Kevin Carter (March 1993) The Vulture and The Little Girl. Ayod, Sudan.

Africa’s Long Way To Development

Yannick Ondoa
Sep 9, 2018 · 17 min read

World. The road taken by Africa might be fraught with difficulties. However, evidence shows that it is progressively changing.

I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.

Nelson Mandela

1993. Sudan was still in the middle of a Civil War. The country was split into two rival camps. On the one hand, the government. On the other, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SLPM) led by John Garang. Both targeted to get the best of its direct opponent for then taking the country over at their own account. And that, without really worrying about the opinion of its inhabitants.

Ten years of Civil War was sufficient to deprive them of their peace. Their health. Their homes. Yet, they had already known a similar situation between 1955 and 1976. They should have been accustomed to it. Not really. No one gets used to the War.

Everything was lacking through the shelves. Commodities were rarer. People too. Many left their homes fleeing the extreme violence of the fightings. Some of them knew they were not going to get back. Either because they would be shot by a stray bullet or because of a stomach too empty to move. It is War. Or as Mobb Deep puts it so well, it is Hell On Earth.

In the middle of this misery, Kevin Carter appeared. Member of the Bang-Bang Club, the photojournalist showed up alongside Joao Silva thanks to the relationships the latter had with the UN. They wanted them to take pictures of the Famine corrupting the country. Carter was delighted. He thought to finally have the opportunity to put its freelancer career to a next level. He was about to obtain more than that. One picture was actually going to lead him to a road of fame and controversy.

Passing through the village of Ayod, Carter saw villagers heading to a nearby feeding centre then ran by the UN. Behind them, a little being looking like a girl. Skeletal. Starved. Struggling to keep up with the rest- was there. Seeing this scene transpiring before his own eyes, Carter did not hesitate any seconds. He pulled out his camera to capture this tragic moment. Which was actually going to become it more. Some seconds after being arrived on the scene, the photojournalist glimpsed a vulture — taking place not so far from the toddler. This time, he held his long-awaited moment. He positioned himself to get the best angle of the scene and snapped some photographs. It was all done. One year later, in 1994, this picture was going to be awarded of a Pulitzer Prize.

I have always seen this picture as a metaphor. The huddled toddler could be the personification of Africa. Exhausted. Unable to catch the progress of the others. As for the vulture, it seems it is waiting for the best opportunity. Either for helping or attacking. In itself, a portrayal of all the others continents — especially the Western countries.

It seems it has always been the same framework. Other continents giving and taking. Africa receiving and suffering.

Bullshit framework.

Nine years ago, I watched a movie called Shooting Dogs related to the events of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. From the beginning to the end, I did not know that the details which were happening in this movie were actually real. It was horrible. People were killing with machetes. I did not believe it. Such events could not possibly occur in reality. I was naive. As I was carrying out research on the subject, I gradually realised my ignorance. The next day, I cried before my mother and sister — upset by all those terrible pieces of information that I had then learned the day before. I was 11.

Though I had already put a foot on the continent before that, this episode had the effect to accentuate my disappointment vis-à-vis Africa. And, as an African descent, I was scared this feeling would turn into something much stronger. Ever since I have not ceased to wondering questions: How such continent has not been capable of getting to the end of its suffering spiral? Is this because of Neo-colonialism? Bad governance? Inter-ethnic disparities? Corruption? A bit of everything?

Africa should not be in a weak position at the moment. The continent is rich in resources and possesses one of the best ecosystems in the world. By the way, the latter aspect should play a huge role in the African countries attractiveness. It is not so. In 2015, Africa remained the continent the least visited by the tourists — well behind the others.

The reason behind those poor figures might be multiple. Thereby, we could argue that the statue of fragile state, as well as the lack of infrastructures, are determining. And above all, the misinformation spread by the Western mainstream media does not help at all.

And the tourism sector is not the only area in which Africa is lagging behind. The continent’s Gross Product Income (GDP) represents one per cent of the World GDP — being 2,2 trillion over 80 trillion in absolute terms. Africa’s Human Development Index (HDI) is the weakest averaging 0,523. And the share of people in Africa with access to electricity remains quite challenging. In Chad, 8 per cent of the population had proper electricity access to power in 2014. In comparison, this figure was mostly different in countries like the Gambia and South Africa — both exceeding 80 per cent.

I could go on this assessment for hours. But the purpose of this paper is not to show what is wrong with Africa. Far from it.

Since their independence, African’s countries have globally succeeded to manage many of their issues. The number of people killed by malaria has nearly been divided by two since the beginning of the millennium. Newborns have less chance to die before reaching the age of 5. The share of people living in extreme poverty dwindled — passing from 58 per cent in 1993 to 40 per cent in 2013. The young generation is also more educated. Indeed, they spend much more time at school — drastically increasing the literacy rate of those countries.

