HOW AFRICA IS UNDER DEVELOPING AFRICA
By Prince Fenny Fwa
Written July 2017
There is a book by Walter Rodney titled “How Europe underdeveloped Africa.”The book summarized in one sentence is a graphic picture how European imperialists used slave trade, unequal trading and placing their puppets (African leaders) in power to exploit African human and material resources thereby under developing the nations of Africa.
Africa has to stop this blame game. In reverse order, I posit How Africa is under developing Africa. From today, I will begin educative series on the wealth beneath the earth of Africa which are so rich and how we Africans unbelievably mismanaged them because inappropriate leadership. We shall start with Democratic Republic of Congo.
Democratic republic of Congo( DRC).
DRC is arguably the richest country in the Continent because of reasons I shall state below.
DRC has perhaps the largest untapped mineral resources in the world, comparable only to Russia. Its mineral resources is computed to be worth about $24 trillion. It’s the largest producer of cobalt and a leading producer of gold, gems, copper and uranium. The most valuable reserves DRC possesses more than any nation and large quantity is diamond.
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Other natural resources other than mineral resources are timber and water resources. The entire DRC is rain forest with the largest and the best timber in the world. I interacted with a diplomat from Kenya who said, once you import a lorry load of timber from DRC to Kenya you have become automatically a millionaire. One of the most precious resources in the country is River Congo that flows through out the country. It’s the deepest river in the world and adjudged the world’s second largest river by discharge. It’s navigable all year round. The river contains plenty of fish with at least 685 species, 80% of them are not found elsewhere in the world. The river is also at home to a lot of hippopotamus, crocodiles and seals. With plenty of these seafoods, there are hardly harvested because the people are so lazy to the extent that the fish grow so big and that since they are hardly harvested they turn around to eat human beings they come across.
DRC has 80m hectares of arable land and the soil is extremely fertile. With 78m people, it has a vibrant population that can turn around the fortunes of this blessed nation
With all these enormous human and material resources, it remains politically unstable, lack critical infrastructures and social amenities. Despite its abundant resources, it remains one of the poorest nations in the world and was ranked number 176 out of 187 countries based on the latest United Nations human development index.
It’s so sad a country with such promise remains in a vicious circle of poverty, poor political leadership which is the most critical in bringing about the desired peace, progress and stability of the country. The DRC political quagmire started when the imperialists in collaboration with the local people led by Mobutu Seseko toppled the Government of Patrice Lumumba and killed him. He refused to comprise the independence of his country. Because he wanted political, economic and social independence of his country which was not in tandem with western interest which wanted Africa in perpetual bondage, they got rid of him. Even at the point of death, he refused to be a stooge of the west and this was his parting fierce comment on the independence for his country. “Neither brutal assaults, nor cruel mistreatment nor torture have ever led me to beg for mercy. For I prefer to die with my head held high, unshakable faith, and the greatest confidence in the destiny of my country, rather than live in slavery and contempt for the sacred principles.”
With the death of this great patriot, Congo never knew political stability because Mobutu that took over was the lackey of the western powers and was so brazenly corrupt that he looted the country about $35b in 30 years of his reign. He was overthrown by Lawrence Kabila on the 17th May 1997. Kabila had no visible programmes for the country and was brutally assassinated by his body guard on 11th of January 2001. His son Joseph Kabila who was also not prepared for the task ahead took over and has been in power for 16 years with monumental corruption ravaging his country. He was to exit after there was an agreement that he would only serve for two terms and will go this year, but there is no signs he would honour it. Already there are massive protests from all the nooks and crannies of the country calling him to step down.
The picture looks gloomy and the political instability of the country since the independence of the country 57 years continuous unabated with the attendant violence, poverty, hunger and disease that characterize most African countries.
