AFRICA

Africa is a continent in crisis, but there are emerging signs of optimism. Problems such as overwhelming debt burdens, flawed economic policies, poverty, widespread unemployment, an absence of democratic political institutions, and a dilapidating school system have combined in the past to hamper Africa’s aspirations for growth and development. However, change has begun to sweep the continent as countries are increasingly abandoning the failing economic and political policies of the past and now instituting democratic ideas such as market-based economic reforms. This growing commitment to democracy and structural reform inspires optimism about the future of Africa. Points of crisis that will be discussed in this report are slow economic growth, a crumbling infrastructure, and a failing school system. Areas of optimism include trade with other countries, reformed democratic governments, and the integration of schools. Africa is certainly a continent in crisis, but the people can not be forgotten.

Some African countries have begun to recognize the importance of creating economic policies of investment and sustainable growth. However, this has not been the case in the past. Less than one-half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s $178 billion debt is owed to other governments, about one-third is owed to multilateral institutions, and just under one-fourth to private creditors. Only $5.3 billion is owed to the U.S. Government. This large debt may discourage investment in heavily burdened countries by drawing resources from essential imports to service the government’s international liabilities. Economic growth is usually held to a minimum with such large national debts.

Thirty five countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are poor(1993 GNP per capita of $695 or less), severely indebted, and heavily dependent on exports of non-fuel primary products. Private investment must also increase from its currently depressed levels if sustainable growth is to be achieved. Higher private investment would stimulate demand, but its more important role is to increase supply.

Since African countries began gaining their independence in the 1950’s, they have implemented various economic policies in their quest for stability and sustainable growth. Most countries have adopted heavily statist economic regimes that have conformed to the political agenda of the post-colonial era. Africa’s economic growth prospects and much of its trade rely substantially on agriculture, mining, timber, and wildlife-based tourism . Africa’s renewable and non-renewable resources are under attack by mismanagement and nieve citizens who must resort to selfish practices like poaching or strip mining. Countries must use their natural resources wisely, either by protecting them or selling them in the world market. This would produce long term economic growth.

Fickle economic growth and unemployment constitute a major obstacle to the reduction of poverty in an area where population growth exceeds economic growth. Able Africans should try to jump into the labor work force to generate necessary revenue to support their families. However, the labor situation in Africa is deteriorating due to corrupt leaders and low wages. Economic growth is very important but sustaining that growth ensures economic hope for the future.

Africa’s economy consists mainly of agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Africa’s $65 billion in exports consists of raw materials such as oil, agricultural goods, timber, and minerals. Beyond Africa’s "formal" manufacturing sector, the "informal sector" includes many traders, artisans, service-providers, and other small-scale entrepreneurs. This informal sector accounts for as much as half of all economic activity in some countries indicates the potential for private enterprise in Africa only if the governments open the major internal and external trade barriers hampering the economy. A recent World Bank study reports that Africa’s human capital has been significantly upgraded: the recent trends of better educational, health, and nutritional conditions in Africa are signs of promise for these countries. Taxes on both imports and exports weaken the private sector financially. If governments would limit the taxes on small businesses and international trade, countries would see a dramatic increase in productivity and income. African countries will also be much better off if they take advantage of the global market outside of their countries. Many Africans think that intra-African trade, or trade within the African continent, is more "pure" than entering the global economical market. The truth is that there is much more money to be made outside of Africa than trading with other intra-African countries. The future success of African countries depends on whether or not countries are willing to enter the international market and successfully trade with economic superpowers like the United States, Great Britain, and Japan. Six countries—Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe—account for an additional 19 percent of U.S. exports to Africa. Each of these countries is capable of achieving rates of growth that would have a significant positive impact on these U.S. exports.

Nine countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are classified as lower middle income (1993 GNP per capita of $696 to $2785), and four are upper middle income(1993 GNP per capita of $2786 to $8625). From these numbers we see that more and more countries are developing sound economic policies that work and sustaining if not increasing financial growth.

The limited availability and poor condition of Africa’s infrastructure represents some major constraints on the development of Africa’s private sector. Telecommunications are vital to the success of a nations economical and political institutions. It is difficult to compete in the world market without a computer or even a telephone. Accessibility and cost are the two major factors inhibiting the widespread use of telecommunications. Most people either can’t afford them or they are in an area without electricity or are somehow unable to use this technology possibly due to a lack of knowledge. We have the school system to blame for this wide spread lack of knowledge. Again the two factors that damper the formal educational system are accessibility and cost.

