The Impact of Foreign Aid on African Development
AFST 1001 - Introduction to Africana Studies
University of Cincinnati
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Foreign aid in many ways, sounds like a solution to Africa’s economic problem. However, it
has in many ways, hindered Africa’s economic development. In a post-World War II era,
foreign aid was a concept conceived with the intention of aiding Europe to rebuild their
economies after the war. Countries like South Korea and Japan also benefited from foreign
aid as they also rebuilt their economies into the superpowers they are today. While foreign aid
has benefited a lot of countries to recover their economies, there have been times where
foreign aid has been a glaring failure. Despite the fact that globally Africa is the biggest
recipient of foreign aid, little to no improvements have been made. According to James
Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, “corruption, bad policies, and weak
governance will make aid ineffective.” This highlights one of the many reasons why African
states have failed to develop. In this essay, I will be discussing why Africa does not need
foreign aid in order to develop its economy. To argue my point on why Africa should not rely
on foreign is looking at how aid has not benefited the African states, despite the good
intentions that come from it. I will discuss how foreign aid has helped the people in power
fall into corruption and have the poor governance failed to make use of the aid that was
given.
One of the most glaring issues Africa faces with foreign aid is its poor governance. Poor
governance is the result of political instability within a country. Most African states after
gaining independence became politically unstable within the decades following
independence. What made things worse was the fact that poor leadership played a part.
Leaders who were seen as liberators during the independence movement curdled to
corruption and failed to make progress with developing the country. The reason behind why
there is so much political instability is because of tribalism. Because of tribalism,
governments were not able to make progress with building intuitions that will benefit the
people and contribute to the economic development of their nation. The negative impact of
Africa’s colonial history played a part as to why most
African nations failed post-independence. According to Deborah A. Brautigam in her essay,
Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, “First, state capacity and
institutions of governance in many African countries have never been particularly strong. The
newly independent nations of Africa were not well prepared for self-government, and many-
faced ethnic tensions that had been exacerbated by colonial rule.” (Bräutigam and Knack,
256) Brautigam and Knack explains how the European colonizers did little to help the
countries they held power in; by the time African nations began to gain independence, their
economies collapsed within the next few decades. William Bascom also reiterates their point,
“Europeans who have made their careers in Africa constitute at least potential opposition to
any form of selfgovernment which threatens their ca- reers, although the extent to which they
prove obstacles to self-government will depend upon the arrangements made for their future.”
(Bascom, 65) European colonizers made careers out of the African lands that they would
immediately crush any opposition to self-govern. They also created an ethnic divide amongst
the people as in the case in Rwanda where the Hutus and the Tutsi were pitted against each
other. The Rwandan Genocide that occurred in the early 1990s was a direct result of how the
colonial powers used indirect rule placed a small number of Tutsi elites ruling over the Hutu
majority. Prior to colonialism, Africa’s various ethnic groups worked together as an
autonomy. European colonizers broke that traditional system and created a hierarchy based
on ethnic which can still be felt today. Prior to the genocide, Rwanda’s leaders were very
biased with how they wanted to develop the country. As the government was a Hutu majority,
they did everything they could to isolate the Tutsi from making a contribution to the country.
They were effectively second-class citizens which boiled over to conflict.
There are ways to overcome this problem. Some countries in Africa have made strides in
order to heal the ethnic divide that was caused by colonialism. The root cause of ethnic
conflicts is because there is no collective national identity. “Africa’s problems will never be
resolved until all ethnic groups see their respective countries not as a common to be extracted
for their micronation but as theirs to develop. This national identity is critical in moving
Africa ahead.” (Gatune, 107) Having a national identity is one way in resolving the political
instability in Africa. Education is the foundation for every society to build itself up. School
should become mandatory for everyone of all ages, regardless of their gender or ethnicity.
School is the breeding ground for communicating ideas and exposing African youth to
different identities. Thus, in a way, it will eliminate the problem with tribalism. Some
countries have taken the initiative to establish a national identity. For example, South Africa
has adopted eleven languages as its official language, representing the various ethnic groups
in the country. Another way for Africa to develop is urbanization. Urbanization of Africa
should be considered because it promotes city growth. Urbanization means that more people
will integrate together, and bigger cities means that communities will be built and that will
foster trust amongst the people. “Aid provided to countries with higher level of social capital
means that the aid will be better utilized, rather than siphoned off to the group(s) in control.”
(Gatune, 108)
Because Africa has been receiving foreign aid year after year, they have become foreign
dependent. Several African nations, in particular, the Sub-Saharan region heavily rely on
foreign aid to survive. However, foreign aid has had the opposite effect in that region. Despite
billions of dollars that have been sent to the Sub-Sahara, it remains as one of the most poorest
regions in the world. There are many reasons as to why the Sub-Saharan region has failed to
develop. One such factor is the economic crisis that these African states went through post-
independence.
