ID:10915823

COURSE CODE: ECON317

LECTURE’S NAME: DR. ADU OWUSU SARKODIE

TOPIC: WHY IS AFRICA UNDERDEVELOPED

Africa as a continent has suffered for many centuries due to colonization, slave trade, Colonia

imperialism, corruption, irresponsible governments etc. To discuss why Africa is underdeveloped

without considering the historical antecedent, being in some cases as the resultant effects or

contributing factor to this underdevelopment renders the whole discussion incomplete. For a

country to be called underdeveloped simply means, to compare that country with other countries

in terms of GDP growth, per capita income, advancement in technology, education, health, issues

of inequality etc. comparing Africa to the rest of the world based on these measures, conclude

why Africa is called an underdeveloped continent. There have been major developments in the

global decline of poverty, inequality, education, availability of health facilities etc., in recent

years, but, unfortunately, Africa’s contribution to these developments has not been encouraging

or statistically, is almost insignificant. Some of the reasons for explaining why Africa is

underdeveloped are as follows.

First and foremost, the slave trade to many has been one of the contributing factors

causing this phenomenon. To talk about development in the 19th century coming, one will not

overlooked the fact that the labour force, peaceful and conducive environment plays a crucial

role in facilitating these developments such as farming and harnessing the natural resources for

development etc. due to the slave trade which is been estimated to be in the range of ten million

slaves to over hundred million slaves shipped from Africa to Europe, these estimated numbers do

not just reflect the shipment of Africans to European soil but also shows that these slaves were

the strongest men and women of the society. Because of this slave trade, development was halted

almost in all African countries because there was the displacement of people, the able men and

women who can help too has been taken away etc. Some of the effect of this slave trade explains

why Africa is still underdeveloped today.

Secondly. Colonization, which means losing control over your resources, being denied of

your freedom and power to rule yourselves etc. these were the situation African countries were in
during the 17th century coming, these colonizers invaded African countries in the name of

looking for a market for their product, the best description of colonization during the 17th century

coming was the word exploitation. These Europeans came to Africa to exploit the indigenes, rob

them of their resources, took away their mineral resources, and set up institutions in the interest

of these capitalists to deny Africans to have a say in the way they are governed. Since their

interest was to exploit the indigenes, they did not train, or educate many of the indigenes, by the

time these Europeans leave Africa, majority of Africans were still illiterate, unable to read and

write, having no knowledge regarding health issues, financial matters, economic management,

this and many more explain why colonization is one of the contributing factors in causing this

phenomenon.

Furthermore, a recent cause of this phenomenon according to Kingsley Moghalu, former

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been economic globalization. Economic

globalization to him “has hurt Africa because Africans have embraced globalization without

interrogating it, Africans have assumed globalization is a good thing at all times and in all ways”.

African countries are at a disadvantage when it comes to world trade, because almost 50% of

world trade is coming from manufacturing, African countries have not fully transformed into a

manufacturing economy, Africa countries simply provide a market for globalization, we are strip

of the benefits that comes with globalization because we rarely export things in a finished form,

all our exportation has been in a raw form, which clearly implies that African countries have still

not transformed into an industrialized economy to be able to compete with the advanced world

for equal share of the benefits that comes with globalization.

Finally, bad governance and political instability has been discovered to be a major contributing

factor. Many African countries are faced with the problem of bad governance both in the past

and the present. Most Africa leaders rule with dictatorship, which means, the citizens do not have

the right to live freely or choose what they want to do with their lives. They are to strictly adhere

to the harsh rules and regulations of their leaders. In places like South Sudan, Democratic

Republic of Congo, and Angola, regardless of their rich subsoil and raw materials, these

countries still suffer poor management from bad governance. During the African economic

conference held in the year 2017, it was noted that bad governance has been a major stumbling

block to the development of Africa as a continent. In view of this, underdevelopment in Africa

can be cause by bad governance of the leaders.