The same people that can’t afford electricity, can’t afford basic education either. Africa is so spread out that it would be nearly impossible to provide electricity to every single home.

Africa’s transportation system is somewhat pitiful. Roads are in deplorable condition and many roads will never be paved due to a lack of financial funds. Running water is very similar to electricity in that it would be impossible to connect every little village in Africa with running water which is in very limited supply. Public housing prevents people of one race to interact with another. The trend is that the houses on the "white" side of town are in far better condition than the dwellings on the "black" side of town. Outside international firms do not like to invest in countries that are literally crumbling under their feet. The countries that have the worst infrastructure also have large financial problems. This is a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Governments must examine, reform, and institute new policies to revitalize some of these areas. Countries with poor infrastructures are the losers in the world market because they either do not have enough money to cover the basic technology costs or are in an inaccessible area to receive richer infrastructure.

In 1989, only four African countries were implementing democratic reforms, now nearly two-thirds are at some stage of democratic transition. With the end of the Cold War, most civil wars of the post-colonial era have ended. In the 1994 study of twenty nine Sub-Saharan African countries, the World Bank concluded that:

Policy reforms have been uneven across sectors and across countries.

maintain political stability. Governments of the past have been too controlling of the people and have usually been led by corrupt leaders(a perfect combination).

Uganda’s dictatorships of the past have practically torn the country apart. Ethiopia’s Marxist dictators of the past led them into devastating civil wars and economic ruin. But through democratic reform policies and honest leaderships, these countries are experiencing growth at an all time high. Tanzania’s reform program, initiated in 1986, encourages a larger role for the private sector and aims to dismantle the system of excessive economic controls that have prevailed since 1969 and encourage a larger role for the private sector. Guinea, after thirty years of destructive Marxist-Leninist rule, has cut in half the size of its civil service and equalized trade and prices. The result has been economic growth exceeding four percent since 1988. Many African countries have made significant progress in developing a positive policy framework and other enabling conditions such as rationalized prices.

The common denominator in these African success stories is a policy environment conducive to investment and growth. These governments have allowed market forces to play a much greater role in determining exchange rates. All have taken major steps to reduce the size and cost of the public sector an substantially reduce budget deficits with beneficial effects on inflation and interest rates. All have begun to close or privatize public enterprises which opens new opportunities for the private sector. All have removed price controls and simplified burdensome regulations in order to make themselves more attractive to private investment. And most of them are strengthening their educational programs to help their citizens become literate voters, managers, employees, and consumers that are critical for increasing economic growth. Many countries are also devoting extra resources to improve conditions in rural areas, where the poorest citizens usually reside. The more successful African governments have recognized that stronger growth depends primarily on the policy choices they make. Once they designed the policy framework, essential financial and technical support has come from the International Monetary fund, USAID, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, and bilateral donors. These institutions are very optimistic of the future of Africa. They provide necessary funds and influence on policies that aid in the governance of African countries. Such aid has also supported policy stability over a period of years , thus allowing the reform packages to take shape.

Political instability must be eliminated in order for these new democracies to gain power regionally and internationally. Hopefully, these new governments will be able to fend for themselves someday without all of these financial relief funds as handouts. Reducing the size of the civil service, while improving its quality and efficiency, is crucial to eliminating government waste and deficits. Democracies will be most successful if the governing officials are somewhat honest and maintain stability necessary for growth and development.

The school system in Africa in the past hasn’t made the grade when compared to other educational systems around the world. Secondary schools and universities of Sub-Saharan Africa face the following problems. Enrollments are increasing faster than the capacity to plan for and finance this growth. The university student population on the continent grew by 61 percent between 1980 and 1990, rising from 337,000 to an estimated 542,700. Current patterns of higher educational spending are unsustainable in many cases. The model of publicly supported residential universities is inequitable and financially insufficient. During the 1980s, the capacity of African governments to finance public services fell sharply. Higher education suffered consequently with its share of overall education sector budgets sliding from 19.1 percent to 17.6 percent in 1988. Recurrent budget expenditures per student, measured in constant terms, also fell by about two-thirds during this period. This was not due to improved management, but it was the negative result of cutbacks in research, staff development, library acquisitions, and maintenance prompted by rising enrollments.