According to Knack, “Economic crisis is clearly a contributor. Early in the post-independence
period, a number of African countries experienced balance of payments problems and
borrowed from the IMF to cover shortfalls in foreign exchange. In countries like Sierra
Leone, government offices were often largely empty during this period, as unpaid staff tried
to survive by selling cigarettes and candies on street corners or retreating to rural farms to
grow food for their families. Across Africa, attempts at reform were largely unable to
reverse these salary trends. ” (Knack, 260) Because African states had begun to self-govern
their nations and move away from colonialism, they were at a loss with how they were going
to pay back the West. The issue with foreign aid is that it has not benefited the African states
other than to place them in debt. Studies have shown that the debt the Sub-Sahara owed the
World Bank and the IMF has increased from 305 billion in 2010 to 705 billion. According to
the American Economic Review, “it appears that most corrupt countries do receive higher
aid.” (Alesina, 1129) Although corruption cannot be completely measured, there has been a
correlation between corruption and increased foreign aid. Violence often weakens
institutions, undermines the rule of law, and therefore makes corruption more likely.
Government officials and political elites who fall into corruption use the foreign aid that is
given to them with the intention of building up poor infrastructure, developing trade and
education, use the money for personal gains and increase their personal wealth. This hinders
the rule of law because corrupt government officials fail to implement good policies that will
ensure that changes will be made. However, it seems that Africa is stuck in this “poverty
trap”, where they are unable to move forward with building up their economies. Because they
have been receiving aid for so long, they have come to rely on foreign as a source of income.
Braughtham highlights the reasons why Africa is struck in poverty, “Aid dependence can
contribute to a second set of problems, all related to the incentive inherent in the system.
Barbara Geddes argues that governments in weak states remain weak because they are unable
to resist the pressures of the powerful vested interest to distribute the funding and resources
in ways that dilute capacity and lower effectiveness. High levels of aid can make it more
difficult to solve the collective action problems that inherent in reform efforts, create moral
hazards for both recipient and donors, perpetuate both a “soft budget” and “tragedy of the
commons'' with regards to the future budget and weaken the development of local pressures
for accountability and reform.” (Bräutigam and Knack, 263) this shows us that despite the
amount of money the Sub-Saharan region receives, they often fail to deliver on their promises
and that donors do not get what they paid for. Job creation in those areas which require
expertise can solve the solution to that problem. Giving the native people opportunities means
that the next generation can build up the poor infrastructure and promote access to good
health care.
There are solutions to how Africa can curve its aid dependency on other nations. There are
good examples of countries who have received fireign aid and recovered into becoming
superpowers. Take South Korea, for example. South Korea was a very poor country during
the post World World II era. South Korea received foreign aid from the United States and
managed to build up its economy to become one of the wealthiest in the world. What allowed
South Korea to build up its economy is the very thing that hinders Africa. One of the most
Stable African nations is Botswana. Similar to how South Korea built up their nation,
Botswana succeeded due to good governance and policies that were implemented.
“Botswana’s high economic performance is a result of the change from beef to mineral
production for export. Botswana’s capital incentive for the diamond mining sector has led to
high income. and diversification of the export base. (Osei-Hwedie, 75) As stated by Osei-
Hwedie, the way Botswana diversified their natural resources made it so that they could grow
their economy. One of the main achievements is Botswana’s relationship with foreign aid
donors. Unlike Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana made use of the foreign donors matched with
the endeavours the federal government wished to prioritize. The political elite and the
governmental officials have aligned their goals to pursue realistic monetary and fiscal
policies. “Botswana's monetary policy, especially its own currency, the Pula, instead of the
South African Rand and pegging of the Pula to the basket of currencies of its trading partners
and the devolution of the Pula paved the way for a flexible exchange rate beneficial for its
trading partners.” (Osei-Hwedie,77) The political elites and bureaucracy established a
partnership to ensure economic development.Botswana also established their own currency to
do trade with other countries. Their currency was devalued for the purpose of making it
cheaper to sell goods with countries such as South Africa as they use the US dollar.
Botswana should be the framework on how other African nations can move away from being
aid dependent. If political elites and government officials compromise and work together,
they can focus on implementing good policies that will help build up their economies. they
must also realize that their countries’ natural resources can increase their GDP by the amount
that their exports make. There have been a few initiatives by African countries to turn their
situation around. In 2000, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched Vision 2020, outlining
the government’s priority to change Rwanda into a middle income economy. His Vision 2020
addresses his governments’ desires to reduce poverty, increase the access to quality national
health services, light Rwanda out of the shadowes of the 1994 genocide. Twenty years later,
Rwanda made remarkable improvements to its economy. Rwanda’s life expectancy has
doubled since 1994, and there have been improvements on its infrastructure. Car
manufacturer giant
Volkswagen established in the capital of Kigali. Kenya has also launched Vision 2030 with
the same intention of Rwanda of making their country a middle income economy. To the
Government of Kenya, the purpose of Vision 2030 is to: “Newly industrializing, middle-
income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and
secure environment.” Since its implementation in 2008, Kenya has made strides in
transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The hope is to bring prosperity to
all the regions of Kenya because some parts of the country have been excluded in the
economic development in the past. How Kenya makes progress with how they are going to
proceed remains to be seen.
