First World & Third World Ambivalence to the Underdevelopment Architecture of Third World States

One major fact is that the bourgeoisie in the Third World, particularly in Africa, have a vested interest in reproducing the status quo to maintain their positions of power, and are therefore concerned about political legitimation. A case in point is the practice of socialising debt, or, and this amounts to the same thing, the transformation of private to public debt.

Bailing out capitals—whether indigenous or foreign—means that the burden of repayment gets shifted to society at large (socialisation of debt). Interest payments must take place through increased forms of economic exploitation (lower real wages and longer hours), higher taxes usually in the form of value-added tax, an increase in the price of basic foodstuffs, higher interest rates and, indirectly, cuts in government spending in terms of education, health and welfare. New forms of political domination— usually more economically and physically coercive in nature—are required to support the ever-growing intensification of economic exploitation.

Paradoxically, the largest part of the various loans obtained by the Third World, particularly by the African states, is looted and carted away back to the foreign accounts in various banks of the First World. No wonder, developments in most African states did not correspondent to the huge debts.

In the same manner, the First World countries that have orchestrated, accentuated and continued to maintain the indebtedness of the Third World countries are doing absolutely nothing to reverse this situation. In fact, the current international economic system is designed to perpetuate this status quo. Response of the First World to attempts at debt relief, debt cancellation, debt reduction, debt refinancing or rescheduling has been highly characterised with ambivalence and apathy. Reportedly, there has been reduction in the grants given to the Third World countries by the First World countries. Also, the amount paid to the First World countries and multilateral institutions (such as the IMF and the World Bank) by the Third World countries on accumulated interests on loans and in servicing some of these loans out-weighed the paltry grants being.

The Dynamism of the History of Agriculture of Pre-Colonial West Africa

Without mincing words, some authors or writers have described the economy especially the history of agriculture of pre-colonial West Africa as traditional and un-changing. There was the overwhelming belief that the domestic agricultural sector was immobilised by the combination of primitive technology, communal land tenure system and the extended family structure. It was believed also that food stuff grew wide and in abundance and this enabled Africans to concentrate on luxuriant pursuits.

However, the earlier established view of the majority of archaeologists that agriculture evolved in the savannah around 2,000 BC following diffusion of ideas from Egypt has been discredited. Another school of thought led by G.P. Mudock, an ethnographer has argued that agriculture had evolved independently in Africa at about 5,000 BC, though; there was no doubt that connection with other parts of the globe remained strong.

Generally, agriculture in the pre-colonial West Africa centred on farming and also included activities such as pastoralism, gathering, hunting and fishing. Importantly, the history of pre-colonial West Africa right from the Stone-age up till the Neolithic era was highly characterised by developments, changes, inventions, revolutions, inventions and variations in terms of evolutions, types of tools used, methods of farming/agriculture, labour employed, the storage methods, the effects of vegetation, the exchange of farm produce, crops cultivated, etc.

 This discussion shall make an attempt to point out that the history or nature of agriculture of pre-colonial West Africa prior to 1900 was dynamic and complex rather than static. Agriculture in pre-colonial West Africa was attended by regional variations. In terms of evolution or level of developments, the period between the Stone-age and the Neolithic era witnessed different level of agricultural developments in West Africa. Man started from wandering and gathering to get food to eat. He began to use stone implements, later wood implements. Later man began to settle down, thereby planting some of his gathered foods around his place of abode, thus commencing farming. He later started inventing iron implements to do his farming activities. Significantly, the evolution and developments of agriculture was dynamic and developmental in nature, it was not static at all, and it was changing with/per time.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”, it would appeared that this diction was also adopted in the use of implements by the pre-colonial West African farmers. No doubt, the pre-colonial West African agriculture was highly characterised by low technological levels when compared with what was obtainable in Europe. Given the situation as it was, West African farmers relied on simple implements such as the digging stick, the hoe, cutlass and sickle. However, it is important to note that though these farming or agricultural implements remained largely crude, yet, they were products of indigenous inventions. Indeed, these implements were produced in different forms reflected the types of soil or vegetation of the areas of land such implements were to be used. Different hoes, for instance, were made for hard soil and the soft soil. In another instance, different hoes were made for making ‘beds’ and for ‘weeding’. Thus, dynamism was in place.

Geographically, the pre-colonial West Africa was made up of different vegetations namely the savannah and the rain forest, each with its own variations. Typically, the different vegetations accounted for different seasons of farm cultivation, different farm produce, etc. On the one hand, the savannah belt (northern Ghana, Timbuktu, Kano, Borno, etc), usually experienced low rainfall, thereby limiting farming activities. The chief crops cultivated in this region include cereals, legumes, etc. This region also was palatable for livestock farming and herding of animals like goats, cattle, horses, etc. On the other hand, the rain forest with its high rainfall was characterised with the planting of roots such as yam, cocoyam, cassava, etc. Significantly, these divisions reflected physical requirements of the crops within the regions. Also, there was a considerable overlap between the regions where combination of cereals and roots can be grown. From the above explanation, it is crystal clear that the history of agriculture in the pre-colonial West Africa due to different vegetation was characterised by adaptation, adoptions, changes and dynamism.

