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Social factors that make Africa a perpetual beggar (Commentary)

SomaliNet Forum (Archive): General Discusions: Archive1 (Before Feb 2000): Social factors that make Africa a perpetual beggar (Commentary)
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Mr Wise

Unrecorded Date
Story Filed: Tuesday, November 09, 1999 9:39 PM EST

Nairobi (The Nation, November 10, 1999) - Sociology is the study of interaction among people and the effects of this interaction on human behaviour. Special Correspondent HABEL NYAMU looks at African social organisations as they relate to and impact on governance.

Enlightened readers agree that the next century will be one of accelerated globalisation. This will cover fields like trade and commerce, communication and information exchange, democratisation, and firming up institutions of governance, and enhancement of the worth of the individual in society.

These developments will have far-reaching implications in the way Africans perceive the role played by their governments. A good example is what is happening in the European Union today. The "national interests" of European countries, including historical concepts like sovereignty, will have to give way to international global interests, especially in the management of the environment. Any country which fails to prepare for these changes will, as it were, deregister itself from the 21st century's comity of nations.

Attempts by many African countries to form meaningful regional organisations have not been successful. Reasons for failure at that level are similar to those that make African countries famous for bad governance at the national level. They include unaccountability and a lack of transparency in the management of public affairs. These shortcomings can be explained in sociological terms. African societies usually have three fundamental social phenomena which are inimical to democratisation -the dependency syndrome, tribal exclusionism and lifetime godfatherhood.

The dependency syndrome usually leads to relatives and weak or lazy friends counting on their economically or politically powerful personalities to "pipeline" wealth and all means of livelihood in their direction, while they sit doing little or nothing. These dependants seek to be assisted to acquire and enjoy certain privileges and favours like employment, allocation of land and other property from above.

Subsequently, a relation quite akin to that of "master and servant" develops, culminating in a pseu-will support and defend the benefactor to the death if need be, in order for the benefactor to retain his or her social leadership position.

Should such a relationship involve large numbers of supporters like those needed to win an election, it is fairly obvious that the supplier of the benefits, must, of necessity, seek unorthodox sources of wealth to meet the demand.

The dependency syndrome is no respecter of persons. Even the most highly- schooled can be called upon to be dependants in return for material comfort. The unfortunate outcome is that dependants cease being independent thinkers.

One does not condemn dependency for the sake of it. But even at the African family level, we have seen it continue beyond age 18 during which a child is declared legally an adult and a voter. In real terms, an African boy-child never really matures to full independence so long as the father remains alive and the legal owner of the family land and wealth. The children await the day the old man will gather them around his death-bed to hear him, "dividing himself." Then they will begin to feel like men.

With this kind of dependence, the African boy-child wastes his potential for initiative for longer than is necessary, waiting to inherit his father's property. Some have gone as far as asking for their father's land titles to facilitate loans, usually for ill-conceived business ventures. Some fathers who refuse have been known to receive such wisdom as: "Father, I did not apply to be born!"

Subsequently, the expectation that young men would, after school, develop new, personal and independent income-generating activities, is greatly compromised by the strong belief that what belongs to their fathers naturally belongs to themselves. The second African social phenomenon relates to the tribal socialisation culture. This has taught Africans for centuries that anyone who does not belong to their tribe or clan is a foreigner, and "what I own, they are not entitled to."

Every African Head of State represents a tribe. To survive at the top calls for measures aimed at weakening any claims that any "dangerous" tribe may raise over what their tribe claims to own. This may well explain why many African leaders tend to forget that they get elected to national, as opposed to tribal, leadership.

Could this explain, albeit in part, why the doyen of modern African politics, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, developed the Ujamaa concept as a human (not tribal) value? Although Ujamaa failed, few would doubt its good intentions. It might have been stretched too far, but certainly, the enormous resources needed to finance it were just not available.

The last African undemocratic social phenomenon is perpetual godfatherhood. Colonialists saw this and thought they would destroy it through education. Those who went to school were referred to as "leaders of tomorrow." Old godfathers have a tendency to "gum" themselves to their seats of power until their demise. We need to continuously remind ourselves that African youth also belong to their countries and have a stake in the governance!

The combination of these social phenomena has direct impact on the styles of governance. In some countries, far too many people seek to get easy access to State funds without being productive. They depend on others to make them rich. Dependency is a lazy and counter-productive frame of mind. It is also divisive and demoralising to workers.