The problem with foreign aid from what we learned in this essay is not the money a country
receives but how it is spent. One of the worst cases of foreign aid failure is in Somalia.
Somalia is renown for being a failed state where corruption and terrorism is rampant in the
country. Since its independence, Somalia has been receiving foreign aid. However, the aid
that Somalia has been receiving has caused more problems than help. “Somalia's total
borrowing from abroad during 1962-1968 amounted to So.Sh. 394 million, and her total
repayment in the same period were So.Sh. 12 million. Thus, by the end of 1968, foreign loans
represented a mere 3 percent of total accumulated borrowing.This is partly because Somalia
could not meet her repayment commitments fully owing to financial difficulties partly owing
because the burden of foreign indebtedness will be 1970s.” (Mehmet, 47) Like many African
countries gaining independence, Somalia struggled in its first decade since independence.
Somalia tried to implement ways to allocate the budget to create programs that would build
up the country. However, Somalia found itself more in debt with the aid that was being
provided.There was growing tension by the time Siad Barre took power in 1969. Barre’s
government funded public projects such as tree planting to find the sandstorms. Much of
Barre’s socialist reforms were implemented such as nationalizing industries such as farming
and banking. The collapse of Barre’s government plunged the country into civil war.
According to Elow and Florian in their essay, Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in
Somalia, “at the peak of fatalities in the civil war of the early 1990s, violent conflict among
different clans continued on the communal level. These conflicts were—and still are—closely
linked to access and control over natural resources, especially land, livestock, fisheries and
water. The ownership of resources is linked to livelihood styles, which often signifies clan
association, for example in conflicts between powerful clan-based nomadic herder groups and
often marginalized settled communities. Access to natural resources often defines power
relations in and among communities on the local level. The implications of communal
tensions frequently spill over to the national level, as clan identities increasingly become
politicized.” (Eklowand Florian, 4) the Somali War that was a clan based conflict, displaced
many of its citizens. Since then, Somalia has been in a tug-of-war between various clans with
no one effectively ruling the country. One of the downsides of foreign aid in Somalia is
because aid in the country was most ineffective, international organizations were reluctant to
respond to other conflicts in Africa. The slow to no response to the Rwandan genocide was a
result of aid fatigue in Somalia. Somalia remains in a fragile state with the recent
Al-Shabab terrorist group hampering any progress that humanitarian works make. Whether
Somalia can improve in the coming years is unknown.
In conclusion, the problem with foreign aid is not the amount of money received, but how it
is handled. We have seen excellent examples of countries that used the aid received and by
making good policies built back their country to where they are today. The successes of
countries like South Korea and Botswana should lay the groundwork for how Africa can
move forward. Somalia has had the opposite effect on foreign aid. Because of in-clan fighting
and changing governments there was no one ruling the country to effectively implement
policies changes and reform. That is why there has been some correlation with corruption and
foreign aid. Corrupted feed off the money sent to them, and instead of making progress with
the economic growth the country, grow their own wealth. Learning from both the good and
bad outcomes of aid can help Africa move forward and become a powerhouse on the world
stage.
Work Cited
Alesina, Alberto, and Beatrice Weder. “Do Corrupt Governments Receive Less Foreign Aid?”
The American Economic Review 92, no. 4 (2002): 1126–37.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3083301.
Bascom, William. “Obstacles to Self-Government.” The Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science 306 (1956): 62–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable
Bräutigam, Deborah A., and Stephen Knack. “Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in
Sub‐Saharan Africa.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 52, no. 2 (2004): 255–85.
https://doi.org/10.1086/380592.
Gatune, Julius. “Africa’s Development beyond Aid: Getting out of the Box.” The ANNALS
of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 632, no. 1 (2010): 103–20.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716210378832.
Eklow, Karolina, and Florian Krampe. “Conflicts and Peacebuilding Efforts in Somalia.”
Climate-Related Security Risks and Peacebuilding in Somalia. Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20064.8.
Mehmet, Ozay. “Effectiveness of Foreign Aid-The Case of Somalia.” The Journal of Modern
African Studies 9, no. 1 (1971): 31–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/159250.
Osei-Hwedie, Bertha Z. “SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY IN
AFRICA:
THE CASE OF BOTSWANA AND MAURITIUS.” Il Politico 65, no. 1 (192) (2000): 73–90.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24005439.