By the bye, the latest evoked aspect could be the most important one of all — benefiting both for the population and the country. Pierre Bourdieu’s Human Capital designates the stock of knowledge, attributes and skills possessed by a given individual. Those ones are often acquired through a well-known process: the school. The country sees it as an opportunity to grow its economy. So, the more a state is educated, the more economic benefits this one can expect to gain.

Countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Ethiopia are now experiencing significant economic development for some years — often even or superior to 5 per cent. And though the growth is usually driven by their industrial activities (investments and manufacturing) and resources, it would not be exaggerated to say that the education has something to do with that. The latter has also helped to re-define what it was like to live in cities and countrysides.

Cities X Lands

City life seems to become a suitable option for many Africans. Normal. Leaving the countryside, they certainly look for a brand-new living environment. They all hope that this latter would be full of professional as well as personal opportunities. By 2050, 56 per cent of the continent population will be urban — being 8 points more than nowadays. It does not seem a lot, and yet, it will represent about 1,26 billion people. And cities are quite conscious of this reality. Some more than others. Lagos belongs to this category. No one really knows how many people live in this city. The UN says 14 million. The Lagos state government thinks it is nearer 21 million. Whatever (or not). Lagos remains the most populated African cities before Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo).

Since many years, Lagos has been modernised — pushing by the influx of the population. Many buildings have been constructed for making a city centre. Some roads have been re-made. And the sprawl of the urban area hasn’t seemed to cease at all. The city has even decided to adopt a rail transit whose operation should start in 2022. Besides to reduce traffic jam and CO2 emission, this new mean of transport will undoubtedly have great socio-economic repercussions. Not only it will allow people not to lose time anymore, but many jobs will be created — related to the railway or not. Lagos is not the only urban area to have thought about such projects. Ivory Coast capital Abidjan has also decided to get equipped with a metro. This one should be open to commuters from 2022–2023.

However, the most expected project seems to be the development of Eko Atlantic.

Launched 10 years ago, the program aims to create a new city on the sea — a few miles away from the centre of Lagos. This latter will be formed of large housing buildings, offices as well as several shopping centres. The city has yet to come out from the ground while some people are already nicknaming it as ‘African Dubai’. Not exaggerated. It is enough to look at the design concepts to understand the scale of the project. According to some estimations, the new peninsula will house more than 250,000 people and as many jobs as will be created. Besides that, Eko Atlantic has the particularity to fight floods and erosion threatened the coastline via a sea defence system — the ‘Great Wall of Lagos’.

On the left, a view of Eko Atlantic facing in February 2018. The broad circular road towards the middle of the image will be the ring road that surrounds the Marina District. On the right, an artistic representation of what Marina District could be like in some years (Credit: EkoAtlantic.com).

However, behind this opulence is hidden a reality much darker. Many African cities are the facade of grave socioeconomic disparities. In this context, Nairobi is quite an example. Though its development is as good as Lagos, a significant part of its population is poor — provoking a situation where thousands of people have no other choice but to live in dirty, crowded slums. Located a few miles away from Nairobi city centre, Kibera is the largest African informal settlement where about one millions of people are living in dangerous unsteady conditions.

Modern buildings official blocks can be seen from the sprawling Kibera slum (Credit: GettyImages/Tony Kurumba).

Apart from lacking from decent water and electricity installations, residents are slowly pushed to leave. Indeed, the city is eager to regain its rights over an area that it does not control anymore. Instead of those shelters, the city representatives of Nairobi would aspire to build new buildings which will often be too expensive for those currently living in the impoverished area. For those living in the area, it would be a disastrous decision. They would be obliged to leave and find a new place to stay. But going where exactly? Forced eviction will not make slums disappear. As asserted by Samuel Akinrolabu from the Nigerian Slum and Informal Settlement Federation:

The moment you demolish a slum, naturally two or three more slums will spring up because people need somewhere to sleep

Overcoming such inequalities is not easy. Actually, it might be even impossible to make them disappear because of their cumulative character. However, the whole thing is to adopt strict socio-economic suggestions which will progressively strive for a much more equal society. In the present case, the most natural solution would be to rehouse all those people in low-priced properties. But it would partially solve the issue. Given that those people have no direct revenue in the first place, they would not be able to properly pay their rents. So, it would not be surprising to see them back to square one.

The challenge would be then to give high-productivity jobs to those people. Many African countries hope that the fast population growth will bring a ‘demographic dividend’ — a young workforce that can drive economic growth. For now, no one really knows if it is happening. The unemployment rate — especially among young people — remains high on the continent. So does the number of informal, undeclared jobs.

But those inequalities are not only present in the urban area. The countryside is equally (if not more) concerned by those problems.