There is a general agreement that educational quality is declining as the result of increased enrollments and reduced funding. This is evident in student examination scores, diminished research output, and complaints by employers regarding the ability of university graduates to perform adequately on the job.

Rising graduate unemployment, inadequate performance on the job, and weak research production combine to bring the relevance of the universities to national needs under growing public scrutiny. The costs of university training are high and often unsustainable. University management is weak and needs considerable strengthening . The working relationship between government and university are often ineffective. Access to universities raises a number of equity issues.

Efforts at higher education reform stand little chance of being sustainable unless they are grounded in broad public consensus. Failure to invest in public education prior to the institution of policy changes can have high costs in terms of public reaction, student protest, and damaged working relationships among key factors. The benefit of doing so is a more stable and effective reform process. Educational reform must occur in order to maintain a certain knowledge base that is competitive with other parts of the world.

the forced desegregation of school. The doors of formerly all white schools are being

opened to children of all races. However, few white schools have become more than 15

or 20 percent black-a modest level of racial mixing in a country where 90 percent of the

country’s 11 million school age children are non-white. This movement has not had many

protesters. There wasn’t even a protest in Ventersdorp, South Africa, when blacks

walked into formerly all-white schools just down the road from the neo-Nazi group that is

South Africa’s equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan. Hopefully, this will continue in the future

and ensure some signs of peace

For most white families, even this dose of forced integration marks the first time that last year’s political transformation from the apartheid system of racial separation to democracy. To most blacks, integration rates rather far down on the list of educational priorities in post-Apartheid South Africa. They are more concerned with dilapidating schools, unqualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, poor discipline, and a culture of protest that continues to bedevil black education. Decades in the making, these circumstances are the most corrosive legacy of the apartheid era. The new democratic government has made it clear that it has little money to throw at these problems.

School desegregation carries a symbolic weight. During the Apartheid era, the black or Bantu education system embodied the ideology of white supremacy. Black children were educated to be trivial laborers. Per-pupil funding disparities between the races once exceeded 15 to1. That gap has been narrowing for more than a decade and now stands at 3 to 1. The new school administrators are trying to equalize resources by decreeing that average classroom sizes must not exceed 40 pupils per classroom. Last year, it was 80 students per classroom in many rural black areas and 20 in many white suburbs. Clearly, this was a very biased school system and must be changed.

Hopefully, school desegregation will break down apartheid and racism, just by the social interaction of the students. Few people could ever imagine that Europeans and Africans would ever form a common culture. The best that we can hope for is peaceful and humane coexistence. This is the first step in what we will hope to be complete equality among the races when it comes to education. Someday, we hope that these children can live together and break down the social and economic barriers of the past.

Africa is a continent in crisis, but there are emerging signs of optimism. Africa has many problems as do many other continents, but none are too great that they can not be solved. Solving these problems must be a cooperative effort between nation, state and local governments, and the ordinary citizens. Less involvement by special interest groups, a willingness to adapt to reform politically, socially, and economically, will ultimately combine to strengthen most every aspect of culture. Successful democracies will become stronger, and more countries will see their need for this wonderful type of government. Outstanding debts must somehow be terminated while maintaining enough money to repair crumbling infrastructures. Poverty and unemployment must be reduced by instituting new economic policies that also reduce taxes. Democratic governments must be filled with honesty not corruption. They can not succeed if the people take charge of their lives instead of the governments. Big, overpowering governments of the past did not work, and they will not succeed in the future. People, young and old, need a basic education, so they can understand the policies (taxes) their governments are instituting. Everybody from a farmer to a garbageman needs on-the-job training with added efficiency. Growth of trade and development are vital but sustaining them are much more important. We can not give up on Africa, because it has a few problems. The United States Government has large political and economical interests in Africa. Solving the current crisis in Africa will be difficult and time-consuming, but people must be willing to change and reform their old ways of doing things. Africa is a continent in crisis, but it is not in irreversible ruin.

Bibliography

Begleiter, Ralph. Interview. CNN Newsroom Guide 29 . Feb. 1996.

Clinton, Bill. "A Comprehensive Trade and Development Policy for the Countries of Africa." http://ustr.gov/reports/africa.html .

Taylor, Paul. "South Africa Quietly Integrates Schools." Washington Post 29 Jan.1995.

Wackernagel, Madeline. Interview . SA Economy Needs an Accelerator 8 Mar. 1996. (http://wn.apc.org/wmail/issues.html)