Exclusion of "dangerous tribes" from exercising political power often leads to serious brain-drain, or to revolutions and coups. Instability and insecurity characterise those African countries which pervert their economies to the point of creating non-working billionaires, and excessively many "people-eat-nothing" societies in urban and marginal rain areas.

Tribal exclusionism implies that those excluded from participation must be made to feel the pinch of political and economic deprivation to the point where they ought to go begging for fictitious forgiveness.

I cannot think of an African country where these conditions do not hold true to a certain degree. In Somalia, the conditions are so strong that the country has not enjoyed a government for more than 10 years.

It is impossible to prescribe a cure for cultural mores and unfortunate socialisation processes. But it is possible to predict that Africa can in no way hold onto those mores and beliefs and still hope to cope with the demands of the next millennium.

I am, however, encouraged when most urban youth struggle to express themselves in their mother tongues, in spite of idiomatic and grammatical problems. Sheng, the combination of Kiswahili, mother tongue and English, has played a key role in creating the desirable kind of socialisation without tribal undertones. The greatest hope for Africa's styles of governance appears to lie in their ability to redefine factors of production well beyond the economists' dream. Production is a process which is eventually dependent upon the decisions of good managers as they make land, labour and capital interact. Good political managers should be elected leaders on account of their dislike for and inability to recognise tribal affiliations. The identification of talented leaders and their election to positions leadership is Africa's number one dilemma.

As far as politics is concerned, total participation as opposed to tribal exclusionism and divisionism is the only way forward for Africa during the next millennium. This is because politics plays the leading role in controlling the economic, social and political factors of production, and the development of any economy. Political factors of production include resources such as authority, legitimacy of that authority, information, distribution of land and money, and, whether one likes it or not, coercion, or force, preferably legally organised and controlled. Proper use of these factors of production-cum-development can be thought of as generating their own "Gross Political product."

When economists tell us to recognise the Gross National Product, I personally imagine them telling me to recognize the economic, the social and the political factors of production. It is a message which the modern African woman has baptised "empowerment" or participation while everyone else prefers to call it reform. Political scientists prefer to think in terms of "disaggregation" of all factors of production so as to have many more nationals sharing a little for better development results. Self-esteem and respectability are crucial social factors of production and development.

I know there are only about 60 or so days remaining before the 1900s end. I am not so naive as to imagine that tribal exclusionism, lifetime godfatherhood and dependency syndrome can be made to disappear at the stroke of a pen. But they have been analysed in a way I have referred to as the sociology of Africa governance to make ourselves more aware that tribalism has its African cultural base.

However, the bases do not fit into the conditions required for the next millennium. Efforts must be made to destroy them in order that Africa enters the next millennium, not as a beggar, but as an equal partner in development.


Copyright © 1999 The Nation. Distributed via Africa News Online.

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caafi

Unrecorded Date
Mr wise

I guess this guy has point but the only thing I'm not too sure is whether these three variable holds true for Somalia, which seems to be the prime example in this annuluses.

Somalia or Somalis are known for their notorious republicanism and their contempt for any sort of authority. I thought if lifetime godfatherhood were present in Somalia many of its present day problems could have been resolved easily.

what you thinks guys/girls?

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Aadan

Unrecorded Date
Mr Wise

Aad baad ugu mahadsantahay maqaalka aad noo soo gudbisay. Run ahaantii dhibaatooyinka Afika, guud ahaan, iyo Soomaaliya gaar ahaan haysta, ayuu dhexda ka abbaarayaa.

Ku Caafi

Walaal aniga waxay ila tahay in qoraagu 100% ku saxsanyahay in Soomaaliya ay tusaale u tahay saddexdaas arrimood ee uu soo sheegay.

Haddii aan soo qaadanno "Godfatherhood", waxaan anigu u fahmay in dhallinyarada Afrika aysan lahayn aragti iyo dhaqaalo ka madaxbannaan kan aabbayaashood. Loona baahan yahay in qofka dhallin yarada ahi, markii uu da' gaaro ka dib uu asagu ra'yi madaxbannaan yeesho, kaas oo uu ku kasbaday waxbarashadiisa, deegaankiisa, waayo aragtinimadiisa nololeed, diintiisa iyo dhaqankiisaba.

