Aid, loans, commodity exports and prospects of Africa’s prosperity (3)

EMPIRE-BUILDING AFRICAN leaders have done much damage to the prospects of Africa since the exit of colonisers and the end of their direct or indirect rule, or involvement in the daily affairs of the state. While argumentative analysts make endless references to the plundering of Africa’s resources during the colonial era and the brutal abductions of our forebears during the preceding era of slave trade, there has really not been much progress made in most African countries under the new systems of government led by Africans. Enormous state resources have been misused, purloined and frittered away by many of those African leaders as they attempted to consolidate power around themselves as individuals at the expense of the states. Their preoccupation with political power in the name of political stability led to the emergence of despots that have been ruling without accountability.

The powers they wield and the wealth they control should be a matter of interest in any meaningful historical and contemporary assessment of Africa in terms of development. As it has been in the Arab North Africa, so it has been in the predominantly dark skinned Sub-Saharan Africa. Mobutu Sese Seko, who once called the shots in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo or DRC, for short), a country he ruled as Zaire for 32 years till he died on September 7, 1997, was reportedly richer than the country during his reign. He had amassed a personal fortune estimated at over $5 billion by selling his nation’s rich natural resources while the people lived in penury. Félix Houphouët-Boigny, during his 33 unbroken years of rule cut a larger-than-life image that portrayed his influence beyond the tiny Cotê d’Ivoire he presided over till his death on December 7, 1993. At that time, his personal wealth was estimated to be between $7 and $11 billion.

Both Sese Seko and Houphouët-Boigny left power vacuum, hollowed out treasuries and crisis-ridden countries behind. Their countries were plunged into wars relating to leadership succession that subsequently threatened their political stability and economic growth. Their rich natural resources in minerals and agricultural produce for export became uncontrolled as the countries were exposed to unregulated exploitative foreign investors while the leadership chaos lasted. DR Congo remains impoverished despite its over 60 per cent of the world cobalt deposit and the second largest pristine forest after the South American Amazon. The economy of Côte d’Ivoire experienced severe setbacks under the two bouts of wars, from 2002 to 2007 and from 2010 to 2011, the latter arising from another succession crisis between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara. These were despite Côte d’Ivoire being the largest exporter of raw cocoa worldwide. And to their discredit, those two misleaders became heroes for the wrong reasons. They laid the foundations for subsequent economic doldrums in their countries which happened to have been former French colonies.

Sadly, in Côte d’Ivoire, Ouattara who got the power on the platform of sympathy and support of the international community, following a post-election violence which claimed no fewer than 3,000 lives, has upturned and manipulated the country’s constitution to pave way for a third term in office, which may indeed be the beginning of a regime without term limits. Ouattara is not the only one who got to power on popular support but bungled it subsequently. Robert Gabriel Mugabe won a democratic election that brought him into office as Prime Minister in 1980 and as President in 1987 and remained in office till 2017 when he resigned amidst national discontent. His 37 years of rule brought misery and economic catastrophe to Zimbabwe as the economy became comatose and the country’s currency was worth less than the paper used for printing it. While the economic downturn lasted, Mugabe who started as a revolutionary leader but ended up as a dictator was rumoured to have amassed a fortune in excess of $1 billion at the time of his death in 2019.

Zimbabwe could not sustain a good economy for decades despite its exports, of which gold accounted for 25 per cent, while nickel ores and concentrates took 17 per cent. Mugabe’s forced exit did not end official corruption relating to syphoning of the state’s wealth. A recent undercover investigative media report linked Mugabe’s successor in office with illicit activities and scandal involving gold smuggling to the Middle East under diplomatic immunity cover. With extensive coverage of the illicit value chains, video and audio evidence, the report of the scandal is yet to be debunked by the Chief Executive of the current administration in Zimbabwe. Yet, in the past couple of years, over 10 per cent of the country’s total official expenditure is from overseas development assistance, according to a report from the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its Development Co-operation Report, and International Development Statistics database detailing the geographical distribution of financial flows to developing countries. Up till now, Zimbabwe is not showing that it is about to be free from dependence on foreign aid.

