It is interesting to see how international institutions define development as a promotion of specific economic development model. Well developed development practice requires a certain level of state intervention to protect private property and enforce laws that respond to social changes. I have no doubt that such institutions contributed in promoting and facilitating development practices in many countries in Africa. My only critic is when they defy approaches that help thousands to escape from the horns of poverty and challenge the normative approach of development.
At the opening session of the World Economic Forum’s fifth Annual Meeting, last week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao make it clear that his country will do what it can to contribute to global economic recovery and stability. Interestingly, the forum also reaffirmed Jiabao’s commitment to expand and rule the global market and work with any government to fill in his country’s ever-growing needs. What is clear is China will trade and invest with any government, be elected or not so long as that government is open to china and supply its industries with the resources to run. Will this be an opportunity for Africa or a challenge for Africans or will this be the start of the dooms day. Contemplating about John Perkins’s “The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”.
The issue of political instability in Africa is directly related to the political and economic development question. The life threatening political and economic conditions in Africa contribute enormously to a wide variety of problems. For many governments in Africa, the ability of political leaders to comprehend, negotiate the terms and do business in such a market dominated by China’s will be a major challenge. Not because most don’t have the capacity, the resources or the skills but because of the risks involved and fear of losing power. Unfortunately some nations are still busy building themselves up while others are busy tearing themselves down. Few leaders are busy shuttling now and then to Beijing for rescue and aid. While others started to pointing on China for failing them or disown the responsibility for certain unwelcome development consequences of their inaction.
What is missing is an African leadership that has the competence to comprehend the opportunities, threats, challenges and opportunities of globalized business as well as the imperatives of democratization and good governance. More importantly, Africa needs leaders who believe in democracy not simply as an electoral mechanism of gaining power, but as a means by which legitimate power is achieved and responsibly and accountably exercised on behalf of the people. Indeed, a leadership that is in tune with the changing world, competent and committed to respond to the challenges and opportunities of globalization is not yet there.
While China’s interest in Africa, whose geo-security and resource interests seem to benefit from the status quo in Africa, has not been pro- the establishment of functioning systems in Africa, instead, its involvement, continue to undermine Africa’s stability through the militarization of conflicts for accumulative purposes. There are instances China blocked any action in the international arena to promote its own interest and protect its good friends. With China’s humongous need for energy, the price of oil for those who have it and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions.
Political instability in Africa may owe much of its cause to internal factors, however the interpenetration of internal and external factors especially geo-political and economic interests of the international community constantly play a significant role in undermining the very processes and institutions that are expected to nurture democracy and to instill a sense of stability for societal development in Africa. In combination to such factors as unequal development, poverty, disease, violence and the manipulative tendencies of the local elite, political and economic stability in Africa is constantly under threat.
Also problematic in the African context are the existing institutions of the state and how they function. Despite the existence of institutional frameworks that are supposed to guide processes and delivery on essential services, the continued weakening of these institutions, through political mechanization and predatory nature of African elites, working in cohorts with external interests also contributes further to the undermining of stability in Africa. These tendencies exacerbate resources wars, ethnic rivalry, and more recently, the emergence of electoral violence as a characteristic of multi-party era elections in African.
What is still unexplained in the many analyses that have been looking at events in Africa is the fact that in almost all the cases of political instability in Africa, it is evident that the major problem is leadership. In this context, Africa has seen its freedom heroes turn into dictators, while plunder of natural resources, politics of exclusion and deprivation to tilt the balance of power continues to dominate the public sphere. Moreover, these problems have been pointed out and fought gallantly by ordinary Africans who have over the years, expressed their discontent with regimes imposed upon them, through the complicity of the international community.
Resources in Africa if well managed are capable of providing for its entire population, hence the potentials for a more stable environment, however, it is well documented that stolen wealth from Africa often end up in banks abroad, be it money stolen by the political elite (the case of Mobutu of Zaire, Abacha of Nigeria, and Moi of Kenya, just to mention a few or the recent disclosure of Mubarak of Egypt and Ben Ali of Tunisia wealth and bank books in banks in the western capitals. Time will tell how much Zenawi of Ethiopia, Museveni of Uganda, Biya of Cameroon, and Kibaki of Kenya have their share of the plundered in foreign investments and banks.
The leadership dilemma and many other governance related malpractices in Africa are being challenged more and more from within. People begin to understand the broader implications of bad politics and the consequences of governance structures that are autocratic and oppressive. Thanks to global media. What is happening in North Africa is a matter of time to reach the heart and soul of Africans deep South. If Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyan can manage to change the system of government that failed them, there is no reason why people in Congolese, Zimbabweans, Ivoirians, and Ethiopia cannot do that and enjoy the same scope of freedom. In fact, I shall argue that those in Congolese, Zimbabweans, Ivoirians, and Ethiopia need much more freedom as they have been living in operation, exploitation and xenophobic relations for decades.