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Breaking the cycle of poverty in Africa: The Case for Investment in Infrastructure

Investments in infrastructure and democracy as a form of government in Africa is the only solution to Africa's underdevelopment and impoverishment. The continent is lagging behind all the continents the world in terms of economic and social development. All countries that make up the African continent have similar economic problems namely, unemployment, increased deficits, poor economic and social infrastructure including roads, ports, education, airports, telecommunications, health and sanitation.

Centuries of slavery and colonialism deprived the continent of its human resources capable and economical. If men and women capable were taken to work on plantations of the Americas (in total about 30 to 40 million), where natural resources plundered by European countries: Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy. After slavery was abolished the looting of natural resources continues. The irony is that virtually all revenue from these resources were used to finance economic and infrastructure development of the European countries with little or no use to develop the various countries where these resources come. A clear example is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where King Leopold II of Belgium to the Africans enslaved and forced to work without pay, killed about 10 million and plundered the country of its resources and virtually nothing is used to invest in the country except the Belgian army weapons used to kill Africans. When the Democratic Republic of Congo was transferred from Leopold II of Belgium, the state looting and killing continued until Democratic Republic Congo gained independence in the 1960s. In fact Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo Free State) was the main supplier of rubber a vital raw material tire industry and all the money from the sale of the rubber was in Belgium. King Leopold II was able to transform Belgium as one of the poorest countries in Europe one of the richest courtesy enslavement and looting of African resources.

Belgium is not alone in what they did with the mainland. Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy, all of Africa's looted gold, diamonds, ivory, wood, cobalt, and all minerals that can be imagined. The Africans who resisted the illegal activities were killed in their millions as happened in South West Africa (now Namibia), where the Germans in 1904-1907 committed the first genocide of the 20th century to kill the Herero and Namaqua people. While Europe got richer Africa became poorer and the trend continued until the 1950s when African countries began to gain their "independence'beginning with Libya in 1951, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia in 1956 and all of Ghana in 1957.

investment with little or no government in the post-colonial Africa inherited a number of countries with almost no infrastructure: roads, railways, ports, telecommunications, education, health and sanitation and airports. The only areas that were a few investment in infrastructure during the colonial period were the raw material was extracted by far. The achievement of independence did not arrive in silver Plata. Algeria, Zimbabwe, Angola, Kenya, Namibia and South Africa to some extent achieved their independence from their colonial masters through the arm struggle and in most cases, little infrastructure that existed were destroyed by the conflict.

Like slavery, colonialism and the looting of the continent's resources were not sufficient continent became a battle ground during the Cold War as the two superpowers and their allies fought for influence and control on the continent, mainly because of its resources. As result, many African governments, who were considered pro-Russia and America were using the military ousted. An example of this was the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana February 24, for example 1966.Another is the overthrow and assassination of Patrice Lumumba of the Congo on 17 January 1961.Other leaders like Nelson Mandela were imprisoned, either for defend the independence and improving the conditions of Africans. CIA and Western intelligence community have been involved for the engineering of the murders and the overthrow elected leaders of Africa. For example, Larry Devlin, the CIA station chief in Congo during the days of Patrice Lumumba told The Washington Post in December 2008 saying that he refused the order to kill Patrice Lumumba, but his refusal did not stop the CIA and the Belgian government from overthrow and assassinate him. The assassination attempt Gamal Nasser of Egypt on October 24, 1954 and the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 were accused of being the work of Great Britain M16 because of its refusal to turn over the management Suez Canal to the British. The CIA, the KGB and its allies encouraged and financed wars and political instability across the continent. Angola became the battlefield for the CIA, KGB and Chinese, as each tried to gain control over the country, its people and resources. The civil war that plunged the country in 1975 ended only in 1991 after 26 years of conflict. After the war the infrastructure of the few that remained after the war of independence (1961-1974) had gone.

