Africa's debt burden, poverty, and the G 8 countries
By KC PRINCE ASAGWARA, Ph.D
Special to USAfricaonline.com,
USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
CLASS
magazine, The
Black Business Journal
August 10, 2005: Recently, Africa's debt burden, its relief and the general poverty in Africa took center stage. To all those who have cared to know about Africa, she is a basket case. That accounts for why whatever economic aid or assistance the West extends to Africa becomes news worthy. Hence the debt cancellation for the world's poorest 18 countries &endash; 14 of which are in Africa has once again put Africa in the sport light of mostly bad news.
The relief of Africa's debt burden through debt forgiveness by the
members of G 8 is commendab
le.
As my people, the Igbos of Nigeria would say, when you give kudos to
a man for the much he has done, he would likely do more. So to the G
8 members, I say thank you.
Africa not entirely responsible for its debt burden
But if the truth must be said, Africa's debt burden and poverty
are not entirely of the making of African countries. Africa is
blessed with mineral resources of all types. But the West for
development of the West harvests most of Africa's mineral resources.
The late Walter Rodney, a Black Guyanese scholar wrote his popular
and controversial book in 1980, "How Europe Underdeveloped
Africa." In that book, Mr. Rodney analyzed how Europe's appropriation
of Africa's human and mineral resources for centuries, led to the
continent's loss of power and economic impoverishment. Today, the
situation has not changed. If anything, the Western
countries' appropriation of Africa's mineral resources and
underdevelopment of Africa continues unabated. In fact, some believe
that it has gotten worse. Granting Africa debt relief or giving them
financial aid amounts to giving a needy person meal for the day.
Tomorrow, he/she will still be hungry and come back for more. But if
you teach a hungry person how to provide his or her own food, he/she
will feed self for life. I want to believe that the West is serious
and honest in their proclaimed effort to assist Africa out of the
doldrums of poverty. If they are, they should begin by addressing the
underlying problems that put her in the basket case situation.
Otherwise, any amount of aid given to African countries would end as
an effort in futility. Please, let me explain.
Even if the total debt burden those African countries owe the West is written off, and aid to Africa is increased to $50 billion a year by 2010, and $75 billion a year by 2015 as being advocated in some quarters, Africa's poverty may still not be solved. Serious commitment from the West to help Africa become wealthy would demand the West giving up most of the strategic economic advantages it has had on Africa since coming into contact with African countries.
The bitter pill prescribed for Africa
We know that for every one dollar that the West gives to Africa as aids it takes back $50.00 in return. For instance, in the 1990s the West, through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, prescribed economic policies for African countries that included the dismantling of import tariffs on Western products, stopping subsidization of the local products, and opening their markets for investment and trade relations. Most African countries adopted the economic reform policies recommended by the IMF and World Bank, and instituted the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). But the West failed to live up to their own part of the bargain to invest in African countries. African countries are being told that political instability in your countries makes it difficult for the West to seriously consider investing there. But the unstable political situation was there in the first place before the West talked them into instituting SAP. Juxtapose this demand to the unstable political climate in the former Eastern European countries where the West continues to invest, you will begin to wonder if the West is serious in assisting Africa fight and rid itself of poverty.
Western farmers heavily subsidized
The West continues to subsidize both their agricultural and industrial products, which creates an over abundance of products that make it difficult for African producers to compete or sell their products at a gainful price. For instance, Mozambique produces the cheapest sugar in the world, between $75 and $100 a ton, to Europe's $395 a ton. On the surface, Mozambique farmers and sugar producers should reap enormous profits from their labor. But this is not the case because the European Union through its Common Agricultural policy (CAP) subsidizes its sugar producers to the tune of $675 million a year. The net effect is that Mozambique cannot sell its surplus sugar in any market in Europe, while Europe's surplus is dumped onto African countries' markets, thereby impoverishing Mozambique.
