The Condition of African Nations Fifty Years after Independence

More than 60 years since the independence of several African states, they are still seen as relying on its former colonies. It is worth noting that several African countries have been depending on their former colonies. Statistics illustrates that this has been caused by the increasing levels of poverty in most African States. Furthermore, many see the rise of African dictators as an indication that they are making themselves wealthy at the expense of their unsuspecting citizens. This has made the living conditions in the given countries more unbearable as the gap between the rich and the poor continue worsening. The following paper will look into an in-depth analysis on the reasons that causes several African countries to rely on their former colonies. Despite most countries trying to rely on their domestic production, the increasing level of poverty, corruption within the government and bad leadership has made its citizens to look unto the West as a sign of hope towards restoring the already worsening conditions. This paper will look on three major issues of disease, bad governance and disease as the reason why Africa is still depending on former colonies.

Three major causes of over dependence on former colonies

a)Diseases

There is great concern over the increasing rate of disease in Africa. The geographic condition of Africa makes it more vulnerable to disease as compared to other continents which experience colder climates. Malaria is one great illness that is proving to kill several people and in a bid to control its spread, several African countries are turning to former colonies with a bid to seeking the essential assistance so as to its spread (Obeng et al, 2002). Furthermore, the increasing rate of poverty in these countries leaves little option for the pharmaceutical companies to invest in the country.

As a result, most of this countries approach former colonies that are well established to come back and invest on pharmaceuticals that have the ability to offer more medical attention to diseases like malaria. The several diseases is what causes a health care burden to different governments who in turn suffer from lack of ways to approach the given situation. They usually see a way forward as turning to the Western countries who are already established and who have the economic prowess to steer the several challenges. Over the last twenty years, HIV/AIDS have taken Africa by storm, claiming the life of several people (Mwakikagile, 2006). Many have argued that the rate of poverty in Africa has increased the rate of HIV/AIDS and countries like South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland which were showing signs of development now have to cope with initiatives to stop this pandemic from spreading. So how do they do this? They engage in enlisting the help of countries that have advanced technology with the ready technical tools to control the disease.

HIV/AIDS is feared as being one dangerous disease that is likely to kill majority of the working population in a developing country. Furthermore the working population will greatly impact on the country’s economy as well as taking away a great portion of human labour. In order for a country to counter the effects of disease spread in Africa, and owning to the lack of the necessary technology, they well enlist the assistance of former colonies that are well placed with the already established entities (Smith, 1993). It is through this orientation that governments also seek the importation of anti-retroviral drugs from former colonies and being that they cannot do so continually, they have to ask for help in purchasing the drugs. This can only be achieved by seeking foreign aids from former colonies.

b)Colonialism

Soon after several African countries became independent, there relative wealth was in the public limelight to be seen. However, the economic prosperity of African Nations started slowing down as soon as the colonizers started departing. As a result, the government in place saw that in order for economic prosperity to be realized, and then they had to continue with the link between them and former colonial powers. However, the link had been destabilized with African countries attaining independence (Garcia et al, 2003). It was widely viewed that the exit of colonial powers from Africa was beginning of the nation down fall being that they were more experienced in several fields like agriculture and planning.

In the various administrative levels of government, Africa leaders were faced with lack of the necessary professionals to run the various sectors. European administrators had been vibrant in realizing that African countries had made a stride towards economic progress. However, independence meant their services were no longer needed, a fact that left the government more vulnerable. Government leaders then had to enlist the help of former colonial powers in giving the training as well as the necessary education needed to operate the government that they had inherited from the colonial masters (Cooper, 2002). The Congo Free State is a perfect example of ideas of the Europeans which were never implemented and which left the country poorer. The people in this region believe that were they to implement the policies of Leopold II, then they were likely to have made considerable progress.

Colonialism can therefore be noted as having led to great progress on the African continent. However, the exit of the colonial masters was an indication that this progress was going to be affected. The government was going to lack the professional expertise and the establish economy was to be back to ruins. In order to ensure that this decline does not occur, it was vital that the governments in several African countries remain in contact with the colonies so as to boost their chances of survival. It was a case of retaining the European way of thinking so as to have an effective economy.

c)Bad Governance

The political condition of African countries has resulted to the increasing state of poverty. The state of democracy in several African countries has never been successful. There have been successful African leaders who have tried to maintain the prosperous leadership of former colonies while others have taken power unto their hands and ruled with animosity resulting in increasing levels of poverty of African states. Leaders of oppositions have tried to enlist the help of former colonies to bring in foreign assistance in terms of persuading the bad leadership out of power. Exporting the already processed goods can never be successful unless they link with former colonies that will encourage their citizens to buy. This shows that Africans still need the colonies in order to market their products abroad (African Timeline, 2010). On the other hand, the presence of dictatorial leaders have indicated that African will never progress because leaders are after enriching themselves by the accumulation of more wealth hence neglecting the common people.

Conclusion

The paper has illustrates the fact that African nations, despite 60 years after attaining independence, have remained in the dark age of underdevelopment. For instance, several nations still depend on their former colonial powers. This is because they have to enlist the help of colonial masters to help them in the development of medicine that can limit disease like malaria and HIV/AIDS. On the other hand African countries are left with the option of relying on former colonies as a result of bad leadership and colonialism. All the three factors have been outlined through an in-depth analysis.