-3/2020

TASK : DLM ASSIGNMENT

SEMESTER : 03/ 2021

SUBMISSION MODE : EMAIL

TASK

'' The failure of the ex-colonial territories in tropical Africa to achieve sustained
economic growth cannot be entirely be blamed on the legacy of colonial rule''.
Citing examples from African countries, show how far you agree with this
statement.
SOLUTION
Ex – colonial territories in the above question refers to African countries that were primarily
collaborated by European nations. The Europeans mistreated African’s and looted off our available
economic resources. They excessively mined minerals like gold, copper, salt among many others. The
mined minerals were to benefit the colonial government while African’s who worked in the mines were
awarded little or no penny for the hard work they did. Despite of the colonial harsh economic
exploitations in African countries, we cannot entirely blame them for the poor economic growth and
poor development of African countries.

Most of causes of underdevelopment can be attached to poor governance of African countries. After
colonial administration era, so many years have passed which can account to rebuilding of one’s
economy which had been distorted by the colonial governments. The system of governance since
colonial era have been poor making countries economic system to fall. This has made economy to be of
less value than the one that existed in the colonial period.

Greed of power has been another hindrance to economic development. Its only in African continent
where we can attribute to the presidency of one term being Nelson Mandela of the republic of South
Africa. Other presidents are even in power since independence and others are been parted with the
presidential seat through death like Robert Mugabe Of Zimbabwe and many others.

Illiteracy is also one of the contributing factors to underdevelopment in the country. The illiteracy rate in
countries around Africa is very high. Poverty is also a cause of illiteracy. Poverty is one of the causes of
underdevelopment in Africa. Unfortunate events such as slave trade, wars and other bad incidents
contributes to high level of poverty. After wars people lose their belongings, properties and even family
members after which they end up losing shelter, food to eat or other basic necessities of life. This is
especially evident in war-torn countries around Africa.,

Over one billion people are living in poverty, lacking safe water, housing, food, and the ability to read.
There is a high concentration of communities in poverty in Africa; particularly central Africa. States that are
considered in central Africa are the following: Cameroon, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Central Republic
Of Africa, Chad, Equatorial Guinea And The Congo. The majority of these central African states’ economies
are dependent on agriculture. As a result of this dependency, natural disasters, droughts and wars can
displace subsistence farmer from their land resulting in poverty becoming even more prevalent and harder
to come back from.

Sub-Saharan Africa And the Challenge Of Food Security

In effect, problems such as excess food shortage, starvation, as well as high mortality rate especially
children set in. Sub-Sahara Africa currently suffers this kind of harsh economic reality in most of the areas
under her coverage because of the socio-economic situation prevalent there-in. It is expected that
concrete measures would be put in place and implementation of such would not be neglected towards
revamping the continent and setting it forth for greater development comparable to that of Asia And
South America.
Humanitarian Crisis In South Sudan

With “food shortages, a deepening economic crisis, insecurity and insufficient funds…” (foa), South Sudan
has proven to be “one of the poorest countries in the world” (plos). This is a result of the government not
doing enough to help their citizens. The term “man-made crisis” appears in many articles, accusing the
government and the rebels for starting the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.

Trouble in Ethiopia:

Today Ethiopia is ranked 173rd of 187 countries on the human development index the country has
struggled with civil wars within the country, and conflicts in neighboring states. Not only have the people
suffered due to civil war, but the agriculturally based economy has been caught in the middle of the wars
and droughts which lead to famine. The political coalitions are the legacy of Ethiopia having been a pawn
in the cold war. There are many factors that have caused the current state of Ethiopia. The military
conflicts with Eritrea combined with disputes within Ethiopian borders have weakened the country, led to
starvation and inhibited progress.

The very violent history of Nigeria

Countless nations suffer from corrupt leaders and systems, forcing the people to fend for themselves in all
situations. Among the cruelest of these countries is Nigeria. Nigeria has been fraught with hardship ever
since its independence, but the situation was especially destructive during one particular regime beginning
in 1993. Under the rule of dictator Sani Abacha, Nigeria experienced its most horrific period of human
rights abuses and corruption, leading to domestic unrest and international uproar.

