Centralized political and economic power is failing Africa: We need to look back at African social systems as a means to address the inequalities we face
In his analysis of why African social systems continue to be dominated by politicians, the Ghanaian economist George Ayittey gives a very interesting perspective on developments that have resulted in the continued underdevelopment of Africa and the domination of its economic systems by an African cabal. He states that there have been wrong assumptions that Western political systems work in Africa but the experience has been otherwise.
The Western democratic model is based on the right to vote but those who are voted for are "imposed" by the various political parties during elections and once they are in power, they are answerable to those that nominated them for positions and not the voters. In order for these political parties to "win" the elections they need to attract massive funding from private enterprise and the rich. Those who fund the political parties are then in control of the various agendas that the political party will pursue once in power and not the voters. This process repeats itself every so often and nothing really changes with the system.
In Africa before colonization and the use of foreign aid to influence matters, Africans had significantly different social systems that worked very well. We had chiefs who had to consult on all their decisions and were advised by elders. The chiefs would never impose their will on the people or they would simply abandon the chief. Resources were shared to the benefit of all and the people themselves decided on what enterprise to do, what crops to grow how much and what to sell at the markets.
This system had more freedom in it than the current capitalist system that focuses on the interest of the individual. Then, they even cared more about the environment than the so called "developed" nations did. Organic food and greening the environment have merely been repackaged and commercialized simply because Western thinking had it wrong. It was never holistic in nature but driven by material greed and domination.
Of course one is not saying that these African systems did have their problems as with any society, but looking back, one can see that their value systems were lost to Westernization. As a result Africans have lost their identity and confidence. Africans adopted Western systems at their peril and today we are faced with democracies that do not work, economic systems that have created inequality and massive poverty and food shortages and the domination of the poor by the rich. Economic systems that are hugely inappropriate in addressing the needs of the masses.
I would argue that the system that is characterized by centralized political power and economic power is unfair. Local government authority based on political party selections is creating inefficient management of resources at the local level resulting in the lack of basic social needs. The centralized system has created corruption and abuse of public funds because of selfishness of those appointed to be custodians of public resources and lack of accountability to the communities. Hence the ongoing service delivery riots we see.
Despite the increasing GDP rates and improvement in infrastructure the Western model has failed to meet the economic and basic needs of many. As a result we are at the cusp of social revolution due to income disparities and unfair advantages of capital over basic human needs.
Africans must rise up and begin to institute their own political and economic systems and not really bother about the West whose philosophies have caused much damage not only to the environment but to multitudes of the poor.
Vince Musewe is an economist and you may contact him on [email protected]
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
