africa: poverty as a tool of political control

trends-and-insights-africa by: TIA Editorial

In 2022, around 460 million people in Africa were living below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 a day, with the most extreme poverty rates hitting Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

On the other hand, as of December 2021, there were 21 billionaires on the African continent, each with an estimated wealth of over a billion US dollars. It is also noted that the continent had about 123,000 millionaires and 6,700 multimillionaires.

There is a massive disparity between the rich and the poor in Africa. Left to their means, most African states would prefer widening the gap.

The truth is, that most African governments are not interested in leading prosperous citizens because they believe they are difficult to govern. They prefer a dirt-poor citizen who, when told to jump, asks how high he should get.

Governments, through legislation and blatant rejection, have relegated the minimum wage to the wayside. It is right to assert that the arguments regarding the minimum wage in Africa not having any impact on standards of living are true.

However, placing the minimum wage aside, employers have grossly exploited their workers. As such, there are many documented accounts of the mistreatment of Africans in factories by foreigners-worked to the bone for mere peanuts.

Within the same breath, the government in Africa has disparately offered resources and development initiatives to areas of interest, especially in areas where they are guaranteed political support. These partisan politics have influenced how the national cake is shared, with areas where there is no vested political interest reaping less.

Governments have covertly aided small, closed groups of individuals of interest to amass wealth on the backs of ordinary citizens. These groups take two forms: the leadership inner circle (composed of family members, close friends, and associates) and investors in league with the ruling class.

These groups are given first access to lucrative projects and deals, while the ordinary citizen barely makes ends meet.

In the long term, these rich individuals always have the first take in goods and services, to the point of having the judiciary in their pockets and influencing the course of law.

Incidentally, it's also difficult to sustain demonstrations when there isn't some form of funding for this kind of population, where the majority live hand to mouth and days spent away from work mean days spent without food.

As for those citizens outside of the privileged groups, many are forced to pay homage to the sitting government to sustain and maintain their wealth-they have to dance to the government's tune.

Most sitting governments are usually suspicious of wealthy individuals within the community simply because many uprisings have derived success from their patronage. They supply weapons, food, and medical utilities for insurgency movements. An insurgency is a costly business that, without adequate funding, can easily fizzle out in a blip.

And upon the insurgents taking power, these rich individuals usually reap dividends through lucrative, juicy government contracts.

Therefore, what most sitting governments usually do is remove the monetary bite from citizens through targeted tax regimes that relegate citizens to simply making ends meet and nothing more. Aside from that, division and rule weaken any union institutions, whose organized membership may oppose government programs.

And finally, introduce low-impact poverty alleviation projects. The truth is, that few of these projects are adopted by the populace, and for those that do, the success rate is, in most cases, lacking.

This is not because the government hasn't done due diligence or lacks the technocrats necessary for the project to be a success, but rather because the way most of these projects are organized is more like bandages to stop the bleeding. The potential cause of the bleeding is strangely neglected.

This then becomes a vicious cycle whereby the government comes up with poverty alleviation projects that fail. Studies as to why the projects failed are carried out, and the reports from such studies are neglected. New projects are initiated with little or no regard for recommendations from sectoral experts; they fail, and the cycle continues.

RELATED

A night in the ugandan woods

A night in the ugandan woods

Mabira is the nearest of the big forests in Kampala on your way to…

October 8, 2022
An african treasure hunt

An african treasure hunt

They say meaning is lost in translation. This is true for many stories told…

October 8, 2022
Cultural expectations and the new african reality

Cultural expectations and the new african reality

The foundations of African culture are based on three aspects; the individual, the family unit,…

October 8, 2022
How social media has sifted the social landscape in africa

How social media has sifted the social landscape in africa

In days gone by, fireplaces were the ultimate social gatherings. Warriors of re-known would…

October 8, 2022