Lack of innovation and creation- this has lead to production of similar goods hence lack or unfavorable
trading conditions.

There is also a problem of over-reliance on foreign aid for support. Many African countries are facing this
challenge. Due to strings attached during foreign borrowing, many African countries end up importing
labor causing their own laborious to suffer from unemployment. Today, Western aid has largely lost its
rationale as a way to checkmate communism. Genuine altruism may now have more room to express
itself. But official aid is not straying far from its core business: the gaining of commercial and political
advantage for interests at home by colluding with clients abroad.

In the triumphal forward march of globalism to the beat of Anglo-Saxon drums, aid is one means of
getting subaltern countries to know their place and keep in line. True, aid networks can help transmit
useful knowledge, but a core purpose is to transmit and enforce doctrines by which aid recipients are
supposed to run their countries.
In the new upcoming, there is growing trend of tribalism, nepotism, racism racial segregation,
unbalanced regional development and corruption are the most rampant vices which greatly contribute
to under development of African countries.

Climate change - Africa needs to quickly find solutions to build climate resilience and adapt to the
negative impacts of climate change - 2016 was the hottest year on record since climate records begun
some 137 years ago, it was also the 3rd hottest year in succession, the other hottest being 2015, 2014 - 5
of the hottest years on record have come to pass since 2010! As I type this, Kenya has declared a state of
national emergency because of drought, while more than 1.2 million people are starving and another 9
million are at a serious food security risk as the region battles with what could be the worst drought in
decades. Climate change, changes everything and an African development that lasts must take serious
consideration of this phenomenon and undertake aggressive actions to deal with it; this could include
widescale tree planting and restoration of natural forests, relocating people from risky areas e.g.
wetlands and flood plains; increasing timely access to climate/weather information etc. As we think
about this - we must be aware that while climate change operates over decade long-term periods
(climate is measured over 30 year time frames); this seems to be in sharp contrast to relatively short-
term political economies that tend to operate on 3-5 year term cycles. This means there is inertia for our
political elites to deal with climate change issues because they may not gain a lot of political capital from
such actions - the need to build a people's movement across Africa to deal with climate change can't be
overemphasized.

population; Africa is the fastest growing continent with respect to population in the world today. 50% of
all young people in the world aged 15 and below are found in Africa. By 2100, Nigeria will have the same
population as today's China - yes more than 1 billion people in that tiny country. This has strong bearing
on our poverty eradication actions - for example at independence in 1962 Uganda had about 10 million
people; today (2017) Uganda has about 35 million people - this implies that we need to change
perspective on poverty because assuming 50% of Ugandans (5million) lived below the poverty line in
1962 a reduction of poverty to 30% in 2017 still means about 10.5 million Ugandans (more than the total
population of 1962) live below the poverty line! This challenges us to consider more critically population
and poverty - we are challenged to consider both proportions (i.e. percentages), but most critically
absolute numbers...just as you described the 80:20 rule even when things are considered to be better,
that change may be concentrated in a few hands leaving more people than before in worse situation
than our ancestors...

Despite of the above discussed problems facing African nations, possible solutions can be implemented
and African nations can thrive economically just like south African country. Let the youth engage in finding
adequate productive education to conquer daily challenges in life faced by African nations. Each
government should empower its citizen upon reproductive means thus improving their lively hood.some
of discussed solutions include-
The African continent has come a long way during the last fifty years from a development perspective.
Literacy levels, health sector, infrastructure, growth of GDP, food security, security among others, are
some of the indicators that have significantly risen over the years. There is a considerable positive
change in the indicators mentioned although not yet to the standards that were expected.

The effect of development is the improvement of the poverty index through an increase in disposable
income and also improvement in the distribution of wealth. One of the fundamental challenges
to development in Africa has been the distribution of wealth amongst the populace. The 80-20 rule
seems to be very alive in Africa and there are those that have argued this could be lower. This indicates
that 80% of the wealth is owned by 20% of the population although there has been a belief that this
could be lower and a smaller percentage of the African population is the one that owns 80% of the
wealth. This is one of the development problems that Africa faces and needs to be addressed.