The product of these assassinations and coups were political instability and destruction of lives and wish to property, including infrastructure that have bedeviled Africa until today. As the elected leaders of the continent were killed, overthrown and subjected to all kinds of cold war tactics, including bribery, arm twisting and blackmail the continent degenerated and failed in all aspects of human endeavor. The new generation of leaders to replace leaders postcolonial independence and were largely pawns of European and American governments became increasingly authoritarian and corrupt. Joseph Mobutu who became Seseseku in the choice of Americans after helping assassinate Lumumba ruled Congo for 32 years and in those years the country has been impoverished as Mobutu and cronies got richer and the Western countries particularly the U.S. and its allies had a free hand to plunder the mineral resources of cobalt, which is more important a very important minerals needed for missile development. Little infrastructure activities carried out by Mobutu. As a result of Congo today is only accessible by boats and canoes mainly through the Congo River.

As the tyrants and dictators had the support of Western governments and did whatever they wanted with their economies without question, his people became poorer and the hopelessness and despair were the hallmarks of their lives. As the little money that entered the government coffers were taken by corrupt government officials and civil servants were almost no money to carry out infrastructure development and poverty more deep. Poverty, despair and hopelessness visited the town and with his inability to change their leaders democratically, dissents were planted in the population that serve as breeding grounds for more coups, civil wars and civil unrest. This is evident in Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, Algeria, Gabon, Togo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sierra Leone experienced strokes in the years 1960, 1970, 1980 and even in the 1990s. These waves of coups were followed by civil wars that ravaged Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Angola, Niger and Guinea. These wars honored with a human cost has also contributed to the destruction roads, ports, airports, railways, telecommunications, hospitals, schools and many more. With the lack of infrastructure have been unable countries to achieve a breakthrough in terms of economic development. To reverse centuries of slavery and colonialism on the one hand and decades of coups and civil wars on the other Governments should focus on building infrastructure in the continent.

This is because the state of infrastructure on the mainland there is nothing to write home about: roads, ports, telecommunications, health, education, market and airport are the existence or are not in a state terrible to describe. We have neglected the few that have existed to decline however, we have forgotten that no continent or nation, no matter the size of resources is natural that it can develop without investing in infrastructure. So Democratic Republic of Congo has every imaginable mineral and yet they are a of the poorest on the continent. Therefore, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong has been developed that is why President Elect Obama speaks about building U.S. infrastructure, as are the engine driving the economy. You can not export unless they have the ports and airports to support it. You can not attract tourists if you has no airport, hotels and other infrastructure that support it. You can not move goods from production sites to consumption centers if they have no roads, of rail and water infrastructure to deliver it. You can not cater to the industries with the doctors, architects, bankers, lawyers, planners, engineers, teachers, nurses if they have the educational infrastructure to deliver it. And you can not run an efficient and dynamic economy if you do not have the energy and infrastructure telecommunications in place. Africa has been experiencing serious disturbances in the energy sector for years and no government has seen no wisdom to solve. As a result of the factories are folding and are laying off workers and we are waiting for nature to help fill our dams prior to rectify the problem. Could these approaches do nothing to help solve problems of our continent and in developing nations? What are we doing with the abundance sun on the continent? Not have taken advantage of it, right? We have 365 days of sunshine and we did not use solar power is cheaper and more reliable than hydraulics. It is another indication of the institutions we have and useless mouthpiece paid by the various political parties and their leaders for development. Look around themselves and see if any of the products you see are made in Africa. I refer to mobile phones, computers, televisions, cars and everything that Africans are striking cracks. It is sad to note that almost all the raw materials needed to build these mobile phones, cars etc are obtained from the countries of the continent.

To appreciate the importance of infrastructure as a basis for development of the continent consider transport infrastructure in a country for example. The development of each country is strongly dependent on a reliable transport infrastructure for internal transport and to link rural communities to market centers. The role of infrastructure for the economy of a nation can not be overemphasized especially its impact on sustainable development, GDP growth, inflation and poverty reduction. efficient provision and effective transport infrastructure in a nation underscores all attempts to reduce poverty.

The transportation infrastructure essential role played by the unification of all sectors of the economy such as agriculture, health, education, commerce, industries and services. Therefore, said that transport is the thread of life of the economy. Without transport infrastructure and economic activities and social development in general will stagnate. Transport infrastructure ensures that raw materials are brought to the factory, while manufacturing finished products are also distributed to the market centers and communities in which they are mostly necessary. Agricultural commodities such as food crops are made available to urban dwellers through highways, railways, airports and ports. The transport infrastructure also ensures that services from abroad, are available where most needed and at the right time.