Haddaba waan ogsoonnahay awoodda aadka u ballaaran ee aabbuhu ku leeyahay aragtida dhinac walba khusaysa ee ilmihiisa, kuwaasoo marar badan dad waaweyn ah - ka weyn 18 sano. Aabbuhu, gaar ahaan markay ilmuhu yar-yar yihiin wuxuu leeyahay doorka koowaad ee barbaarinta, hanuuninta iyo la talinta ilmaha. Waana waajib asaga saaran iyo xaq ilmuhu kuleeyihiin. Haseyeeshee markii ay ilmuhu da' gaaraan waa in aabbuhu xoogaa gadaal isu celiyo, oo fursad siiyo inay ayagu aragtiyadooda, oo noqon karta mid tiisa khilaafsan, ayagu samaystaan.

Inkasta oo dhibaatada Soomaaliya ka taagani ay wajiyo badan oo sabab u ah leedahay, Haddana dhallinyaro badan oo soomaaliyeed ayaa aamminsan in dagaalku uu khuseeyo jiilal hore oo waligood is nebcaan jirey haddana xisaabxir samaynaya! (settling scores). Dhallinyaraduna yihiin kuwo la'adeegsado, colaaddaas soo jireenka ahaydna maskaxdooda loo gudbiyo laguna beero.

Haddii aan u soo laabto labadii arrimood oo kalena "dependency & tribalexclusion" in ay Soomaaliya si gaar ah u khusayso waxaa kaaga filan oraahda caanka ah ee soomaalidu tiraahdo marka ay tilmaamayso qof ka mid ah kuwa dhifta ah ee sida daacadda u shaqaysta waddankana ugu shaqeeya: "Waar kaasi waa nacas, cidnana waxba u ma qabto"!!

OBS. Luqad ahaan ereyga "Tribe" Soomaaliya ma khuseeyo oo soomaalidu waa hal "Tribe". Laakiin ereyga qabiillada soomaalida ku habbooni waa "Clan-exlusion", kaasoo macna ahaan la mid ah kan "Tribe-exclusion".

waa jirta in soomaalida la yiraahdo waa "Republicans". Garanmaayo sida ereygaasi ugu habboon yahay, hase yeeshee waxaa la tilmaamyaa in soomaalidu aysan ka dambeyn ama raacin wax maamul ah "authority". Taasi waa run marka aan ka hadlayno maamul rasmi ah "Official", heer sare ama heer hoosaba. Laakiin marka aan ka hadlayno maamul reereedka, laga bilaabo aabbaha ilaa qabiilka, soomaalidu waa "staunch loyalists"!!. Ma arkaysid dad badan oo kan reerka ka soo horjeeda.

Waa aragtidayda
Nabadey

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Xaali

Unrecorded Date
Mr. Wise, interesting article, thanks for sharing.

Aadan, waa aan kugu raacsanahay sida aad uu lafgurtay maqaalka.

Aniga waxay ila tahay dhibaatada Somalia inaay hagaagi laheed haddi ruux walba uu u fakari lahaa shaqsiyaan.
Blind loyalty to a clan is what is destroying us. I wonder what the ramifications would be for someone who stands up for principles rather than a clan agenda?? Would that person be branded a traitor & nacas? Is that what is holding backup people to think as individuals rather than an appendage of reer hebel??

Patriarchy has such a choking grip on the Somali soul, and if people don't realize that clan mentality will get us nowhere, the cycle of violence will continue.

Illahow Noo Naxariiso

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M. I. Mohamed

Unrecorded Date
Salam alaykum

The above article was written for writing sake. And does not contribute much to anything.

There is only one major Dependency theory that I have come across in Academia and you will find in the libraries under political economy. And that talks about the relationship between the first world and the third world. Going by memory names like Gunter Frank, and Paul Baran ring a bell. These ideas were popular inthe 60s and 70s but were dismissed by the new classical theorist that dominate today

The above article is so weak that you might as well say that Africans are backward because they play the drums and dance a lot. Or because they like to sit in the shade when it is hot.

The problems that you find in Africa are unique only for one reason, and that is because Imperialism has never left Africa.

Salams

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Aadan

Unrecorded Date
Xaali, thanks for your input. I am sure a lot of educated somalis feel the same frustration.

Mr. Mohamed, i wish you've elaborated more on Mr Frank and Mr Barans ideas on the problems of Africa. I consider my self an academic but, sorry, they don't ring a bell in my brain!.

