NAIROBI: RICH AFRICA, POOR AFRICANS

                                               AfricanVoices Founder Abdirahman Ali

The level of economy in countries around the globe is not even. It is somewhere very high and somewhere very low. GDP, literacy rate and employment rate are several parameters of a country to determine the level of its economy. Be assured. There are very many success stories on the African continent. Countries that started out with almost nothing at independence but that have been able to lift a great part of population out of poverty by their own force, offering good health and education services and providing economic growth conditions that allow citizens to become consumers.
Africa is known as the most needed continent, where development and emergency aid is poured in at a growing paste. In the African continent it is immeasurable how the economy is growing and whether developments are really happening in the continent.
The idea that Africa is a continent with plenty of natural resources is unarguable. Yet people in Africa are characterized and battered by endemic hunger, genocides, wars, corruption, massive underdevelopment and all sorts of untold sufferings. Judging this beautiful continent from its natural resources, one would expect to see people cruising in an age of high mass consumption. Instead, Africa is full of people still struggling with their take-off process and large numbers of these people live less than a dollar a day. Much of the population lives in poverty, hopelessness and underdevelopment that have remained a constant even in a 21st century experiencing huge technological advancements and globalization.
African leaders have failed to tap the natural resources for the benefit of the natural public. More so the African governments have failed to come up with constructive strategies to bring better future for the people of Africa. So many plans have been developed to drag out Africa out of its net of poverty, a lot of time and resources spent but the result is never visible to the African people who live below the poverty line. Who bears responsibility of all these mess to the development and the future of the African people?
One aspect that needs to be considered very seriously is the facts of income disparity between rich and poor nations to measure the cleavage between the haves and the haves not. Africa is well known for its tremendous land, very fertile, enormous rainfall, tremendous agriculture resources, minerals and no doubt this beautiful continent have oil. It is never clear why these natural resources are not used properly for the sake of larger population in the region.
Why is Africa poor? Why is there so much war? Why are people dying of hunger? Very true indeed, Africans as a people may be poor, but Africa as a place is fantastically rich-in minerals, land, labor and sunshine. Today many African leaders will admit that Africa is not poor but it is poorly managed. To alleviate poverty, Africa needs to cultivate creative and intellectual abilities that will allow it to increase the value of its raw materials and to break the continent’s vicious cycle of poverty. Poverty is not an absence of money; rather, it results from an absence of knowledge. We need less talk about poverty and more action to eliminate it. So how do we achieve this goal, there should be a government that is responsible for its actions and consults its citizens what exactly are the needs of the ordinary man in the streets instead of formulating policies that may not work for the people, and Intellectual capital, no higher wages, will eliminate poverty in Africa. If we all demand higher wages, we will end up paying the higher wages to ourselves. Intellectual capital will result in the creation of new products derived from new technologies. The end result will be not just a redistribution of wealth, but the creation and control of new wealth.
A simple definition that was once made by an old village mother about poverty in Africa is really very touching and needs learned man and women to read between the lines of these statement; "Poverty is not going empty for a single day and getting something to eat the next day. Poverty is going empty with no hope for the future. Poverty is getting nobody to feel your pain and poverty is when your dreams go in vain because nobody is there to help you." The main issue here is hope, people live in hope all the time to prosper in life and overcome hardship in this time of economic crisis.
Are our leaders thinking ever to eliminate poverty and put a smile to their people who lost hope in life? A government cannot work without its people, we cannot compare at all leaders who opt to live luxurious life using tax payers money and the tax payer is suffering in the expense of working to build their country. While poverty is undoubtedly a crucial factor as to why health problems are so severe in Africa, political will of national governments is paramount, despite disheartening odds. Constraints such as social norms and taboos, or lack of decisive or effective institutions have all contributed to the situation getting worse.
It is unfair to see such selfish leaders to think their stomach and enrich themselves while their citizen does not know where he/she next meal will come from.
If we don’t come up with strategies to change this continent, it will remain poor, there is poverty in Africa and there is hunger everywhere on the continent of Africa. There is no doubt Africa is poor, the question is not why Africa is poor but may be how we can make Africa rich. What can we do as individuals or groups to help change Africa?
The whole issue of Africa being poor reminds me that, there is a plenty of water yet the people living around the area are thirsty. Simple logic, give people water and let them live well. All this, blames comes back to the respected authorities that are in charge in the government offices to plan and work policies that help the people change their lives. Together we can, Yes to development no to selfishness.

Abdirahman Mohamed Ali

Theafricanvoices founder