Some millennia ago, Africa was a world super power. There were a number of empires which exhibited great civilization and were giants in production and industry; commerce and trading; academics and schooling, and in military warfare.
The Kingdom of Kush, a Nubian empire (2000 BC) located south of Egypt, was known for economic power, minerals and military power; Land of Punt (2500 BC) also called the Land of the Gods and located in East Africa was rich in minerals, ebony; Carthage (900 BC), located in Tunisia, was a powerful military empire which rivalled Rome; Aksum (300 AD), located in Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia was a trading juggernaut; Ghana (750-1240 AD), located in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, was known as the Land of God; Mali (1200 AD), located in West Africa, was very rich in gold. The richest man who ever walked this earth, is the Malian king, Mansa Musa who is worth $400 billion in today’s terms.
There was Songhai, (1500 AD) located in West Africa. It established the first university in the world with students coming from Spain, Europe to study. The modern governance and judiciary system evolved from Songhai’s sophisticated bureaucratic system and then the Great Zimbabwe (1300 to 1500 AD) was once a powerful kingdom located in Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Later empires included the Asante Empire, 1701 – 1902/1957, which was a well administered kingdom with such a great military force and sophisticated war tactics, some of which were adopted by the British. Asante. It was rich in gold and had running battles with the British, winning some and losing some.
Once upon an era, we Black Africans were from powerful nations with great civilization, economic power and military strength, unmatched anywhere in the world.
But today, Africa has been classified as the poorest in the world. And even though we export rich natural and mineral resources to the developed countries, we get paid peanuts, for in the cocoa industry, worth over $100 billion annually, the two top producers, La Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana which account for 65% of world producers, get only $2 billion. This means world producers of cocoa get $3.07 billion, less than 3%.
Today, we cry over the economic challenges we face and yet what we do not realize is that these are partly due to the super powers and our lack of political will. Unless we come out with practical solutions, we shall forever remain poorer.
African countries belong to the Bretton Woods Institutions, which can be called a union or association, where member nations pay annual capital subscription or dues. The benefit here is that member countries can then borrow from the institutions, when they fall into financial difficulties. It is just like belonging to a union and getting assistance through its welfare scheme.
Whenever an African nation member of the Bretton Woods Institution needs financial assistance to balance its economy, it approaches the Intuitions. After some time, we noticed the raw deal being played by the IMF and World Bank. If an African nation, needs say $10 billion for proper economic recovery, it would be given $1 billion and tough conditionalities that would further wreck its economy within a short time, making that nation poorer than before. This is never the case with first and second world nations.
Africa then decided to establish a bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) in September 1964. Among others, the Bank was to be like the IMF and World Bank and it was to give adequate funding to member countries who need to enhance their economy.
Twelve years on and after two presidents, the AfDB could not realise the dreams of member countries facing economic challenges, until Kantinka Dr. Kwame Donkor Fordwor of Ghana became President. The Ghanaian saw that the problem was finances and so recommended some transformations which could always raise enough money to assist countries in dire economic situations. Among these was to offer shares to very rich non-African countries.
This was his downfall. During his third year in office, he was kicked out. And yet, later the AfDB offered shares to some non-African nations. Sadly the AfDB is still not in the position to assist African nations with adequate funds to shore up their economies, without any conditionality that would rather worsen their situation.
It is most likely that the developed world made sure Dr. Donkor Fordwor could not achieve his dreams. If he did, the West can no longer control the economies of African nations and this will harm their own economies. For example, Francophone African nations, repatriate $500 billion annually to France as Colonial Tax, which is illegal. And when these countries need financial assistance, their own money is given to them as loan at high commercial interest.
West Africa decided to have a united currency called the Eco and went ahead with the date to introduce the currency. I stated in the Ghanaian Chronicles, that with the Francophone countries dominating West Africa, this can never be realized. And lo and behold, it came to pass. France decided to replace the CFA with Eco and it was game over.
So, long as African countries, do not look from within to find solutions, financial et all, to our mirage of problems, but choose to listen to the developed countries, we shall forever be going to the IMF throughout eternity.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