Living outside the cities in Africa often means that the access to standard resources is insufficient. Light in the facilities is not as widespread. Same goes for the water. In 2015, Cameroonian rural population with access to improved water sources was at 52 per cent. On the contrary, almost 90 per cent of people had a proper to water in the urban area during the same period. This assessment is not only particular to Cameroon. Many African countries are suffering from this difference between cities and lands. In the rest of the globe, it is worthwhile to note that this gap is practically nonexistent.

Africans appear to only know two situations. Either they’re wealthy or poor. Yet, a third relevant category must be taken into account: the middle-class. And, according to some estimations, the latter is on the rise.

Emerging markets

In 2011, the African Development Bank (AfDB) concluded that 34 per cent of the region population were associated with the middle class — being 350 million people. Still, many experts call into the question the large income scale used for defining this ‘African middle-class’. In fact, the AfDB considers any Africans earning between 2,2 and 20 dollars as a member of the middle-class. But in reality, 60 per cent of those part of this middle-class would be living with 1,9 and 3,9 dollar a day. Worse. If we use a different scale whose the income is located between 12 and 25 dollars, the real African middle-class would be closer to 13 per cent — being 143 million people. We are pretty far from what the AfDB announced.

The good news is that the state of this middle-class can only progress.

Africa’s economic growth is on the rise for a few years. According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa should reach 3,1 per cent in 2018, and to average 3,6 in 2019–2020. Firstly turned towards agriculture, African countries have learned to diversify their economies. Many countries have the chance to sit above important oil reserves such as Nigeria and Angola. Others rely on the expansion of the digital technology. Though this latter is still marginal, several start-ups have popped up through Africa — especially in Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana.

And it does not stop there.

Africa is immense. This continent is so huge that countries like the U.S. and China could fit in. And despite all the important continent mineral resources, the 54 African countries have never really exchanged with one another. Up until now, according to a 2013 WTO study, intra-African trade represented 16 per cent while 68 per cent of European trade was made between European countries. To be short, more than the half of goods produced on the African continent are used to being destined to external markets. For these latter, the situation could not be better. Africa sits above 30 per cent of mineral resources of the world. And because of African countries' weak exploitation over those resources, countries like France, the U.S. and even China are used to appropriating and importing them — often no-string attached. And this situation might get worse. According to Guy Gweth, 80 per cent of non-African countries will have an assumed strategy towards Africa in 2020.

However, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could alternate this trend. Introduced in March 2018 by the African Union, this new trade agreement regroups 44 African countries — making it the world’s largest free-trade area — and creates a continental single market for good and services and customs unions (removal of tariff barriers) followed by free movements of capital and business travellers. In the end, the adoption of such free-trade agreement is good for each country. It tends to encourage a better regional cooperation and increase trade flows. According to U.N. Economic Commission on Africa, intra-African trade is likely to increase by 52 per cent under the AfCFTA and will double upon the further removal of non-tariff barriers.

As for the global powers’ presence on the continent, we could say that the emergence of China has somehow disrupted them for a few years. The U.S., the United Kingdom and France remain the principal investors, but China is progressively making its way in. Since 2009, the Middle Empire has been primary Africa’s commercial partner — holding 15 per cent of the continent’s market share. So yes. Useless to say that China’s interests do not differ from the Western countries. Ordinarily, to establish itself on the region, Chinese capitalism regularly follows the same pattern: China Exim Bank, an import-export bank, proposes a deal to the country infrastructural funding loans in exchange for the use of resources by Chinese companies.

From this partnership, many constructions have been carried out such as a $14 billion rail project to connect Mombasa to the capital city of Nairobi built by state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation. In exchange, the Socialist regime does not hesitate to serve itself in Kenya’s oil for example. Nonetheless, this union is often not in favour of African countries. In Angola, offshore reserves and loans deal has led to a high level of debt, so that China holds more than a third of Angolan debt, which Angola pays back with oil. Making the West African country quite dependent vis-à-vis China.

But where China is different from Westerners, it is at the level of their political approach. Europe and the U.S. tend to care a lot about human rights and democracy. Not China. As well explained by Tim Marshall, China only cares about two things when making partnership:

The materials with which to make its products, and political stability to ensure the flow of those materials and products.

The rest is not their problems at all. So if Cameroonian President Paul Biya wants to spend thousands of dollars in private trips in Europe instead of dealing with his people, that is his affair. And if the Cameroonian Anglophone continues until disrupting raw timber production, that is China’s issue.

Democracy, Corruption and Governance

However, that economic improvement must not make us forget that many African countries struggle to get rid of their bad habits. Though the majority of them have taken a democratic path, many have only the facade of it. Some elections seem to contain ‘irregularities’ and human, as well as civil rights, are not that esteemed.