Transportation infrastructure makes the management of new political entities such as districts, municipalities and regions easily, providing access to facilities social infrastructure such as schools, clinics, hospitals, markets, security services, and administrative offices. The transport infrastructure has its correlate in improving of general living standards of people living in rural and urban communities. Improving the quality of life of people and has added advantage of ensuring a rapid growth and sustainable development and has a long-term effect of reducing poverty.

In areas where transport infrastructure facilities are not available or have deteriorated in the severe difficulties lie in the production, distribution and marketing of goods and services. These situations also have implications negative for sponsorship of goods and services produced, and the use of these facilities such as clinics, hospitals, markets, and schools. This has a negative impact on the status and quality of life of people affected by these kinds of situations, and a stepped down effect of production and productivity levels in areas where the state's transport infrastructure is poor. It is well known that transport infrastructure and if all investments in infrastructure have correlations in the development and therefore the standard of living of the people.

To move the continent away from its current difficult situation, public works transport infrastructure should be carried out by aa all governments. Fast speed railway lines should be constructed to link the various parts of continent. This will make the transport of bulky raw materials and easier. The roads must be built to make it less difficult to transport. Nile River which is the longest river in the world should become an important international network of water transportation for the products could be transported up and downstream. The Other major rivers like the Limpopo, Zambezi, Congo, Niger, all must be developed to enable goods and people to move easily. All efforts must be done to develop technology that will harness solar energy potential of the Sahara desert in order to facilitate access to energy easily.

Major ports such as Durban, Cape Town, Lagos, Tema, Mombasa, Port Said, Tunisia, Tripoli and Benghazi to be developed will be extended if necessary, and make every effort made to remove all administrative bottlenecks and bureaucracy crippling trade and development. The airport infrastructure must be developed to facilitate people to move easily across the continent. The international airports of each country should be extended as necessary and must be equipped with modern technology to make it less cumbersome for passengers to pass. In addition to the bureaucracy, bottlenecks in the administration, preventing delays easy flow of people who should be eliminated. Therefore, it should be a common immigration policy is very simplified to care for people. The benefit transport investment is huge, so it should be given a priority.

If we are able to benefit both the transportation infrastructure, then What about our education sector where the continent's development and our nation rest? Education infrastructure in the continent and in our have not developed nations. Have you? Look at the World University Ranking and see where the first university of the continent falls. Can we afford to develop the continent and our countries with low quality of graduates not to mention the millions of illiterate and semi illiterate wandering across the continent and in our countries? Of the nearly 9760 accredited universities in the world, fewer than 10 universities were able to make the top 500 and even those who made it about 90% came from South Africa which is the most developed country on the continent (source: topuniversities.com). It is very clear that our education system is not producing the architects, engineers, planners, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, social workers, nurses and scientists we need in the 21st century. That's why all architectural activity engineering on the continent is carried out by foreigners and foreign companies, especially U.S., Japan, China, India and Europe. And all the continents and that case any nation that relies on foreign experts for their survival is punishment to fail in the long term.

The universities do not have well-trained teachers. They lack modern facilities such as the state of the art libraries, simulation laboratory facilities, studies, computers and books. They lack, because we can not build, we can not build because the curriculum had not prepared our students to build them. As a result we have to import the equipment and the books of the countries they've done their homework well and have invested heavily in education particularly in science and technology. In many of our universities, polytechnics and secondary school teachers and teachers are teaching students in the same way the institutions of the 19th century taught to forget that we are in the 21st century. The same notes given to a senior four years ago are still being given to freshmen without the addition and subtraction. Teachers can not write books for students because they lack the resources to carry out research that form the basis of any academic material.

While students in countries advanced get their hands on the books that are published immediately on the mainland have to wait four years or even longer to get the same books. What's more facilities academia, including libraries are in a state too terrible to describe. Not one of our universities can boast of more than two million volumes books in their libraries. Even the few books I have are so old that the information contained in them are useless. Very few books have been published by Africans. Due to that most students have to resort to notes that teachers are given. This is the state of our universities and so little to say about our polytechnics and secondary schools (high schools), the better. Our research institutions have achieved very little because they are underfunded and the researchers did not have the experience and facilities to carry out any meaningful investigation. An example of this is the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), located at New Tafo in the Region Eastern Ghana. Despite decades of its existence Ghana continues to export raw cocoa beans for peanuts. The value is added to the cocoa. CRIG has not been able to reach other ways to use beans to benefit Ghanaians in spite of increasing evidence that beans have many potential uses. In order that the continents of Africa and governments should make education a priority. They as a matter of urgency and necessity of investing educational infrastructure.