Because of the different farm produce available in different vegetation, the agriculture sector of pre-colonial West Africa produced and stimulated a degree of urbanisation, specialisation and encouraged increase in population. People of a particular region focussed more on the production of produce or crops they can best produce based on the soil types and vegetation, thus stimulating specialisation based on the concept of comparative advantage.

With this kind of specialisation, there was surplus of farm produce coupled with the need to acquire crops from other regions; hence, there emerged the need for economic exchange. Thus, produce from one region got to another region with the system of trade by barter and other means of exchange. For example, kolanuts produced chiefly in the forest region were largely consumed in the savannah region, likewise, meats from livestock from the Savannah region were largely consumed in the rain forest region, thereby promoting establishment of markets and regional/external trade.

Also, the pre-colonial West Africa agriculture witnessed different agriculture methods. Whenever farmers noticed that a particular land has started producing low yield such a farm land will be vacated and allowed to lay fallow, thus, practising ‘Bush fallowing’. Likewise, was the practice of mixed farming, such as the practice of planting cash crops like kolanuts with grains such as maize.

More also, though, agriculture was practiced majorly at a subsistence level, however, at a later stage before the colonial era, many Pre-colonial West African states practiced plantation farming. Examples of such states included the Dahomey kingdom, the Niger-Delta peoples of Nigeria, etc.

In addition, use of labour in agriculture was dynamic too. Generally speaking, the workforce of Pre-colonial West Africa is usually regarded as being based on un-specialised and subsequently on inefficient family labour. However, it is important to note that labour employed in agriculture in the Pre-colonial West Africa was quite capable of adopting its size and skills to meet changing circumstances. Large households could devide itself into smaller several units in agricultural productions – for example weeding, planting, harvesting, etc. It is also capable of expanding in terms of demands for extra labour. Labour can also be mobilised, in form of communal labour as used by the communal groups such as ‘aro’ or ‘owe’ in Yorubaland to prepare or weed farms. Additional labour was provided by domestic slaves, in fact, slave labour was present in Africa before the Atlantic Slave trade.

In conclusion, there is hardly any doubt that the history of agriculture of pre-colonial West Africa was not static but full of dynamism, changes, revolutions, innovation, inventions and adaptation.

Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening for Non-state Actors for Sustainable Development in Africa: A Call to International Agencies

By Johnson Sesan Michael, www.smbafrica.org

 

The muse to pen this short piece was triggered by two reasons. The first is the transduction from MDGs to SDGs of the global system under the auspices of the UN and the second is an on-going building project in a primary school in my area. This is a construction of classrooms being funded by a Japanese Agency.  With the currency of various political reforms and waves of democratic processes pervading most parts of Africa, there has been increased participation of international agencies in Africa.   No doubt, such projects across Africa are contributing to the development of the continent. Also of note, aside the involvement of international agencies is the synergy and funding on the part of governments of some developed states such as UK, USA, Japan, European states, etc.

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that international agencies and non-African states must go beyond providing fund and grants for projects and programmes. It is very imperative for them to increase their synergy and collaboration with non-state actors such as NGOs, CSOs, non-profit organisations, faith-based organisations, etc; in order to accentuate and strengthen democratisation in Africa to achieve sustainable development in terms of social progress, economic growth and environmental protection.

Fundamentally, this collaboration between international agencies and non-state actors in Africa will be premised on capacity building and institutional strengthening. This will involve building people, institutions and systems. Also, building abilities, relationships and values for sustainable developments; thereby strengthening processes, systems and rules. Evidently, this became a necessity in this era of the transduction from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

International agencies such as USAID, UKAID, IFAD, UN, EU etc through the instrumentality of seminars, workshops, shorts courses and attachments should strive to integrate non-governmental actors such as individuals, private organisations, NGOs, etc into the development processes. This will orchestrate the ability to evaluate and address the crucial questions related to policy choices and modes of implementation. In the same vein, it will lead to enhancement of technical ability, willingness to play new developmental roles and adaption to new demands and situations. Likewise, it will yield robust technical capacities, efficient management systems and focused leadership structure.

It is my candid opinion that for this intervention – capacity building and institutional strengthening - to be purposeful and effective, there is a great need to personalise, localise and customise these international interventions. Thus, the intervention must be premised on the frameworks of contextualising and conceptualising such within the paradigms of Africa’s political realities and cultural values, in order to strengthen Africa’s democratic processes and institutions. These interventions must be flexible; must be adaptable; there must be locally controlled trust funds and small scale funding mechanism – transparency & accountability; build up local organisations to take over institution building support; improve evaluation frameworks; and build individuals, organisations, institutional skills, ability and professionalism.

Holistically, capacity building and institutional strengthening interventions by international agencies will among other things lead to formulation of policies assistance; institutional streamlining assistance; implementation assistance and technical assistance.