Consequently, those democracies are often seen as ‘autocratic’ — regime having both democratic and dictatorship characters.

Rwanda is a case in point. Its current President Paul Kagame took office in 2000. Since then, it would not be excessive to say that he has contributed to getting its country out of misery. On the first hand, the country’s economic growth has never done so well. On the other side, people are living about 20 years longer and the expected years of schooling has increased — resulting in Rwanda’s HDI growth. In contrast, subject like democracy and human rights remain quite limited. Kagame won the three latest presidential elections with nearly 90 per cent of the vote — calling into question the quality of those elections — whereas people do not really have the power to express their ideas freely, especially towards the government.

So, can we say this lack of democracy is legitimate if the country can step out of poverty? Or perhaps Rwanda would be better off if they structured the country to a more democratic Western model?

Given Rwanda is a sovereign state, Kagame’s government has technically the right to do anything within its territory. In theory. For instance, the country cannot possibly threat, harm or kill its own people under pain from being perhaps sanctioned by the international community. However, given that democracy is not compulsory, Rwanda can decide to remain or adopt any political regime that it wishes. Nonetheless, the fact remains that democracy regime has non-negligible advantages. Besides, to be the most numerous, they tend to be wealthier, healthier and to protect human rights better. I then consider democracy as recommended but not compulsory.

Whatever you think about Rwanda’s undemocratic regime, denying what Kagame has done would be an error. He has succeeded to make progress a country still rocked by a genocide. And more importantly, he has established a stable governance. A process that many African countries lack to progress correctly.

For measuring what good governance is supposed to be, the Commission of Human Rights identifies five key attributes: transparency, responsibility, accountability, participation and responsiveness (to the needs of the people). Though, in order to determine whether a state has a good governance or not, we could also respond to a simple question: are the institutions of governance effectively guaranteeing the right to health, adequate housing, sufficient food, quality education, fair justice and personal security?

For many African countries, the likely answer would be no.

Numerous reasons can explain that. Corruption is one of them. Though it exists everywhere, corruption is particularly rooted in Africa. According to 2017 Corruption Perception Index, countries in Africa average 32 out of 100 in their CPI scores, and six out of the bottom ten countries are African.

Corruption Perception Index 2017. (Source: BusinessWorld/Transparency.org).

The problem with bribery is that it tends to hamper development and the ability to bring people out of poverty.

Because of this bad governance, many essential sectors seem to be underdeveloped by African countries such as their tax systems.

Just be clear: being taxed is a drag. However, taxation remains a useful tool. For the citizens, the money collected is often used for financing better healthcare, schools, sanitation systems, housing and social safety. In short, taxation can be seen as a way to enhance human development and reduce inequality. As for the states, tax revenue often represents a significant share of their GDP. However, it is not the case for all. If France and Denmark tax revenue represented 45 per cent of their GDP in 2015, we can not as much for a large part of Africa. Indeed, this figure fell at 15 per cent in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Chad during the same period.

Two causes are particularly relevant to explain this situation. On the first hand, 40 per cent of the African population is still living with less than $1,90 per day. On the other side, the prevalence of informal, undeclared sectors — which do prevent proper taxation.

Consequences of it are terrible — especially in term of healthcare. Through the continent, few people are covered by healthcare insurance. For instance, in the Republic Democratic of Congo, only 10 per cent of its population had access to coverage in 2010.

On the whole, adopting well-designed public finance can only benefit. Besides, to straighten the relation between citizens and governments, it delivers on the promise of social and economic equality. By the way, a strong correlation has been established: richer countries tend to have higher tax revenues as a share of their GDP.

Despite all, it does not mean that African countries have not taken initiatives to change their habits. Many African nations have joined Addis Tax Initiative — a partnership where more than 30 developed countries agreed to double support to emerging countries for effective public finance. Moreover, the African Union (AU) designated 2018 as the “year of winning the fight against corruption”.

Many challenges are still to be met by the continent. Political stability remains a vital issue. So does the human development. However, it is crucial to be full of optimism. We have to be. Africa currently holds 1,1 billion people and by some estimates — by 2050 that may have more than doubled to 2,4 billion. At this moment, it is certain that the world will have changed and, I hope that Africa will have a more prominent role to play than now.


Afterwords

Thank you for having read this article. To be honest, it took a while to get it done given that I spent a lot of time not trying to lose myself on figures. Nonetheless, I am not really proud of myself. I really wanted to make the paper a bit more personal by including as much qualitative as quantitative elements. I will try to move towards this goal the next time (I know how annoying numbers can be sometimes…).

Predict

where the future is written

Yannick Ondoa

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“No one is flawless. Like everyone, I fart and poop and I sometimes play badly. That’s it” Akihito Ninomiya

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Predict

where the future is written

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