I, on my part, don't beleive that conspiracy theories will get us anywhere. That the whole western world is bent on destroying and starving the african people (or the muslim world for that matter, as politico-islamists would claim).

We don't need to see through conspiracies to see our problems. They are plain simple and LOCAL. Only with less tribal-segregation, less rampant corruption and political repression and Africa would have a better place to live.

Colonialism and imperialism are not unique to Africa, you only need to look at Asia. Four decades ago, both Africa and Asia had the same level of developement, the same can't be said of today.

The relationship between former colonies and colonialists aren't without problems, but the point is we, africans, can improve our lots. If we couldn't that means we have failed.

The dependency-theory of the article isn't saying the afican drums and dances are of lazienss, indeed they are an active activities. But does a dozens of work-able persons who aren't even looking for work, but live on only one persons work because of distant relationship, ring a bell in you!

Nabadey

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Xaali

Unrecorded Date
Salaan dhamaan,

M.I.Mohamed, i don't think the intention here is to assess whether the above article gives a rigourous analysis of the African situation.

Granted that imperialism has not left Africa; what has the African leadership have to show for 40 years of independence???? Did you here any voice against imperalism from them? Who is accomodating, facilitating and entertaining the
'imperalists' in Africa. Brother, put the blame where it belongs. Africans should take responsibilty for their actions and inactions.

Comparatively speaking; how are other non African countries (who were colonised too ) faring today??

Coming back to the Somali situation, are we going to blame all on the 'imperalist' Russians, Americans and now Ethiopians and Eritreans??.

The Somali problem was created by the Somalis. If there are/was foreign intervention whether under the guise of economic development etc; remeber it was Somali MEN who made the policy decisions based on clan enriching etc. etc.so please let us not pass the buck by blaming others on our inabilities to govern our affairs.

My 2 cents.

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Mullah

Unrecorded Date
Xaali:

More power to you sis, I totally agree with you in that Somalis are still at that stage where the individual Blindly follows his/her tribe, such things as stand on principal (which may be contrary to the Clan) is some thing alien to lot of us & ramifications are severe. Till the Somali individuals finds the courage or the backbone to stand-up for what's Logic, rational & principled whether for or against clan constitution then we are doomed to be mired in what is today Somalia……..Fiefdom pieces of real estate. i.e. so called - Lands.

It's true that, as Aadan, pointed out, Both Asia & Africa were on the same level as far as development was concerned but today Asia is a shinning example of Economic development admired by all, what happened to Africa? can we take the easy way out and continue our usually mantra of blaming the Colonialism & Imperialism for our predicament??????? I think not, it's time we took stock of our responsibilities & move on to stake our place in this world.

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dr_run_sheeg

Unrecorded Date
mullah and the rest

as many of you mentioned i too think the writer is right to take somalia as an example of the african continents short-comings. afterall it blind loyalty to a certain indivual or clan that made the somali masses not to realize the importance of a central government ( efficient for that matter).

aadan

both frank and baran are polital economists who try to explain the difference in real life between third world countries and the western world. they use what is known as dependency theory, which tries to explain thid fundermental differences. they divide the world into blocks, i.e the core countries like u.s.a, u.k, france, italy, canada, japan and many others on one hand and the prephery, i.e the african, asian and south american counties. what they are impalying is that decisions affecting the prephery countries in developmental terms is actually taken in core countries rather than in africa and asia for example. baran was a latin american economist.

mullah
both asia and africa emburked on a industrialisation programme after indipendence through what is known as "import substitution industrialisation" whereby industies were built across the two continents.
the difference in economic development between africa and asia after the seventies can be explained by the different economic and statigic routes the two continents have taken, especially the tiger economies of south east asia otherwise known as "nics" or newly industrialised countries.

whereas the african leaders went for the second face of industrialisation, i.e building havy and useless factories, the asians went for what is known as "export oriented industrialisation" where they concertrated all their efforts in supplying the western market, with cheaply produced and competitive goods. south korea is a clear example. from peasant and farming nation in the sixties to a mighty economy today ( except for the asian ficancial crisis period).

this is where i think the african leaders failed us. the inability not only to govern but to come up with coherent economic policies and inabilty to read into the future. what a shame.

till later

on my gaari gacan.


n.b

is xaali a resident in verginia?

