By Austin Maho, Ph.D
In the last half century after African countries gained political independence from their former colonial master, the natural expectation was that a new vista of relationship would open between former African colonies and their once colonial masters.
The expectation was a relationship built on trust and mutual respect that would bring about the accelerated development of former colonies. The colonial masters who were mostly Western nations especially France, Portugal and Britain were expected to lead the charge for the industrial revolution of their formal colonies to bring about increased standards of living, to transform their economies from a mainly agrarian and primary product to one on the track of industrialisation.
It was based on this expectation that several African countries even after they gained political independence still allowed and encouraged their economies to be linked to those of their former colonial masters. This was especially so among virtually all former colonies of France in Africa.
The French ensured that the economies of their former colonies were intricately linked to the French economy. The value of the currency of their former colonies was for a very long time determined by the French economy. Consequently, although these countries had gained political independence from France, economically they were not free. Most of these countries remained under exploitation. The resources of these countries were brazenly and criminally exploited by western nations to feed industries in the western world. While the former colonial nations became richer, the former colonies were sliding into poverty, disease and deprivation.
The sad truth about this relationship is that many African and developing countries gained nothing from this master and slave relationship. African and most of the developing countries across the world were turned into a dumping ground for manufactured goods from Europe and America. The status quo suited their designs as there was no attempt by the West to encourage the industrial growth of African countries.
This situation is directly responsible for most of the social upheaval experienced by African nations immediately after independence. Independence was supposed to bring about a new era of growth and development and era of prosperity for the new independent nation. This did not happen. The consequence was a loss of hope despondency. Many African and developing nations lapsed into long years of civil wars and military dictatorship as a direct consequence of this.
The long years of civil wars and military rule has been replaced by democratic government in most African countries. Democracy has been and remain the prescription of the west for African countries as the only true road to political and economic development. Many African and developing countries have through the encouragement of the West embraced democracy. The democracy we have embraced is the Western model.
In Nigeria for instance we have experimented with the British Westminster model. Immediately after independence in 1960, we aligned with the democratic system of governance obtainable in the home country of our erstwhile colonial masters, Britain.
The system failed us woefully, as it could not address the political situation and confusion that characterised the first republic. The military soon stepped in and overthrow the government of the day. The military takeover was followed by a counter coup that led to a civil war. The country was thrown into a three year civil war that ended in 1970.
Thereafter it was a long transition period under successive military administrations. In 1979 a new democratic government was unveiled. Nigeria drafted a new constitution dumped the Westminster model and adopted a presidential system of governance modeled after the American system.
The republic that followed only lasted for about four years before it was again sacked by the military for its inability to bring about positive changes in the polity and enhance the economic wellbeing of Nigerians.
Since 1999, Nigeria has experienced 20 long years of unbroken democratic government. However, the last 20 years rather than bring about real development and economic transformation has only brought about the reverse.
The people have not enjoyed the dividend of democracy; the people have become poorer whereas the new political elite have become richer. Democracy which is suppose to be the government of the people have actually become the government of the few. Few individuals who have dominated the political space have used their dominance of the political space to also dominate the economic space.
The masses are being exploited under a political system that encourages unbridled capitalism. Nigeria a country with vast economic resources has actually become the poverty capital of the world after 20 years of unbroken democracy!
Under this circumstance, can we actually say that western style democracy has helped us as a nation? The obvious answer is NO. We need to do some introspection and ask ourselves some hard questions. How long can we continue in a situation where the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer?
We must begin to examine our political system and development model. The model we have adopted is not working; there is the need for us to do some re-examination and come up with a home grown model to suit our purpose. That the Westminster model worked in Britain never meant it was going to work here; similarly that the Presidential system of government is working in the United State obviously does not mean we must transplant it to Nigeria and expect it to work. This is the challenge of many African and developing countries.
One country that have been able to chart its own course for economic and political development in the world today is China, I believe the rest of the developing world has a lot to learn from the Chinese model that emphasises the creation of wealth for all its citizens and not for a few. China is working because it has found a system that suits its political, economic and historical development and staying true to itself; it has experience an unprecedented economic development and is set to become the largest economy in the world and a global leader in technological development.
Like it or not, China is on the ascendancy and forward looking nations especially developing and third world countries must look up to China for indeed the west has failed them.