Canada subsidizes farmers and agricultural products. According to Urban Renaissance Institute, from 1991 to 2000, the federal and provincial governments of Canada supplied an average of $3.76 in agricultural subsidies for every $1.00 earned by Canadian farmers. The amount of subsidy varies from province to province. For Ontario farmers for example, they were subsidized $6.60 for every $1 farm profit. This did not include the subsidy that farmers received through property tax concessions that ranged from $70 million to almost $1.1 billion, depending on the calculation method used in a particular year. In 2002, Manitoba and Saskatchewan increased the use of Ethanol blended fuel and gasoline. Ethanol is a derivative from fermented grain, and has been adjudged expensive to produce. The millions of dollars that it costs oil and gas companies to produce ethanol are being subsidized by both provincial governments. Canadian farmers may argue that they are less subsidized compared to the EU agro-industry or U.S. farmers. The fact remains that subsidy at any level hurts African countries and leads to unfair trade practices between the West and Africa.
|
|
In 2002, President Bush signed into law the Farm Bill that provided federal payments to farmers to the tune of $83 billion over 10 years (2002-2012). Many, including African countries condemned this U.S. government action. Business Day, Johannesburg, May 21, 2002 reported that South Africa's farmers and agricultural processing industries were incensed by increased U.S. government support to American farmers. Reuters News Service, at that time reported that African commentators condemned the new U.S. law that protected the U.S. farm industry because it created a hurdle in the marketing of African products in U.S. markets. The above are just examples. G8 member countries subsidize their agricultural, farm and logging industry products, including those harvested from the oceans, contrary to the doctrine of free trade and open markets they recommend for African countries. Nothing can be more hypocritical. Equitable bilateral trade relations are what African countries need to solve their economic problems and not aid. For every dollar given by the West to Africa in the form of aid, ten dollars is taken back from African countries by way of unfair trade practices. How then can Africa not be mired in debt and poverty? The West's subsidy of their farm and agricultural products, fishing and logging industry, rigid trade barriers and tariffs that prevent African countries from accessing the Western markets should be removed.
Promote democracy and the rule of law
Apart from unfair trade practices, the West can assist Africa solve its economic problems by promoting democracy and the rule of law in Africa as it is practiced in the West. In the West, anyone that is an accessory to theft or a recipient of stolen goods is as guilty as the one that stole it. Corrupt African leaders steal and loot their treasuries and deposit them in Western banks. Many Western countries know this. For instance, the late President of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha stole $-5 billion in five years. In the past four decades, Nigeria's rulers stole and deposited most of their $500-billion loot in European and American banks. Since 1999 that President Obasanjo came to power in Nigeria, all his effort to repatriate stolen money deposited in Western banks have been stalled by one legal obstacle or the other imposed by the Western governments in whose banks these money are deposited. At some point, President Obasanjo lamented openly and wondered how the West can claim to be serious in addressing Africa's poverty and economic problems when they are uncooperative in returning stolen money to its rightful owners.
In mineral rich nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the late dictator, Mobutu Sesse Seko collected $5-billion in foreign debt and looted $4-billion of it for himself which he deposited in Swiss banks. The Democratic Republic of Congo's attempts to retrieve the nation's stolen money from Swiss banks has so far, been unsuccessful for the same reason as that of Nigeria. Returning Nigeria stolen money would wipe of its foreign debt and still leave more for its economic growth. The same applies to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Address economic crimes
Economic crimes are as bad as political crimes or war crimes. The West would be assisting African countries in their search for economic self-sufficiency, if the names of corrupt public officials that have stashed sums of money (any amount of money stolen from public treasury by a public officer is lots of money) in Western banks are released or made public so that Africans would know the economic blood suckers they have masquerading as leaders.
The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice at The Hague should be expanded to include economic crimes. African leaders that stole or looted their treasury should be charged to this Court and tried for economic sabotage, and if convicted, should be sent to jail with stiff fines in addition. If this is done, public officials would likely see the need for good governance in their countries by way of using the people's money to establish educational and health development projects, economic empowerment and job creation, road construction and maintenance, agricultural development and adequate food supply, good drinking water supply and effective drainage system for the people. These are needs that are basics in the West, and for which Africans are running away from their countries. In the end, the West will have less number of African economic refugees knocking down the doors of their embassies for asylum and refugee status. This will also see a reduction in your social problems as you often blame immigrants for these flaws in your societies.
The West should not recognize corrupt or illegitimate African governments
The West should refuse to recognize or do business with all
corrupt African leaders or those leaders that came to power through
the barrel of the gun. The reason why Africa has been inundated with
coups d' etat is the West's willingness to embrace military regimes,
often corrupt that emerges in African countries. It is a known fact
that no leader of an African country emerges unless he receives a
wink and a nod from the West, particularly, the USA, Britain and
France. And often, those are leaders willing to play ball with them
or act the scripts written by them. The West should stop determining
and teleguiding Africa's political leaders. This is undemocratic and
serves only the interest of the West. The West should stop supplying
arms and ammunitions to warring parties in internal and inter-country
conflicts in African. The West cannot continue to do this and turn
around to blame African countries for their in ability to stop intra
or inter-country wars. The above are fundamental problems in the
way the West relates to Africa and her economic problems. And unless
those fundamental problems are addressed and corrected, Africa will
continue to be a basket case for the West.
