Indignity of poverty in land of plenty
Africa boasts of so much natural richness, yet it is over represented in negative things such as poverty and disease

Africa boasts of so much natural richness, yet it is over represented in negative things such as poverty and disease

Nick Mangwana View from  the Diaspora—

Poverty is an indignity, a scourge and an indictment on the priority of African leadership. How can it be justified when Africa has most of the world’s resources?There is no question that Africa has been plundered by world forces and continues to get a raw deal. But if the resources which Africa has are used to fulfil identifiable human goals such as better health, better welfare systems and education, wouldn’t Africa be in a better place today?

Africa has more than half of the world’s poor. How can one continent be so over represented in negative things such as poverty and disease and yet boasts of so much natural richness? Isn’t that a paradox?

To complicate matters a little further, the same continent is home to some of the vainest of the world’s luxurious vanities? It might surprise many to learn that when it comes to champagne consumption, Nigeria is only second to France. Of which France is the home of champagne and has had the drink in its culture for centuries.

Yet an African country with over 60 percent of its population living on less than $1 a day wins the prize of being the second highest consumer of the luxury fizz in the world.

Next on the list, cars. Oh those we love. One of the most limited edition cars ever produced is a Koenigsegg CCXR. Only six of these were ever made. And would it ever surprise the reader to learn that one of them is in South Africa?

This is a car that costs millions and a country in a continent that hosts one of the world’s poorest people also hosts one the world’s most expensive vanities? How does that happen? Maybe Africa has enough wealth to go around but because of poor governance, it gets concentrated in the hands of a few and most cases a few connected people.

Closer to home, Harare hosts some of the most monstrous houses ever to be seen. One house this columnist visited in Harare has its plans inspired by the resort island of Maldives. Imagine that. Someone actually attempting to clone a resort they saw in Maldives back in Harare.

You then drive 15 to 20km southwards and you come across poverty of such gross stink that one would think they have gone to a different country and not different suburbs of the same city.

Some may argue that most of this wealth is from creative private enterprise. Well, if such is the case then it’s good. But most of it can be traced to wasteful government expenditure, corruption and in some cases embezzlement of public funds including via tender manipulations.

If this is allowed to go on, Africa can only compete at par with the rest of the world in vanity for its snobbish elite, lag behind in development and top the league table when it comes to poverty and disease. The solution to these challenges is good governance.

Good governance must be central to the achievement of the aspirations of our people. Without good governance, Africa will not eradicate poverty. Maybe eradication sounds utopian. How about just reduction?

We surely cannot continue to hear of Africa’s young people perishing in the Mediterranean or across the Sahara every day. If we argue that the slave trade deprived Africa of its potential by plundering its best resources; young people, why are we not looking at the root cause of why our people are crossing seas to look for better opportunities elsewhere?

And when they jump the hoops they have to jump and end up successful wherever they are, they still have to fight very hard to be able to give back to their countries. They are viewed with a lot of suspicion and their intentions are over scrutinised. In some cases, they are loathed even.

Zimbabwe’s Diaspora has been out of the country mainly for an average of 16 years. Many have decent lives but they cannot forget what they left behind. They want to help uplift their country and people from suffering. They ask the powers that be that in their policy making they should consider making the Diaspora the 11th Province of the country. But what happens? There is suspicion.

People are worried that these Diasporans want to bring their ideas from foreign countries. So ideas are not what you want but household goods, cars and even strange dressing not suitable for your weather, those you want? What rank hypocrisy! And people are expected to beg to be allowed to play a role in the betterment of their country? Why would they need to do that?

There is nothing to apologise for in calling for sustainable resource management. Before we talk about getting more, let us prudently manage what we have. If our resources are meagre and they can’t do all, then our priorities should be set in such a way that they clearly indicate that they are centred on the poor.

Not those that already have. This is where governance comes in.

In this context, governance is being defined as the way things get done.

This definition can be expanded to mean the decision making processes that formulate and shape policies and the implementation of the policies.

Poor service delivery is failure of those in authorities. This applies to both central and local government.

In short, it’s a governance failure. This is a symptom of institutional failure. Institutions should do what they are instituted to deliver. Be they the police, the Anti-Corruption Commission, Judiciary or Parliament.

Governance is how power is exercised through these institutions. When any one of a country’s institutions does not do what it is supposed to do, that’s a governance problem.

When any institution has an unfettered power which is exercised outside its founding mandates, that’s a governance problem.

When a State fails to meet its constitutional obligations, there is a governance problem. Part of the State’s obligations is to reduce poverty and care for the less privileged citizens. When national institutions are used to serve private interests, it is the poor that suffer. That again is a governance issue. So whilst the West hegemony is a contributor to Africa’s ills, the continent has to take responsibility.

Granted, like everything else, there must be a context to Africa’s poverty and Zimbabwe’s predicament.

We are a primarily a commodity producing economy, which is susceptible to the vagaries of world commodity prices.

Over the last few years, these have been poor. We are also subject to the vagaries of adverse climatic changes.

Over the last two years and recent past, we have experienced devastating droughts. That is quite unfortunate and informs a lot on our poor economic performance in Zimbabwe.

But having said that, there is more we can do in using those resources that we have more efficiently. This is where the governance issue comes into play. That of course includes but not restricted to corporate governance.

Our management of public finances needs to improve. There is serious mismanagement of public finances.

People are tired of having laws, guidelines and codes which no one cares to follow. Headline after headline pronounce a new code or law as the “game changer” and yet the game continues to be played the same old way despite all the pointless documentation.

Let us not be reluctant to do what’s right for our countries. The question which seems to trump all others in our decision matrix is how the decision will affect the power dynamics regardless of whether it’s good for the country or not. That there is self-serving myopia.

Nations led by visionaries plan further than the next election cycle and much further than the lifetime of current leadership.

It plans for the unforeseen generations. Only that way can there be hope of reducing, if not eradicating poverty from among our people. When one talks of the long-term security of a nation, that is exactly what they are talking about.

For Zimbabwe to come out of its current crisis and accelerate its development, there is one major condition.

Institutions have to work and function as they are meant to. If they are interfered with and contaminated, then people can talk of governance until cows come home and break out again but it will just vain babbling.

There are individuals who are taking advantage of governance weaknesses to embezzle as well as abuse the system.

These are the same individuals who resist any efforts to bring accountability and transparency into the system.

These systems should ensure that the country’s resources and affairs are managed primarily for the benefit of the common good and never for private whims. That is corruption.

The strangest thing is those who abuse, circumvent or privatise the system are the same people that package themselves as “super patriots”. There is no way one can be corrupt and claim to be a patriot. The two are mutually exclusive.

So anyone in the party of this columnist’s choice, who is corrupt should stop this grandstanding patriotic parade for they are not patriots but self-serving sell outs.

Patriotism protects and respects national institutions.

It drives national institutions closer to the people which they are meant to serve and whose interests they are meant protect.

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