Saturday 20 November 2021
Africa: the advantages of being last
Mathew Otieno has an interesting piece about African development in Mercatornet.
In the first visit by a senior official of the Biden administration to Africa, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is conducting a three-country tour. His first stop was Kenya, where he held closed-door talks with the president, an open conversation with members of civil society, and a press conference with his Kenyan counterpart, Raychelle Omamo.
In Nigeria, his second stop, he will make a major statement on his country’s policy regarding Africa. Ahead of him, he sent a conciliatory gesture in the form of removing Nigeria from an American blacklist of countries that violate religious freedom, to which it had been added by the Trump admin (it’s virtue-signalling, but that’s the name of the game these days)...
Though many parts are already reasonably well off, and the continent as a whole is improving rapidly enough to forecast the eradication of most forms of destitution within the next decade or two, Africa remains the continent which is lowest in the league tables.
By all the fancy metrics, we’re running last. The estimated 2021 GDP of the whole continent (1.4 billion people) is about the same as that of France (67 million people). Our road networks are sparse. Our education levels are the lowest. And we still lose the largest number of women and children at childbirth.
Yet there is another angle and for this reason the whole piece is well worth reading. Agree or not, it's an interesting viewpoint.
But this reading leaves out a crucial part of the story. Don’t forget that a future that looks like Europe, North America and the Far East also means a population implosion and a frayed social fabric.
It means old people wiling away their last years sequestered from their loved ones in nursing homes. It means terminally ill-patients put down like a horse with a broken leg. It means babies murdered in their mothers’ wombs. It means self-centred and confused young people, whose main care each morning is which gender to put on for the day.
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6 comments:
I've never been able to understand why the climate of such a huge continent doesn't attract 'man-made' holiday destinations, i.e. places of luxury for both rich and not-so-rich, etc.
Spain used to be a tip back in the sixties, when Benidorm was just a fishing village, but look at how it thrived!
Apart from bloody great spiders and snakes all over the place, surely there's somewhere worth an eye on tourist development?
Yes, an intelligent and committed approach. He also ought to notice that Africa being last in the technology stakes will bring benefits as well as the obvious disasters like poverty, infant mortality, and poor health care. They can avoid too much heavy industry and mass production, because they don't need to (and won't be able to) export finished items to the rest of the world. They won't need to invent and cope with steam engines. And crucially, they can keep an eye on what "green tech" is being foisted on them.
Are white Westerners OK with Africans having all those freedoms to fly around the world and visit other countries, just like they themselves do? Does every African family deserve a car and a fridge and an air-con unit? If not, why not?
Africa - not on my bucket list, not many places outside home now. Even France seems a forlorn hope.
Botswana is an exception. It seems to be fairly well run.It has extensive good beef farming and a well regulated diamond mining industry. A lot of the money the government is spent for the benefit of all the population. Good water supply, roads and a working railway. They try to sensibly manage their wild life, actively discouraging poaching. They have a responsible tourist policy, which of course costs the tourist a lot. Its game parks are far better than those of other countries.So it will never have a Benedorm. Although it does have well run casinos.
Sadly it has Zimbabwe and South Africa for nieghbours. Criminals for these countries come in to poach for the valuable animal parts as well as for bushmeat. Botswana is / was also plagued by HIV/AIDS.
Scrobs, I have spent some time in Kenya, Tanzania and Senegal though not lately, the tourist industry in all three and also SA and Botswana is all geared to top end tourists, there is virtually no 'mass' tourism in those countries, have a look at safari prices.
I am certain more could be made of the magnificent natural sites but that would involve lots of jet flights and we are in the process of banning those for the plebs.
Scrobs - maybe distance is an issue, or those spiders and snakes.
Sam - it seems like an enormous opportunity currently being squandered by corruption, but population growth may be a problem too.
James - it has never been on my bucket list, but I'm not a great traveller.
Doonhamer - yes, from what I read Botswana is an exception but as you say, it certainly has problem neighbours.
Wiggia - almost as if Africa could represent the future of tourism. Private jets to very expensive destinations and no much in the budget holiday line.
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