Dr. Asagwara is
Canada-based contributing editor of USAfricaonline.com
and CLASS
magazine and global e-list
IgboEvents. He wrote this essay exclusively for the
USAfrica multimedia networks
USAfricaFORUM: Africa,
Blair and United Kingdom's commendable push for
development assistance. By Dr. Chinua Akukwe
.
Summary: Africa's most acclaimed and fluent writer of the
English Language, the most translated writer of Black heritage in the
world, broadcaster extraordinaire, social conscience of millions,
cultural custodian and elevator, chronicler and essayist, goodwill
ambassador and man of progressive rock-ribbed principles, the
Eagle
on the Iroko, Ugo n'abo Professor Chinua Achebe,
has recently been selected by a distinguished jury of scholars and
critics (from 13 countries of African life and literature) as the
writer of the Best book (Things Fall Apart, 1958) written in the
twentieth century regarding Africa. Reasonably, Achebe's message has
been neither dimmed nor dulled by time and clime. He's our
pathfinder, the intellectual godfather of millions of Africans and
lovers of the fine
art of good writing. Achebe's cultural contexts are, at once,
pan-African, globalist and local; hence, his literary
contextualizations soar beyond the confines of Umuofia and any Igbo
or Nigerian setting of his creative imagination or historical recall.
His globalist underpinnings and outlook are truly reflective of the
true essence of his Igbo world-view, his Igbo upbringing and
disposition. Igbos and Jews share (with a few other other cultures)
this pan-global disposition to issues of art, life, commerce,
juridical pursuits, and quest to be republicanist in terms of the
vitality of the individual/self. In Achebe's works, the centrality of
Chi (God) attains an additional clarity in the Igbo cosmology... it
is a world which prefers a quasi-capitalistic business attitude while
taking due cognizance of the usefulness of the whole, the community.
I've studied, lived and tried to better understand, essentially, the
rigor and towering moral certainties which Achebe have employed in
most of his works and his world. I know, among other reasons, because
I share the same ancestry with him. Permit me to attempt a brief
sentence, with that Achebean simplicty and clarity. Here,
folks, what the world has known since 1958: Achebe is good! Eagle on
the Iroko, may your Lineage endure! There
has never been one like you!
APPRECIATION
"This is our moment to stand up for what's right,'' U2
lead singer Bono told the audience in London. ``We can't fix
every problem, but those we can, we must,'' he said,
mentioning malaria, AIDS and deaths caused by dirty water.
U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, host of the G-8 summit, is
making African poverty reduction a focus of the meeting.
Performers at "Live 8'' -- including Paul McCartney, Cold
Play, Madonna and REM -- want to raise popular awareness of
the continent's economic deprivation. The concerts will reach a potential global audience of
5.5 billion people through television, Internet and other
media, organizer Bob Geldof said. They occur 20 years after
the Live Aid concerts that Geldof also arranged to combat
African poverty. Africa is the only continent to have become
poorer in the last 25 years, according to the United
Nations. More than 300 million Africans live on less than $1
a day, and less than half of children on the continent
complete primary school. In the last 50 years, there have
been 186
coups and 26 wars in Africa, with more than 7 million
people killed, the UN says.
These views were
stated during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and
senior analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on
Saturday November 18, 2000 during a special edition of
'Inside Politics 2000.'
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my heart had a voice...."
INSIGHT:
Why America should halt the
genocide in the Sudan. By Chido Nwangwu,
Founder and Publisher of USAfricaonline.com. Certain facts
and the continuing, bigoted impudence of Islamic Sudan offer
clarity to why the U.S should aggressively halt the genocide
and gory events in Africa's largest country. The Sudan has
almost 918,000 square miles in size and a war-weary
population of 30million. Even as I call for a red line to be
drawn against the rag-tag army of Arab-taliban-fascists in
Africa and the assorted troops of religio-criminal rapists
who have since four decades set upon the southern Christian,
indigenous African Sudanese, I agree with Gen. Powell that
"America will be a friend to all Africans who seek peace;
but we cannot make peace among Africans." He is right.