SMB Consulting for Leadership, System, Capacity Building and Youth Development

Social Media Democratization: Accentuating Participatory Democracy and Political Accountability in Africa

  By JOHNSON Sesan Michael (www.smbafrica.org, +234 08099312551, 08149382121)      

    Without mincing words, it will not be out of place to conclude that democracy is gaining impetus in Africa. From Ghana to Ethiopia, and South Africa to Egypt, the last 25 years will probably go down in history as a period of far-reaching democratic reforms and political adjustments in Africa. Across Africa, one government after another succumbed to growing domestic demands for political reforms which became evident in the decline in military rule and one party system. Arguably, the sustainability of democratization in Africa could be said to be the manifestation of what Samuel Huntington popularized as the ‘third wave of democracy’ which he predicted would surely happen after the collapse of the Cold War. The proliferation of democratic institutions, the emancipation of political landscapes, the constancy & creditability of elections hitherto unheard of in certain African countries, particularly the acceptability of defeat by an incumbent president in Nigeria, have all signaled that a thrust towards democratic consolidation on the continent is evident and on a quantum increase.

Fundamentally, I am bold to say that a profound benign engine of increased democratic transduction and transformation in Africa is the Social Media. The Social Media continues to be a great platform for democratic conversations and political events, thereby facilitating and accentuating participatory democracy in Africa. Recently, in a Social Media conversation, one of the fundamental questions I asked is, can the Social Media help get rid of tyranny and ‘the sit-tight syndrome’ among incumbent leaders in Africa? But one thing that is certain to me is the fact that the underlying impact of social media platforms cannot be denied because they are revolutionizing the political cosmology of Africa. Social media has thus far had numerous implications for both African leaders and the electorates. It no longer news that the social media played a critical part in the “Arab Spring” revolutions, allowing political actions to be organized through the social networks of people with shared  interest in democracy and common and common desires for liberty. This ultimately orchestrated the toppling of a number of autocratic governments of North African countries.

Is social media going to help in advancing democracy in Africa? Politically, as it is obtainable in other spheres of life, social media has the power to influence millions of people. Recent elections of Nigeria serve as the best examples of the affirmative affects that social media platforms can have. In 2011 and 2015, during the voters’ registration and elections, Nigerians on Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media platforms actively participated in the political engineering and electioneering. Similarly in Kenya voters, particularly during the 2013 election, were influenced by SMS and the Social Media.

The Social Media is at an alarming rate becoming a veritable campaign network against corporate malfeasances, governmental fiscal recklessness, political laxity and other forms of endemic corruption terrorising Africa. However, with the ability to use the Social Media to mobilize many people either for political activism or to harvest huge & active support for opposition elements, leaders in Africa are starting to take steps to control it. A case that comes to mind was what took place during election time in Ethiopia while the government blocked the use of SMS services in 2005 thereby limiting the political rights and other fundamental human rights of the Ethiopians. No wonder, this was one of the cardinal points raised by President Barak Obama during his recent (July 2015) official visit to the country.

My candid advice for African leaders and governments is that they should not consider trying to limit the use of the Internet and the Social Media for political purposes. Politics and democracy are all about the people and since the Social Media helps in virtual and real crowd gathering, the politicians and policy makers in Africa must romance the New Media. It in their interests and that of the continent that the Social Media should be consider a veritable tool and benign engine for accentuating the new waves of democracy pervading Africa. The Social Media is not just for the proclamation and proliferation of complaints. It is a veritable tool for positive feedback, political insights, promotion of political activities/policies and its understanding, endorsement of relevance and establishment of trust & political will. It is a platform that can help in initiating community based programs or reforms and also to help in sharpening existing government programs. It can be used to create awareness about government policies and activities. It can be used to know the interest of selected groups and that of the generality of the citizens. In the same vein, it could be used to motivate citizens to take some actions such as voters’ registration, elections and payment of taxes.

It is evident that the use of the Social Media in accentuating participatory democracy among all stakeholders (the electorates, politicians, policy makers, government officials, civil societies, etc) and ensuring political accountability will certainly continue; because, more Africans are having more access to the Internet, the Social Media and mobile phones. As a matter of fact, more Africans are accessing the Internet and Social Media via their mobile phones. And for instance, 80% of Internet use in Nigeria is via mobile phone. About 48 millions of Nigerians are on the Social Media. Recent report shows that Africa is currently the second largest mobile phone market after Asia, with more than 700 million mobile connections.

                Therefore, the Social Media must continuously be used to hold politicians responsible and accountable. I also advocate that this should be extended to other state actors such as the police officer, traffic officers, immigration, customs and prisons officers, as well as non-state actors. The Social Media must be used to put all hands on desk, following the aphorism among the Yoruba of western Nigeria: ‘ki Africa ba le dara, ajumose se gbogbo wa ni,’ (meaning – for Africa to attain development and advancement, it requires our concerted efforts), particularly via the Social Media and other socio-political cum economic platforms.