Fighting Corruption in Africa: Mission Impossible?

Abstract

Africa is a hugely endowed continent in terms of natural resources. It always has been. The statistical back-up for this assertion is astounding. The continent is home to 40% of the world’s potential hydroelectric power supply. It harbours the bulk of the world’s diamonds and chromium. 50% of the world’s gold, phosphates and palm oil are to be found in its rocks and soil. Add to these, 90% of the world’s cobalt, 64% of the world’s manganese, 70% of the world’s cocoa, 60% of the world’s coffee and huge amounts of petroleum, natural gas, and diversities of wildlife and the whole story begins to sound as a fairy tale. Yet fairy tale it is not. Africa is rich. But that is where the story ends. The cruel reality is that as rich as it potentially is, Africa is also the poorest human habitat on the planet. Throughout millennia, it has been described in not so flattering terms as the “dark” or “hopeless” continent. Many years after it extricated itself from the clutches of slave trade and colonialism, majority of its peoples continue to be ravaged by poverty, hunger, disease and other forms of squalor. Genocidal conflicts have led to the massive dislocation of civilian populations. With the exception of a few, most economies in Africa have stagnated, while others have completely collapsed. Historians and other commentators have offered many explanations for the sorry state that continues to characterize this part of the planet. It is beyond the scope of this essay to revisit this African story.