Africa has had about 15 years of relative peace. other than CAR and Mali most of the countries have been enjoying peace and stability. There has been continuity of government in unprecedented way. Social and political experiments like "compassionate dictatorships in Uganda, DRC and Rwanda have given a template of pacifying volatile countries. The CCM 'democracy" is another good example of what is possible when a dominant party takes charge and leads. In anarchy countries like Kenya things have been fluid but other than the electoral violence of 07/08 and 2016/17 ke too has progressed. The elites have decided to share patronage and spoils of corruption in peace and let commoners dig their way out of poverty or just stay in it but in peace.
We have seen most of the countries after rebasing their economies their GDPs have doubled or increased significantly. We have seen expansion of Middle class all over Africa. Development indicators are positive. We still have a lot of work to do and that why vigilance and self reflection is important. We must be our own worst critics. We must see poverty and other problems take collective blame for not doing something about it
We are seeing a new class of self made $ millionaires emerge. There is now companies that are have expanded their foot prints in regional economic blocks. In Kenya we have banks like Equity that have footprint in several East African countries. There is more intra-African trade happening. There infrastructural projects linking African countries and expanding existing connections.
The biggest challenge right now in Africa is not governance . That problem is solved. The biggest problem is poverty eradication. To eradicate poverty we need to invest more on agriculture and increase productivity. There are low hanging fruits like improvement of beef production. In Kenya we can modernize the zebu breed and other indigenous breeds and improve them to hybrid high turnover beef producers. No one wants to chew on a muscle that has walked from Marsabit to Thika. this one of examples that can be replicated in most of the sub-sahara semi arid and arid areas. Museveni has shown that you can take native breeds and improve them.
The other thing would be to bring programs to increase literacy among communities left behind. In East Africa we can concentrate on pastoral communities. We have to bring these communities to 21st century. In DRC, the EA community should invest in building DRC communicable diseases capacity to eradicate diseases like measles that continue to kill thousand of kids yearly. DRC is the heart of East Africa and her prosperity would spread and fuel growth in the rest of the region
The fact that Tshiende and his opponents seems to have ended hostilities is going to help DRC continue building on stability that 15 years of Kabilas have given DRC.
my rant is over. I just wanted to say that I see another 30 years of stability and economic stability across Africa. We just have to work extra hard and be smart in how we align with other nations interests. We should pursue East or west centric policy on our own terms not a desperate need for rescue
I see a future of more economically integrated Africa. We must make sure that what ever happens we keep the eyes on the ball. Corona is a reset button, every economy in the world will reset. We just have to be ready to run at the same pace with sprinters but we should with a marathoner's skill and heart
Unedited
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=ZG
Topic: Ooh Africa Aye Africa Liberte (Read 1508 times)