The program of the OAU had forecast a future Africa
based on freedom, equality, justice, and dignity and on
the unity, solidarity, and territorial integrity of African
states. It did not take long for reality to set in. Vast disparities
in education and income made it hard to establish
democracy in much of Africa. Expectations that
independence would lead to stable political structures
based on “one person, one vote” were soon disappointed
as the initial phase of pluralistic governments gave way to
a series of military regimes and one-party states. Between
1957 and 1982, more than seventy leaders of African
countries were overthrown by violence, and the pace has
increased since then.
Hopes that independence would inaugurate an era of
economic prosperity and equality were similarly dashed.
Part of the problem could be (and was) ascribed to the
lingering effects of colonialism. Most newly independent
countries in Africa were dependent on the export of a
single crop or natural resource. When prices fluctuated or
dropped, they were at the mercy of the vagaries of the international
market. In several cases, the resources were
still controlled by foreigners, leading to the charge that
colonialism had been succeeded by “neocolonialism,” in
which Western domination was maintained by economic
rather than by political or military means. To make matters
worse, most African states had to import technology
and manufactured goods from the West, and the prices of
those goods rose more rapidly than those of the export
products.
The new states also contributed to their own problems.
Scarce national resources were squandered on military
equipment or expensive consumer goods rather than on
building up their infrastructure to provide the foundation
for an industrial economy. Corruption, a painful reality
throughout the modern world, became almost a way of life
in Africa, as bribery (known variously as dash, chai, or
bonsella) became necessary to obtain even the most basic
services. The Nigerian author Cyprian Ekwensi expressed
his disillusionment with African politics in his novel
Jagua Nana. When the heroine’s boyfriend Freddie states,
“I wan’ money quick-quick; an’ politics is de only hope,”
she replies, “No Freddie. I no wan’ you to win. . . . Politics
not for you, Freddie. You got education. You got culture.
You’re a gentleman an’ proud. Politics be a game for dog.
And in dis Lagos, is a rough game. De roughest game in de
whole worl’. Is smell an’ dirty an’ you too clean an’ sweet.”3
Finally, population growth, which has hindered economic
growth more severely than anything else in the
new nations of Asia and Africa, became a serious problem
and crippled efforts to build modern economies. By the
mid-1980s, annual population growth averaged nearly
3 percent throughout Africa, the highest rate of any continent.
Drought conditions and the inexorable spread of
the Sahara (usually known as desertification, a condition
caused partly by overpopulation) have led to widespread
hunger and starvation, first in West African countries
such as Niger and Mali and then in Ethiopia, Somalia,
and the Sudan. Despite global efforts to provide food,
millions are in danger of starvation and malnutrition, and
countless others have fled to neighboring countries in
search of sustenance.
In recent years, the spread of AIDS in Africa has
reached epidemic proportions. According to one estimate,
one-third of the entire population of sub-Saharan
Africa is infected with the virus, including a high percentage
of the urban middle class. Over 75 percent of the
AIDS cases reported around the world are on the continent
of Africa. Some observers estimate that without
measures to curtail the effects of the disease, it will have
a significant impact on several African countries by reducing
population growth, which is presently predicted
to increase throughout the continent by at least 300 million
in the next fifteen years.
Poverty is endemic in Africa, particularly among the
three-quarters of the population still living off the land.
Urban areas have grown tremendously, but as in much of
Asia, most are surrounded by massive squatter settlements
of rural peoples who had fled to the cities in search
of a better life. The expansion of the cities has overwhelmed
fragile transportation and sanitation systems
and led to rising pollution and perpetual traffic jams,
while millions are forced to live without water and electricity.
Meanwhile, the fortunate few (all too often government
officials on the take) live the high life and emulate
the consumerism of the West (in a particularly
expressive phrase, the rich in many East African countries
are know as wabenzi, or “Mercedes-Benz people”).
World History