Zimbabwe’s development has remained stalled for years. Between 2011 and 2022, an estimated 7.9 million people, or half of the population, fell into extreme poverty. In December of 2022, inflation in Zimbabwe peaked at 280 per cent, becoming one of the highest rates globally. The country misses a lot of investment opportunities arising from a wide infrastructure deficit, which discourages potential investors. The Financial Times’ FDI Intelligence observed that lack of amenities or basic infrastructure, from power to water infrastructure, is preventing investors from setting up shops within the country’s vacant stands and incomplete infrastructure of the Sunway City special economic zones (SEZ), especially in the Ruwa suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, according to the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida), a reconstructed state agency tasked with promoting local and foreign investment. Reliable unemployment statistics in Zimbabwe are hard to come by as figures vary from five per cent to 95 per cent. However, it seems more realistic that 95 per cent of the economically active people in the country are out of work or are working in the informal economy.

Cameroon, a bilingual but francophone-dominated country straddling the West and Central Africa, is another country of interest where the stability of a regime has come at the expense of general political stability and national economic growth. The country’s  economic downturn which began from the mid-1980s and lasted to the early 2000s resulted in rising prices of goods,  trade deficits and loss of government revenue. The economic mismanagement took a heavy toll on the environment as natural resource endowment came under pressure. Cameroon had a vast swathe of tropical forest with huge trees of economic and ecosystem relevance. From 1986 when the devastating economic crisis started, the rate of deforestation has increased significantly.

Paul Biya became the second president of Cameroon in November 1982, following the resignation of Ahmadu Ahidjo. Biya, now 90, has thus effectively held on to power as president for 41 years. Under his watch, Cameroon’s economy plummeted. Inflation rates have been consistently high, with the 2022 figure standing at 6.25 per cent, compared to the 7.97 per cent world average. Within the same year, Cameroon’s labour force was an estimated 11.58 million out of a total population of 27.2 million people, during which a 4.00 per cent unemployment rate was recorded, according to the GlobalEconomy.com. Despite its abundant natural resources, Cameroon has continued to appear on the list of nations classified as developing countries, thus qualifying to be a beneficiary of foreign aid for over half a century now. The increased inflow of aid and its huge potential to steer up the nation’s economic growth has not succeeded in turning the country’s economy round for the better as Cameroon continues to suffer from chronic economic hardship in addition to scoring very low in its Human Development ranking.

The presence of the headquarters of the Bank of Central African States or Banque des États de l’Afrique Centrale (BEAC) has never guaranteed Cameroon an economic edge, either in the Central African region or in the whole of Africa. The bank, which serves the 11 member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), has not provided any significant economic or political leverage for Cameroon in any way comparable to what the European Central Bank does for Frankfurt in Germany or the World Bank does for Washington DC. Whether President Biya’s long reign is a blessing or a curse to Cameroon remains to be determined as the country continues to endure his regime at old age.

Reality check reveals a sharp contrast between Biya and the country’s citizens he presides over. Based on a 2021 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), an estimated 43.6 percent of Cameroon’s population — about 11,856 thousand people — is multidimensionally poor while an additional 17.6 percent — 4,783 thousand people — is classified as vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. Paul Biya, described as the highest paid African President with a sum of $610,000 annually, and as Africa’s richest president, reportedly has a networth of $210 million, as disclosed in the Forbes list. He is followed by Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt, with a networth of $200 million.

José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola’s secretive, all-powerful, long-time ruler, who ruled Angola from 1979 to 2017 and oversaw a kleptocracy with vast amounts of wealth diverted to the dos Santos family, was rated in 2022 as having a networth valued at $3.5 billion. Despite Angola’s enormous revenues from petroleum export, the country’s poverty rate stands at 41.1 per cent, while rural poverty is much higher, at 57 per cent, with an overall average of 54 percent of Angolans experiencing multi-dimensional forms of poverty. The Angola’s story eloquently explains  the dilemma of resource-rich countries that have a preponderance of poor citizens in what economists described as “Dutch Disease.” Paradoxically, Angola still heavily depends on overseas development assistance. At the beginning of 2023, UNICEF alone requested $33 million to meet the urgent needs of more than 1.5 million individuals in Angola. This is apart from the aid coming to the country from some other donor organisations for other categories of beneficiaries.

The few examples reviewed here are considered as fair representatives of the actions of many more of African political leaders, past and present, and in relation to the consequences on the lives of their countries’ citizens. It is rather counterintuitive to think about a prosperous Africa under the circumstances of leadership scenarios here under review.  Africa’s leadership question therefore has to be reimagined and the issue of kleptomaniacs in power has to be properly contextualised, remedied and recurrence forestalled. As long as these remain unaddressed, Africa will continue to be vulnerable in the global economy and global competitive edge will continue to be elusive for the continent. These have to take a turn for a positive change if the continent must take its rightful place in the global comity of nations.

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