Politics - Africa's Crisis of Governance

By Tunde Obadina - Director of Africa Business Information Services

Some people see in Africa's political and economic failings proof that Africans are incapable of ruling themselves. Such people may also believe that the colonial powers opted out of the continent prematurely and that some more years of tutelage might have made a difference. In this liberal age such views are rarely spoken openly by either the enemies or friends of Africa. But it would be naive to think that Africa's experience has not raised questions about the quality of the character and mind of the African. The doubt certainly occupies the thoughts of many Africans as they watch their prostrated countries treated as basket cases. Self-doubt has grown with each decade of apparent failure.

Ordinary Africans, bewildered and disappointed by the outcome of self-rule, find little around them to instil the confidence that as a people they can manage their own recovery. In some respects Africans are now more vulnerable to theories of black inferiority than they were during colonialism. Under colonialism they could dream that with liberation would come the opportunity to prove their worth. The future was uncompromised by the failures of the present. After more than three decades of misgovernment, many Africans have lost faith. In 1990 a state governor in Imo state in southeastern Nigeria explained to a public meeting in the capital Owerri that his cash-strapped government was unable to solve the severe erosion problem devastating the region. After he had spoken an old man in the audience stood up and said "Since you and other black leaders have tried your best but have not been able to improve the lives of us ordinary people, why don't we ask the whites to come back. When the white man ruled us things were not this bad. Please ask them to come and save us." The statement, spoken with sincerity, met momentary silence in the audience followed by some laughter and applause.

In a way, the whites have been returning. Some would say, they never left. Over the past two decades western governments, aid agencies and multilateral finance institutions have sent experts to African countries to help them develop. The help increasingly involved attempts to direct the political and economic development of the recipient nations. Read more...