POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY GEOFFREY YORK IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
There are good reasons Africa is so poor, and they have
little to do with colonialism.
Africa's governments, almost typically, are irresponsible
and short-sighted and corrupt.
The laws and customs in many places are antithetic to modern
society too.
Capital goes where it is welcome and safe, and generally
that is not Africa.
Also, capital comes in several forms, including financial,
physical plant, and human.
Human capital - an educated and ambitious and hardworking
population - is key just to the good use of financial and physical capital.
This is missing to a great extent in Africa.
A country like Japan, basically a set of rocks in a sea,
became advanced owing to its human capital, an educated population with a good
work ethic and one with the kind of technical skills needed in advanced
society.
China, too, after casting off its dark ages of communist
religion, is booming owing to the innate intellectual gifts and traditional
values of its people.
Africa's people remain stuck in tribalism and immense
superstition. For example, it is Africa that is home to female genital
mutilation, about 3 million young women every year suffer this mad ritual.
Africa has poor infrastructure, including roads, hospitals,
good quality schools, etc.
That fact plus the relatively poor state of human capital
and the poor governance do not promise a bright, progressive future.
Further thought.
China is doing some remarkable things in Africa, doing them
because it wants to secure resources.
The understand Africa's shortcomings, and they try to build
support for their investments there.
But already there are mumblings about the Chinese
"running things."
How long can it be before they too are sent packing?