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Xaali

Unrecorded Date
Dr_Ruun_Sheeg, I live near the neighborhood where they stole your bike!!

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Aadan

Unrecorded Date
Mudaneyaal iyo Marwooyin! Xaali, Mullah, dr_run_sheeg (thanks dr. for clarifying Frank and Barans theories,) thank you all for your enlightened inputs.

There is a kind of in-official saying in the international politics. That "nations deserve their leaders". it is, i think, true to a large extent.

I think it is only fair to say that these "fiefdom pieces of real estate i.e so called lands" as Mullah put it, reflect the majority of todays somali society. And the worldlords who run them aren't thugs, as some would rightly call them, but natural leaders for a patriarchal pre-historical society. A society in which sheer force, and the will to fight to the end, is what characterises a leader and gain respect for him. The rest are from there on willing followers and dependents.

I sometimes wondered how the inhabibtants of these ethnically cleansed (a` la somali) fiefdoms must have been jubilant about the new set of affairs. The neibour next door is a cousin, the one next to him are relatives, the ones behind are brother-in laws and most importantly the chief is one of us!!!. Death to Somalia, we are ...land!!!. You may think it is pathetic but that is how it is.

How about us, somali men and women who live in the West. We couldn't even establish a Somali Community worth it's name any where. Rather we have our own fiefdom-communities!!.

Now such a society needs more than (although essential) a visionary leader. It needs fundamental social changes to be part of the modern world. How?. I think effective civil societies and grass-roots organisations who are committed to and work for a variety of societal issues can contibute to this end. Educated somalis must play their role in these organizations. Education, accountability, work ethic, the inviolable rights of the individual, womens rights and many more issues must be central issues to our society.

I must confess that i have my doubts that the Somali society will come to this stage in the course of the next century. In any case, efforts which we make today will surely be an asset to our children in the future.

Nabadey

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Mullah

Unrecorded Date
Aadan:

Thanks Bro…. Refreashing input, I agree with you that grass-roots organisations who are committed to work for the well-being of people is crucial. But I think funadamentally we some how should find a way to restore the Trust among our people which is so clearly lacking today, that means we should start from the individual level….i.e you & me reaching out to each other.

Dr_Run_Sheeg:

Thanks for your below clarification of the Difference between the two economic samples:

"whereas the African leaders went for the second face of industrialization, i.e. building heavy and useless factories, the Asians went for what is known as "export oriented industrialization" where they concentrated all their efforts in supplying the western market, with cheaply produced and competitive goods. South Korea is a clear example. from peasant and farming nation in the sixties to a mighty economy today (except for the Asian financial crisis period). "

I would add, now that " The World Bank & IMF" (The Face of the Western Economic Power) have in part wrote off most the debt accumulated by some of the Poorest African countries & not long ago President Clinton encouraged the US Congress to do like-wise which they agreed to. God willingly with the right leadership Africa may be able to correct their course and follow the path of Asia, i.e. institute as Dr_Run_Sheeg, " Export Oriented Industrialization" after all the Cheap labor in Africa has not been tapped into effectively yet.

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M I MOHAMED

Unrecorded Date
Salam alaykum

To All

At a gance I would have to agree with Caafi's comments.

As for the rest, I am sure we would all agree eventually about the Somali situation once we found a focal point.

The clanish nature of our politics and the mode of production in Somalia complement each other.

So to change the politics you would have to affect the mode of production. You would attempt to industrialize, You would need a grand scheme and more importantly investment to finance "industrialization". You would need a strong and stable govenment that can guarantee investors that there money is safe. You would need other conditions that attract investors, such as high retuns on there investment. You would also need a government that was politically competent so as to cultivate good relations with other govenments; and the list continues.

The transformation of the backward state into a modern state by industrializing would involve a lot of human suffering, according to Marx, but was a necessary process. Thus imperialism is justified in that it would eventually bring about modernization.

Now you might argue that a lot of Africans do not agree with Marxs, why should an African villager suffer like his Asian counter-part by working in a factory for 12 hours for silly money, When he can instead look after his small plot or cow.

More importantly In many African states Industrialization has not ignited, and if it has it has been quickly put out.
You can not look to tribalism alone when looking at the Somali situation! I agree that the Somali people and leaders have to take some rsponsibility for their actions, but are we to ignore the state of the economy, the external forces, and other country's aggressive foreign policies.

Salam alaykum

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