The development progress in Africa has been achieved due to the mix of interventions from various
players such as the government, Development partners, multilateral organizations such as the World
Bank and IMF, Private sector, civil society, academia who have worked relentlessly to make the African
continent a better place. It is however important to note that it is not in all circumstance that the
interventions by the aforementioned have led to positive movement toward development.

It is good to note that there is still far much that needs to be achieved in Africa and more so comparing
to what other developing countries have achieved during the same period. It is a fact that Africa has not
developed as much as the rest of the developing countries due to a mix of factors. The factors range
from lack of proper development planning, lack of the relevant interventions, overreliance on Aid and
Development partners driven interventions as opposed to Africa owned strategies, lack of the private
sector engagement on the development agenda and the volatile politics in most of the African
Continent.

In major development parameters, Africa is still not yet there. A lot of intervention is needed especially
in increasing the education system, improvement in health services delivery, providing food security
mechanisms as well as provision of the infrastructure among others. There is need to reconsider the aid
programs that have been a common thing in the continent courtesy of the development partners. There
is need for new initiatives to be explored considering that the past ones have not resulted to moving
Africa away from poverty, where over 40% of the populations are still poor living on below a dollar a
day.

The private sector needs to be involved in the fight against poverty in Africa and the embracing of
the Sustainable Development Goals by the African private sector will play a key role. By companies
embedding SDGs in their strategies, it is possible that most of the development parameter will rise in
the next 15 years and hence helping Africa achieve the Agenda 2030. The intervention by the private
sector will be from the big corporate to the informal sector. The informal sector accounts for over 70%
of jobs in Africa and hence present a huge potential in creating more jobs if interventions that will
strengthen the sector are put in place.
The intervention may include innovative financing of the informal sector, Capacity building and training,
provision of facilities that will be relevant to make them efficient as well as the government providing an
enabling environment for them to operate.

The informal sector vibrancy in most of Africa is due to the entrepreneurship spirit in the continent. This
is at the highest level in the 21 century and is characterized by the fact that most of the people including
those in full time employment have a side hustle that generates some cash only that full attention is not
provided by the “entrepreneur” in question.

One area that could provide the relevant solution for the African continent is the social innovation.
Social innovations have been defined as the new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet
the social needs of different elements.

Social innovation when made sustainable can resolve many challenges that the continent is faced with
especially if done from a sustainability perspective. This means that businesses, impact investment
partners, high net worth individuals and foundations as well as development partners should consider
engaging in social innovations for the purpose of resolving some social challenges but more importantly
to make some reasonable return. The definition for return here goes beyond the financial returns as not
all parties listed above are keen to a financial return, but could be interested in other forms of returns.
The other forms of returns that may be relevant would include the social return, or environmental
related return or prosperity return.

Another area that can bear great fruits in helping the African development to rise to the next level is
addressing the governance challenge. Good governance is a key condition for development in any
developing country and this more so in Africa. There is need to have a mechanism of governance where
most if not all stakeholders are involved in the national development for the purpose of transparency
and accountability in the allocation and use of the public funds as well as policy management.
Governance should also focus on the ways that the leaders are elected in the countries to ensure that
the right leaders takes the day and hence will be able to manage the affairs of the countries in the best
way possible. The intervention in governance will need also to be innovative as various traditional
methods have been used before and they did not result to much progress other than agitation from the
African leaders who felt that the interventions were imposed on them.
References
 Hist 322 class notes and presentations@ KEMU history class under DR. FLORA.
 Alemazung, Joy Asongazoh. "Post-colonial colonialism: An analysis of international factors and
actors marring African socio-economic and political development." The Journal of Pan African
Studies 3.10 (2010): 62-84.
 Leys, Colin. "Confronting the African tragedy." New Left Review (1994): 33-33.
 Krueger, Anne O. Political economy of policy reform in developing countries. Vol. 4. MIT press,
2002.
 Kravis, Irving B. "Trade as a handmaiden of growth: Similarities between the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries." The Economic Journal 80.320 (1970): 850-872.