Also of these institutions of higher education must be structured to produce engineers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, sociologists and all necessary human resources the construction of various nations. Exchange programs should be established between institutions and universities on the continent for students in the continent could meet, interact and share ideas. Every effort should be used to enhance learning and the quality of learning on the continent. Efforts should be made to attract African in the diaspora to come and share their knowledge with their colleagues and contribute their knowledge to the development of the continent. Research institutions should be established across the continent and the funding provided to them to get to how the various natural resources in the continent could be used to benefit the people. With the ability adequate human resources in Africa to embark on his journey to free his people from poverty

How about the state of the infrastructure of housing? A visit to any town or city gives the same picture of poor households and poor quality of public service. People are living in the mud / thatched houses with bamboo leaves or raffia and cover sheet without electricity, clean water and clinics. They live in a subsistence environment without social security, health insurance and are condemned to poverty, despair and hopelessness. Those living in urban areas are unemployed with no mortgage, and dealing with utility bills with high service poor. It face a constant barrage of water and power outages daily. In each country, region, district of the situation is no different. In addition our members, ministers, vice presidents, presidents and political leaders, their cronies and families living in total luxury, with mansions, Trucks, bodyguards, wages fat, fat bonuses, servants of the house and have all the resources of the continent at their disposal. However, they say they serve the people. How can it be? Governments should invite the private sector to participate in the delivery of housing. Land and other infrastructures such water service, electricity and waste management should be always to make it more difficult for the private sector to join.

Look at the state of the agricultural sector. How many of our farmers have their own tractors and farm equipment to produce beyond subsistence level? Virtually none. Almost all major equipment needed for that viable and productive agric sector must be imported and how many of our farmers have their own resources to buy even the basic machinery to expand their farms? Although we are in the 21 However, our century agricultural practices indicate that we have not gone beyond the 19th century. This is why more about why we continue to hunger despite abundant rich soil in Africa. During the early part of the financial crisis of 2008 violence broke in Egypt, Sierra Leone and many other countries on the continent. Why is this so? The answer is that we have neglected the sector for too long. Farmers have no access to irrigation can be done in agriculture throughout the year is possible. They have to rely on the nature of the rain before they can start planting. They have access to credit can help them to expand their holdings. However, Ethiopia, for example, could afford to millions of dollars to buy military equipment while famine threatens to destroy his people. You can not afford tractors and irrigation equipment that could help the food on the table and bring the dignity of its people. Lack agricultural infrastructure has brought hunger to millions of people on the continent. There are no silos for storage at harvest. There are no roads to production areas. Us used in our country due to lack of political commitment. We can not develop our economies, if we fail to invest in infrastructure.

On the other hand, trade between countries should be encouraged at all levels. Africans must know that they stand or fall together, so that the old politics of former colonial master first and second neighbors become discouraged and stopped immediately. This is the reason why it is so important that these countries trade with each other, develop its market, share their resources so that the lives of its citizens will improve. The continent should not be allowed to serve as a dumping ground for European manufactured goods. substitution industries imports should be widely adopted on the continent and trade should be encouraged at all levels. The era of raw materials with little added value for peanuts are exported should be given the boot. As Americans use to tell the Japanese'if Japan wants a stake in the American market then their products should be manufactured here United States. The same criteria should apply to any company or country that wants a share of the raw material from Africa.

All national interests must give way to a common interest for the good of the people on the continent and the loyalty and influence of outside bodies should be treated as slander. Africa and its people must give serious consideration in all matters of economic, social and political. The old philosophy of selling the continent to international cartels and the corporation should be given the boot. Africans must know that the Europeans, Americans and Bretton Woods institutions have no interest to see them develop in the best of them instead of slavery and colonialism were back.

The above issues should be given a priority for Africa is to break the cycle of poverty that the people have endured for decades if not centuries.

I hope that the 21st century will be different for the continent. I hope that the construction infrastructure will be given greater priority by the various members of the African Union.

About the Author

Lord Aikins Adusei