AFRICA - Disorganized Development and Development by destructive medium

AFRICA - Disorganized Development and Development by destructive Mediums

Sam Mwaka-karama

AFRICA – is certainly developing. There is no doubt about that one. What seems to pose challenges, in visualizing the scopes of its small advances, is the modality by which African developments are being forged.

To appreciate this enormous landscape and see clearly through the maze of reality and mythology, one needs to imagine Africa’s developments by blocks of country characteristics and, in the comparative analysis it is possible to make-out what slows African developments.

Prominently, two things appear; firstly the countries that are developing by ‘disorganization and forgery’ and the countries that are developing by ‘destructive mediums’.

This is the deep-end view that might not actually make sense to un-practiced random and shifty shallow thinking people.

In shifty and shallow appraisals firstly, the tendency is to look at Africa’s development from its under-development: by dwelling on donor Aid and Grant mismanagement as the sole base for the imperative analysis. This is mostly visible in what many of the newspaper writers discuss in their articles - daily.

It is of cause true that over the past five decades the developed world committed and often wrote-off huge sums of Aid and Grant funds injected in various African Countries for development purposes.

While it is also true that similarly huge amounts have been availed off the developed world to help Africa meet certain emergencies; both natural and also man made – but then as the usual African newspaper writers often digest – all these [aid and grants] inputs seem to disappear below the surface through the vicious sinkhole into the enormous [corruption-land] below the sea; where the ‘demons of economies’ consort with the fat Mafia Hokes and other strangers and ‘Duple Gangers’ and irate crazy nibblers. So that what actually takes place down there in the dungeon of the economic bottomless pit defies all manner of audit and accountability.

Development by disorganization

 Under this first ‘country category’ characteristics – defining those African states that are developing by disorganized means; most Ugandan newspaper writers often compare that category with previously [second world countries]; like Singapore and Malaysia or perhaps Bangladesh whose GDP were perhaps somehow at par with those of some East African countries like Uganda; way back in the 1960s as they decolonized and thus became Independent.

And today in the continued comparative analysis – the local writers often wonder how Uganda for example is left standing as; the Asian countries have leaped into First World status. Ugandans seen stranded in that comparative note and, the discussants can’t identify what makes the Asians move while Uganda is on ‘Mark Time’ and the ‘forward’ command is absent!

In my view, it does appear to me as if to explain this situation in answering the newspaper contributors’ questions - observed over a long time; we have to look back at the modalities of ‘skills and technology’ transfers applied after decolonization of most Asian countries – how did the Asians move?

 In the first instance, those Asian countries were catapulted into second world status by factors of European ‘Industrial technology and skills’ transfer that bolstered base Asian industrial developments.

Huge Industries were built under license, offered by the parent Industries from Britain and Europe; to many of the Asian countries including; India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and others… those European licensed Asian industries quickly developed outlets for their finished products in Africa.

Many of the African newspaper contributors also penalize Africa’s former colonial masters with undue exploitation of Africa! They seem to be convinced that the colonialists left Africa without Infrastructures.

They don’t remember for the sake of their younger readers that; for example East African Community EAC was colonially created between Kenya Uganda and Tanzania.

The character of the Community was modeled on logistical Infrastructure; Comprising the Railway and Harbor, Post and telecommunication, Airways and Air Traffic Control. To mention the main structures only – otherwise the Community had included East African Currency Board that capped and controlled the Banking systems with a single East African Currency. These Infrastructures were otherwise unfortunately dismantled by the Independent states of the EAC barely ten years after Independence.

For our local newspaper contributors to continually and repetitively claim that the Colonial masters exploited our EAC countries or left us without infrastructures - is redundant gossip: Uganda’s railway was cannibalized by Ugandans! While Kenya preserved and still runs its antique Locomotive steam Engine Trains; Ugandans ruthlessly scrapped the entire system and, were chopped-up and sold as scrap! Bought-up by foreign scrap buyers abroad.

The Asian countries often cited by the Ugandan newspaper contributors had very long history of advantageous Diaspora life – with their citizens as early as the 1800s and for others even earlier migrating to Britain, Europe and the United States, Canada and Australia where they engaged in serious skills and knowledge developments including University Education and, Industrial Apprenticeship working in Steel Industries and various other manufacturing and fabrication or building construction industries; accumulating knowledge and skills that became more than just handy back in their Asian countries after decolonization.

The building of the Harbors in the East African coastline and, subsequent building of the railway tracks from Mombasa to Kampala – labored for by the Indians under the British Engineers clearly confirm the knowledge and skills transfer factor am talking about; that we Africans picked these things along the way as the Colonial authorities involved us in the works; step by step!

While many of our Diaspora migrants now living abroad, are learners and Apprentice in the software skills and mostly engage in teaching or lecturing jobs. The difference is; while the Asian Diaspora of pre-decolonization eras went for the heavy industries, our own Ugandan Diaspora fellows of today are mostly into the software.

So that comparatively, we are not likely to get values in human resources out of our own now living in the Diaspora. This is why we might not merit well in the next level of our African developments: Oil Industry, Steel mining and processing, the next levels of buildings, roads and railways construction.

With our brands of Diaspora migrants abroad whose sole interests are grounded in white collar jobs; Barristers, Economists, Educationists, ICT, Managers, Cinema Music and entertainments, Hospitality and many other social driver professions.

It is certainly true also that back home in Uganda for example, these white collar trainings are hugely in the works also with graduates coming out in droves annually.

So that, the heavier industries will perennially remain our skills and expertise deficiency point – where the heavy industries will remain a difficult economic works area, if at all established, like Oil is in Uganda, what might be driven by the foreigners. 

Developments by Destructive mediums         

Though Somalia is an extreme example, it is also the best under the circumstances; because, despite the constant war, internally the country has been forging forward even if it has been a [Bomoa na Kujenga] with the rebuilding element much-much slower than the destroying element. So that the country could have actually been in a state of progressive stagnation.

Otherwise Somalia has a huge human resource in the workable Oil and heavy logistics industries – mostly developed in the African Diaspora. Somalia’s overseas Diaspora Immigrants are probably the richest in the World.

However their wealth mostly belong to the [end thing justify the means] dirty money and blood money of the laundering type category. It is also these often questionable massing of dirty money and the means by which they were made – that breed the negative human resource responsible for the laying of the state to waste… as failed state.

Here I would imagine that religious extremism; which actually only plays the catalyst to the ‘destructive medium’ - is more the opportunistic ailment that take advantage of the actual genesis of crime-driven vicious circles of conflict and bloodbath. The extremist religions only take opportunity of an existent characteristically self destructive genetics in the people of a particular country… 

African analysts writing in the newspapers only apply [cosmetics and perfumery] analysis and avoid the genecology of country characteristics and, its role in rendering the host or mother or maybe father country dysfunctional, obsessively violent or xenophobic and self centered.***