Quick snippets from our morning read on Friday, 30th April 2021
Today’s morning read is a study of African wealth and the curse it is. However, what can we learn from our past experiences with the discovery of precious mineral resources? Anshul Garg in this article shares some insights.
In the Marvel universe, the west tried its best to get Vibranium from Wakanda. Marvel pictured the scenario in which Wakanda can save the world by sharing its resources with the west. They even sent their best military man (Captain America) to achieve this goal. But before giving its resources away, Wakanda should take a lesson from what happened in the real world.
Why 5000 units of African currency is worth US 1$ despite having the largest gold reserves?
The Democratic Republic of Congo holds natural resources trillion of dollars but people remain subjected to extreme poverty. Limitless water, from the world’s second-largest river, the Congo, a benign climate and rich soil make it fertile, beneath the soil abundant deposits of copper, gold, diamonds, cobalt, uranium, coltan, and oil are just some of the minerals that should make it one of the world’s richest countries. Instead, it is the world’s most hopeless.
This dichotomy is known as the ‘resource curse’ which is caused mostly by western countries in search of good mining deals.
Modus Operandi
The Modus Operandi of the west is simple. First, they will make deal with the rebels with the promise to give them economic and political power, then they do everything in power to destabilize the country by giving firearms to rebels.
An American Mineral Fields executive allowed rebels to use his private Learjet in return for a $1 billion mining deal in 1998 mass looting of Congo.
After the turmoil, the elites of the region will hold political and economic power with zero accountability, the only source of wealth is mines or oilfields, and that is a recipe for an ultra-corrupt state.
Regain the lost Glory
Africa is said to be the last frontier in the global economy. Today Africa has the youngest population( average age of 19 years), an abundance of resources, and untapped markets which make it ripe for foreign investment. And every country is playing its own game to occupy this last frontier.
Going forward, Africa should learn from its past and devise such policies that it regains its lost glory. Some suggestions are-
- Children need their own cultural storiesNigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie describes in her book- “ The danger of a single story”- that how literature plays a major role in the psychology of a person. For a country to become non-aligned, the first thing that people need is their role models and they should come from the stories written in their context, culture, and geography, and not borrowed from western authors. Where is African mythology-shaka Zulu, Nefertiti- that can help Africa to regain dignity?
- Customize best practices of the world — Rwanda in recent years has doubled its GDP, improved on human capital Index, and increased per capita income by following Singapore’s model of development. All the countries of Africa should take a lesson from it.
- Revamp Bilateral investment TreatyAfrican nations should leverage their strength of the presence of resources and should make it mandatory for foreign nations to invest in capacity building of the state institutions and to transfer state of the art technology. For example, the model of development of India in Africa- ITEC program of India
Before giving Vibranium, Africa should follow self-reliance policies, eliminate inter-tribal conflict and become one nation. As Nelson Mandela said “I dream of an Africa which is at peace with itself.”
Read the rest of the article here.
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