Africans must respect and love each other. Continued
here....
POLICY INSIGHT: Africa,
Blair and United Kingdom's commendable push for
development assistance. By
Chinua Akukwe, contributing editor of
USAfricaonline.com
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Why Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide
TRIBUTE
A KING FOR
ALL TIMES:
Why Martin Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
African-American diplomat who put principles above self for
Nigeria 
(USAfrica's
founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S.
embassy, Nigeria)
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR
Out of
Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
ARINZE: Will he be
the FIRST
BLACK AFRICAN
POPE?
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and Africa's
stability
What
has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido
Nwangwu
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to
come....
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian rule?
INTERVIEW:
'Nigeria needs a democratic system guided by the
truth....' Senator
Francis J. Ellah, the Eze Nwadei Ogbuehi of
Ogba in Rivers state of Nigeria. He is a highly regarded
elder statesman with outstanding political credentials and a
former Second Republic Senator and a delegate to Nigeria's
ongoing national political reforms conference in
Abuja.
Bola
Ige's murder another danger signal for
Nigeria's nascent democracy.
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights
commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are Keys to prosperity in Africa
Steve Jobs extends
digital
magic
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard
of artistic excellence,
and more. By Douglas Killam
Lifestyle
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido
Nwangwu
USAfrica The
Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston 2001 special as chosen by the editors
and readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
AADD: Africa
Attention Deficit Disorder.
A U.S. disorder that hurts Africa. By David Sarasohn
of Newhouse News Service: Today's pictures are from Niger,
but they could be from lots of places in Africa, and from
lots of times during recent decades. These children with the
matchstick legs, and the eyes bigger than their fists, could
have been from Biafra, a runaway province of Nigeria, in the
1970s, or from Ethiopia in the 1980s, or the Congo in the
1990s. The hideous massacre stories, this time from Darfur,
could be from Liberia, or Sierra Leone, or -- most bloodily
-- Rwanda. The AIDS stories come steadily from the same
places. Full commentary here
'Live
8' global concerts put focus on Africa,
poverty.... Singers from
U2's Bono to billionaire Bill Gates called for the leaders
of the world's wealthiest nations to relieve African poverty
at ``Live 8'' concerts in London and nine other cities.
About 200,000 people jammed into London's Hyde Park on July
2 at the start of a week of music and demonstrations to
pressure heads of G-8 nations meeting July 6-8 in
Gleneagles, Scotland, to increase aid and debt relief to
Africa and also rewrite trade rules.
WEB
SITES SOLUTIONS, PHOTO IMAGING....
TECHNOLOGY: "Apple's
Switch to Intel: The Ultimate Power Move? Steve
Jobs' decision to build Macs with Intel chips may finally
give the company a shot at challenging
Microsoft's Windows." By David Kirkpatrick
June
16 and South Africa's treble historic events.
By Nkem Ekeopara
"Our
ordeal with KLM"
"They bumped me and my daughter from a
confirmed flight; then flies out with 5 pieces of our
luggage...." TONY
IGWE in exclusive interview tells
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu of 5 hours of
anguish and disappointments at the George Bush International
Airport in Houston, on Friday March 26, 2004
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate on
Nigeria's democracy livecast on February 19, 2002. It
involved Nigeria's Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana,
Prof. Salih Booker and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
Should Africa debates begin
and end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
NEWS
INSIGHT
CNN, Obasanjo and Nigeria's struggles with
democracy.
Why Obasanjo's government should respect
CNN
and Freedom of the press
in Nigeria.
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
In a special report a few hours after the
history-making nomination, USAfricaonline.com
Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the
trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and
relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin
Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.'
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S.
electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic
republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where 
he
said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his
presidency has been questioned by
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was
neither validated by the economic exchanges nor
geo-strategic interests of our two continents."
Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president.
By Al Johnson
2006
CALENDAR, FRIDAY
May 5, AND SATURDAY MAY 6,
2006:
CLASS magazine,
USAfrica and USAfricaonline.com (characterized by The New
York Times as the largest and most influential
African-owned, U.S-based multimedia networks), will hold the
USAfrica 14th internationally-acclaimed 2006 BEST OF AFRICA
awards dinner in honor of African professionals and our
annual Mothers' Day Honors on FRIDAY MAY 5 and on SATURDAY
MAY 6, 2006. Nominate some African professionals and
community builders. E-mail: