What Cultural Values Do Sub-Saharan Africans Share?

An old boss told me of her time working on contracts for projects in Africa. They had to add a certain percentage to cover the bribes necessary to have the bid even considered. Then they had to factor in the cost for future bribes, for locals stealing the supplies, for damages caused by local workers being drunk on the job, for “inspection” fees from the local gangs …

I am 66 years old, a white male and spent more than 40 years in Botswana. During that time, I travelled extensively through Africa and wherever I went, I was appalled at just how little the countries had managed to do anything whatsoever for their people. Instead, their leaders were well and truly aboard the gravy trains that ensured their own wealth at the expense of their people. Botswana is known as the “Switzerland” of Africa and is a shining light as to how, one of the poorest countries in the world, adapted and grew into an economic and political masterpiece, since the 30th September 1966. As a child, I too stood in the Gaborone National stadium that day shouting Pula, along with the proud Motswana people and I praise Sir Seretse Khama and those leaders who have followed him, for the wisdom and vision, that has seen the emergence of a Botswana, free of corruption and racial hatred. It is truly, the gem of Africa.

britan was a Roman colony, the USA was also a British colony, Canada, Australia, India, Hong Kong, Colombia, California, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina… All colonies. So just being a colony isn’t the reason. The people and how they reacted to it are the reason..if Africa was left alone, it would still look the same. People need to build their own countries and work together. That just doesn’t happen in Africa.

I have lived in three African countries. Two reason I have found why Africa is so poor is: 1. Extensive and generational corruption. The rare earth minerals and oil revenue only goes to a few politicians, not to further educational needs or infrastructure. 2. The government is heavily multi-layered, bureaucratic and excessive regulations (to pay people in the middle along the processes). Great article by the way.

I’m South African, in our case corruption that’s entrenched in almost every facet of society, the economy, the government, etc, is the main culprit. However, it doesn’t stop there, there’s also the mindset of Africa to look towards the past, there’s very little planning for the distant future, colonialism is still blamed for almost everything. I have yet to hear an African politician say:”I was wrong, I made bad choices.” African politicians don’t lead, they “mislead”. Also the tribalism that’s still to this day very much part of most of the continent. Even when the African electorate get the chance at free and fair elections, they somehow mostly elect the worst of a bad lot. Those Africans who reach the pinnacle of their trade, often as medical professionals, engineers, etc,are simply so disillusioned with a hopeless situation, they leave for Europe or America where they don’t have to be under the yoke of stupid politicians, but have the freedom to reach full potential. Finally, if colonialism was so at fault why is Liberia and Ethiopia, both never colonized, no better off, why is Haiti, not on the continent of Africa, but about 99% descendents of African slaves, independent for almost 200 years, now a failed state and also the poorest country in the Western hemisphere?

There has been a systematic dismantling of all of the infrastructure put in by Europeans. Bribery and corruption is their biggest issue along with leaders who line their own pockets at the expense of their people. I had a friend who was going back to Zimbabwe for Christmas, he was a nurse and he had to take 2 suitcases of gifts back for family members. He stated that there would still be relatives complaining that he hadn’t spent enough on them. There is an air of resentment and jealousy whenever someone else makes a success of themselves.

The amount of crime and corruption in Africa is unreal. Had a friend who went to Africa as part of a cultural exchange. When they landed at the airport the security guards would not let them through unless they paid the equivalent of £100 per person for the “legal entry fee” they did pay the money but if it had been me I’d have just got the plane back home…

I saw a TED talk from a former member of the Canadian version of the Peace Corps. They installed a fresh water system in a small village in Africa. When they showed the locals how it worked, they already knew because it was exactly the same as the one the Peace Corps had installed years ago. It had failed due to the lack of technology to maintain it. Throwing money and effort at a problem does nothing if there is no thought to making it sustainable.

As an exemple, South America was also colonized, yet nowadays they are economically decent countries, and certainly do not play victim and blame Spain everytime something goes wrong. They take accountability. The same goes for many Asian ex European colonies. Africa is stuck in the past and always blame colonialism for everything that happens to them.

My nation of Australia is a good comparison to Africa. Australia has a legacy of colonialism Australia has poor riverways and few major harbours for maritime trade, few major cities in general actually. Geography isn’t exactly in our favour no matter how you look at it actually. Australia is a VERY successful country, regardless of how much our politicians try to make it otherwise. Africa is the way it is because of Africans. If they chose to stop being corrupt, chose to invest wisely in their people, and chose to drop the tribal warfare that rages to this very day, they would likely become some of the richest people in human history. But Africans are gonna African, so don’t ever hold your breath for that.

It’s the people and the values that they bring. Look at North and South America. The Anglo people brought Protestantism, democracy and capitalism. The Iberian people brought Catholicism, dictatorship and socialism. It’s not a fluke that Canada and the US are so successful and millions of Central and South Americans are fleeing north.

The whole story is… humanity has always required infrastructure. The earliest forms of infrastructure were basic earthworks. Removing rocks from a steam to make it more navigable dates back as early as 1100 BC. Nobody ever told them this, or they just refused to do the hard labor that comes before you can trade more easily. Maybe they had once long ago but after it got destroyed in a deluge that definitely happened, they were demoralized until they forgot about it completely. If you can trade more easily, you will have more ideas flowing in and out of your country, enriching your culture, bolstering morality among your populace, and this all serves as a foundation to more progress in ways I can’t do justice by covering in a comment. Singapore recognized this during the early periods of colonialism. Just to list three major ones… Singapore River’s Straightening and Deepening: To improve navigation and enhance trade, the Singapore River was straightened and deepened in 1822. Construction of Jackson’s Bridge: Jackson’s Bridge, a vital infrastructure project, was built in 1822 to connect the northern and southern parts of Singapore, promoting better connectivity and trade. Fort Fullerton: Although primarily a military structure, the construction of Fort Fullerton in 1829 also had economic implications by providing security for trade activities in the region. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Nobody wants to talk about it, but I’ll put it here simply so my comment can get removed.

The British started work on the Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt railway. If finished it would have been the largest and most important railway of Africa, but thanks to the Great Depression and Decolonisation it was never finished. That would’ve been very helpful to overcome the geographical challenges, connect the continent top to bottom.

I’ve encountered a few black racism posts like this. It’s always hilarious to note the actual reality: many of those governments ‘are’ pure black African racial governments. The few African governments that tried to enforce racism of their own, usually had to eliminate the policy, because the only people who farmed or did anything in their country were white or others. They already have that. But yet Africans themselves even in the more rich African countries know, that their government ignores the issues, and is corrupt, and they have slums and fixable issues because of that.

Thomas Sankara was the president of Burkina Faso until he was assasinated but he was living proof that something was wrong in African society. When he was president the illiteracy rate decreased, he encouraged woman to have jobs and he cared about his own people, during an interview he once said aid isn’t what Africa needs but guidance. And it’s kind of true like how china comes to Africa and build hospitals, roads and government buildings while the UN just sends money and Aid.

This neglects the biggest factor of Africa’s poverty, and it DOES have to do with it’s colonial history: global capitalism. The wealthy western nations hold Africa (and the whole global south for that matter) in a constant imperial grasp, while extracting all its natural resources without compensating Africa for it (go research unequal exchange between the west and the rest of the world). Every time a nation tries to break free of this imperial capitalist hold, the western nations, particularly the US, instantly responds by either straight up invading it (like the Middle East) or via CIA-backed coups that install US-friendly dictatorships. Capitalism is, al always, the biggest enemy of not only Africa, but the whole world

Africa has three main liabilities, all stemming from geography: 1. High coasts (no natural ports, few navigable rivers). 2. Position on or close to the equator (deserts, jungle). 3. Malaria infested regions (hard to have a large population and skilled professionals if so many people die from malaria). The real problem that comes from colonization is that borders were drawn by outside players (Europeans), meaning country is shared by tribes/nations who are hostile to one another. This limits how well people “in the same boat” get along.

Very complex question that has to be answered not so much on the continental scale but individual nation. Some are victims of marxist ideology, sone are just pure government corruption, some are due to countries like France still in control of the currency, and some are due to political instability. In most cases its a combination of all the issues. Either way colonialism like it or not gave a lot of these countries many resources and infrastructure to be successful and they squandered it away.

India was also once occupied, but it slowly and surely moved on. Two atom bombs were dropped on Japan, but they moved on and look at them today. Wherever you see, countries that keep playing the victim card have not moved forward. This is true even for an individual person. Whatever the past, people have a choice to make: grieve or move on.

00:02 Africa’s poverty is not solely due to colonialism 00:30 Colonialism isn’t the main reason for Africa’s poverty. 00:51 Africa’s geography is one factor explaining its poverty 01:14 Bad geography has hindered Africa’s development for centuries 01:37 Geographical challenges in Africa create trade difficulties but do not determine economic growth. 02:02 Lack of natural resources is not the main reason for Africa’s poverty. 02:28 Many former colonies have thrived politically and economically after colonialism. 02:53 Economic freedom is key to development.

Another reason why both Africa and the Middle East are backward compared to Europe, North America or East Asia is because people there are raised to show extreme loyalty to their own extended family groups. Theodore Dalrymple wrote of his time as a junior doctor in Rhodesia: “Black doctors were paid the same as white doctors, unlike in neighboring South Africa; but while I lived like a king on my salary, the black doctors on the same salary lived in penury and near-squalor. Why was that?” “The answer was really rather obvious, though it took me a long time to realize it. While I had only myself to consider, the black doctors, being at the very peak of the African pyramid as far as employment was concerned, had to share their salary with their extended family and others: It was a profound social obligation for them to do so and was, in fact, morally attractive.” “This, of course, did not prevent them from wishing as individuals to live at the European standard; but this was impossible so long as the colonial regime lasted. Once this elite had its hand on power, however, it had both the means and opportunity to outdo that standard to assuage its sense of humiliation, but the social obligations to look after the extended family and others remained. There was no legitimate way to satisfy these voracious demands other than by gaining and keeping control of political power over the country, which is why the struggle for such control was often so ruthless and bloody.”

You didn’t quite hit the nail on the head. Most African countries are struggling because they didn’t evolve inclusive governance in their culture. For example, take Nigeria, the Western educated elites who called themselves nationalists and criticized the british did exactly what the british did after they left when Nigeria gained independence. They kept the same administrative divisions, the same colonial style occupation force police, the same ownership of all natural resources of the country by the central government. The western educated elites basically replaced the colonizers. The people had no say or sense of belonging in their country and since some regions were previously empires, that culture of palace economics persisted.

Notably absent from the comments I’ve come across is the way colonial powers divided the continent, creating arbitrary states that often grouped together people of different ethnic backgrounds. Simultaneously, they separated others, laying the groundwork for persistent conflicts. While also being the root cause of a number of problems the continent still faces, including corruption.

Some years ago in Kampala I chaired a meeting of the cabinet of the Kingdom of Buganda. They identified themselves as having lack of discipline on four fronts: with time, with money, with correspondence, and with sex. This was Ugandans talking about themselves. I suggest this is representative of the entire African continent.

The problem with Africa is Africans. As of writing this comment, there are currently 3 military coups that have toppled government. Almost every government in Africa has been mired in corruption. Add that to the countless tribal conflicts that still occur in places like Sudan, Rwanda, Congo, etc., and you don’t exactly get the foundation for economic growth. Plus, you have substantial Islamic Terror groups that move around almost unchecked because the respective governments in the area do not have the resources to effectively combat them. Colonialism is a convenient cop out, but like most narratives it simply is an excuse to avoid discussing a potentially unpleasant root cause.

I’m sorry, but this story is also a little bit too short. Colonialism had tremendous effects on many structures, leading to effects hard to measure and even think about today, it’s called persistence and is well known to historians, especially for the ones doing history economics. I will name some examples: – Institutions: Maybe you know the famous book “Why Nations Fail” – the authors are talking about the impact of Institutions on the economies. Dependent on the region, the institutions implemented by the colonial power were either inclusive/good (for settlers like in the US), or extractive. These extractive institutions were implemented to support a small elite governing and exploiting the other inhabitants. Schools were designed to promote only the 1% smartest children, which you can still see in African countries or India. After the colonial powers withdrew, the local elites took over / stayed in their role. They never had the incentives to change the system, since they are the ones profiting. Corruption is a consequence of bad institutions which not work. – Trust: Economic activity is also about trust. Trust can be achieved by good institutions with the rule of law working (if you can not call the police if somebody is exploiting you in a business relationship, you will only trade with your dearest friends and relatives). But trust is also about the social structures. There is huge evidence that slavery had a big structural impact on trust since 20% of slaves were tricked by other Africans into slavery – borders: The present borders were created during colonial times.

Part of it may be ignorance. Back in the 60s, we had the Peace Corps go over there and show the people how to put seeds into the ground and grow food. They didn’t even know that, apparently. India is almost as bad. My church has sent crews to India to dig water wells for communities in a country that’s supposed to be loaded with geniuses. But they don’t know how to dig a well.

As a Sudanese guy, I’ll tell you the reasons for Africa’s impoverishment as i see them in order of magnitude: 1- corrupt, self-serving, good for nothing politicians. Ain’t no politician as corrupt as an african politician. 2- continued exploitation and neocolonial efforts in the forms of: A- an economy being very dependent on the former colonial force in terms of banks, being a mere sorce of raw material and being a dependent market for goods B- multinational corps, that on the surface look like an advantage for the community But the operate so immorally they make you feel helpless, with their very one sided contracts, stirring conflicts and supporting destabilising forces and polluting local communities and never caring to fix them C- New players wanting a piece of this god forsaken pie. For example, USA, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and of course UAE all try to manipulate the state of my country at the moment, a country undergoing war since 15th of April of last year. And i assure 4 out of 5 african countries is under similar situation. 3- predatory loans (that you need to keep afloat) from the world bank that basically shapes all of your economic policies as they see fit, not to mention the foreign “Aid” That is not really Aid, it loan that you pay what the “Aiding” country needs from you at the moment. That’s basically nationwide generational debt for you. 4- very very very, and i mean very f’ed up judical systems. Corrupt to the highest level, from the court of minor issues to the highest court in the country.

Do Africans have pride in their countries? Example: The Japanese and Korean people have been rivals for thousands of years. Then after WW2, Japan and S Korea worked towards doing better than the other. It wasn’t ‘we’re asians, be proud, work together to beat the west’. It was I’m going to do better than the other because I love my country.

The article misses the point entirely. Colonialism IS the reason Africa still lags because when the Europeans withdrew from the continent, they left behind “nations” that were composed of many different tribes which hated each other and didn’t belong in the same “nation” to begin with. All the resouces that would normally grow the economy get diverted to these brutal wars.

Some of the factors why Africa is still poor: – colonialism trauma – geography – unrealistic political and economic ideas (socialism is one of those, but neoliberalism is also one) – corruption – tribalism – nepotism – conservativism (the resistance to change, especially culturally. In this case the strong “tyranny” of the old over the young) – a relatively short history. The west had all these problems (and still has them), but has had a long time to figure out how to deal with it. – an educational system that concentrates on learning by heart and repetition instead of understanding concepts – short term Christian presence, and low cultural pervasion of Africa with Christian values. Christian values are one of the main factors of economic growth (not the only one, and not absolutely necessary as can be seen in China and Japan, but it was in European development, and it is/will be in the African development) probably a lot more, but these are the ones I could think of right now.

We lived in N Nigeria 3 years. Before Brits left there was almost no malaria, there were water pipelines and many small farms. When we came in 1983 pipelines were gone, nobody was farming, malaria was super deadly. The wish of my few responders was ” Englishman come back”. To make it worst many human right organisations were sending junk food to Nigeria. It was just enough not to die of hunger not working but it was FREE.

When you compared Singapore with Africa you said a country with no natural resources, Africa is still very much rich in natural resources till date after 100s pf year of extracting. Do you really thing these European countries will leave africa that easily They left Singapore because it was resourceful to them( long distance to travel no valuable resource there. Africa if just below Europe. Direct colonialism might have ended but to this date africa is still control by former colonial powers ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY. This is big and a dirty rabbit hole believe me there is a lot to learn and find out. Stop being dumb and see what exactly is happening.

When the Dem Rep of Congo became independent from Belgium it had only 6 college grads of Congolese decent, in the entire nation. Part of Africa’s issue is corruption but also, education. I am hoping that the rise of internet access can help to allieviate this issue and bring about Africa’s resurgence

Having spoken at length and had a lot fun with many Africans I can tell they’d suggest that the issue is culture. many African cultures suffer from casual criminality, a lack of governments being able to collect everyone’s favourite thing which is taxes, of course. Many African countries have little to no free schooling and or require uniforms that many cannot afford. There’s also economic class distinction that is far more prevalent than in the west, generally. although, that is increasing here to as quality education declines.

Greetings. Your explanation is an interesting position against the classic story of poverty due to colonialism, so much so that, in fact, it makes me feel identified since I am from Argentina, a country in the south of the American continent and, despite having many natural resources and vast possibilities of crops and livestock, we always find high levels of poverty due, more than anything, to bad economic practices, both socialist and leftist, that end up exhausting all possible efforts to improve. Countries like the ones you have named are a good example that it is not necessary to have resources, but rather to stop crying for something that happened years ago and change one’s position towards a greater will to improve, and I believe that applies to all human spheres. Thank you in advance for your excellent article.

Comparing the continent of Africa and the city of Singapore is so funny. But this character is trying to tell us that the centuries of cruel plundering of Africa, actually have no influence on the current state of the African continent. Genocide after genocide, mass crimes, taking hundreds of thousands into slavery, not really mean anything. The fact that the colonial period was replaced by the neo-colonial period and the robberies and crimes continued, doesn’t really have any effect. The fact that a few months ago France “traded” with Niger, and bought uranium at 400 times lower than the market price, has no effect. It’s actually a “trade” :))) Your attempts to justify Western crimes are very funny :)))

Dude… it’s corruption, i’m african myself and let me tell you, it’s corruption, these morons(Leaders) depend on the dollar in order to grow their country, instead of using the resources to grow their country, they used it to gain profit out of other countries, to an extent, it’s not a bad deal if you use the money correctly right? NOPE! the leaders use the money for themselves, the leaders would rather take a loan from another country and get in debt, instead of using the already Billions of dollars at their disposal, in less then a 100 years, you can turn a 3rd world country into a 1st world country just by having clean leaders.

Nah, colonialism definitely played and still plays its part. Just look at france for example still robbing most of west african resources til this day. Even tho there are tons of languages there, they made lots of them dependant on them by making french the official language in most west african countries and still having a say in their respective economies. My family originates from Guinee Conakry a former french colony and their currency is still the “guinee franc”. We had leaders in West africa who tried to help the economy grow like Sekou Toure who immediately after their declaration of independance tried to do that, but was sabotaged by the french government. Or Thomas Sankara who helped not only grow his countrys economy but education aswell…And was then assasinated by the french and US government because of the resources. If Africa would become rich or stable that would be on the disadvantage of everyone else. Prizes would grow and grow. Coming back to Sankara, this incident shows the other big reason why Africa can’s prosper. Yes, it was the french and american government which assasinated him but it was also his right hand man. Greed and short sight is the other reason why Africa can’t flourish. Tribalism between the different ethnicities it’s honestly even a bigger reason than the west which still continues to steal from Africa.

Correct hint in the title: It isn’t JUST Colonialism. The things said in the article are true, however, we mustn’t downplay the legacy colonialism has left behind. Here are some examples of that: 1. The European powers made arbitrary borders, ignoring ethnics, local tribes, and governance, which contributed to many conflicts and ethnic genocides we have today. 2. resource exploitation: Europeans were concerned about extracting raw materials to their countries rather than building an infrastructure that would better serve the locals. 3. several African countries are still vulnerable to the global economy due to them having economic dependency on their ruler 4. the institutions created by the colonizers were often corrupt and weak and favored elitism and corruption over democracy, and these legacies still persist. 5. #4 affects education as well, the locals have inadequately distributed access to schools 6. colonizers in some cases deliberately created divisions and tensions between different ethnics to divide and control them better (for example: Rwanda’s Tutu and Hutsi populations) 7. forcing Western-style systems onto very different countries has never worked and has created conflicts and instability. the Middle East struggles with the same issue. the same goes for culture: while Africa has inherited quite some cultural changes owing to European powers, it sometimes can pose challenges to social cohesion and the question of identity. 8. several colonizers have left enormous debt on their countries.

Colonialism in Africa is still kinda going on, France has a lot of soldiers still stationed in its former colonies & frequently supports coups or supports corrupt governments. Other Western countries also intervene militarily (invade) to protect their corporation’s activities, or for other economic reasons like the US in Libya

Singapore was a successful city created by colonialism. This is not exceptional. Colonialism created lots of successful cities around the world including in Africa e.g. Batavia (now Jakarta), New Amsterdam/New York, Johannesburg etc. That Singapore became a city-state is unusual. City-states are rare both among ex-colonies and uncolonized countries and therefore not a great choice of comparison example for countries, but if you want to compare cities rather than countries it makes more sense. Colonization took a variety of forms. In some places a new population (mostly from Europe, but also including slaves or indentured labour from other parts of the world) almost replaced the existing population, often known as settler colonies (in the Americas, Australia, NZ etc) in other places a small number of settlers/administrators plus companies ran the colony for economic gain most of which went offshore or to a settler minority of the population. There were attempts at settler colonialism in Africa (e.g. Algeria, South Africa, Rhodesia) but they never achieved settler majorities. So colonialism in Africa was mostly economic or exploitative colonialism. It is better to compare the post-colonial experience in African countries with countries with an approximately similar colonial history like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea etc. Strangely enough, once you compare apples with apples the comparison is not as extreme as painted in this article.

Africans just never learned to work together. Simple as that. They dont have to unify, they dont have to give up their regional power structures they just have to work together. Everyone manages that little, simple thing. Except Africans. Even South America, which by now is almost off as bad as Africa, still manages to work together somehow. The more they do the better they fair, the less they do the worse they fair. Its an up and down whereas for Africa its a down. Thats the next thing. They fail to create. The destroy things, loot the remains and then demand “the west” has to rebuild. Geography and every thing can be overcome. All other regions in the world proof so daily. But first stop destroying your infrastructure and work together for the common goal of bettering yourself. Untill then its a lost continent and allways will be.

There may be many factors, but I think IQ is the biggest factor. Geographical factors and the plunder of resources by colonies can be understood in the past when globalization had not occurred, but now, 100 years after globalization has progressed through industrial culture, all of the above factors are just excuses. Also, corruption in the leadership is a result, not a cause.

the TanZan police shook me down for $40 cash after SELLING it to me on the Black Market when I backpacked thru Central Africa 1987. The back then… $1 US dollar equalled 1 TanZan SHILLING in the bank….making my YMCA room cost like $800/night (no toilet). While Black Market it was 500 shillings = $1 USdollar. So I changed $40 n got about 3-4 LBs (pounds) of dirty bills with lotsa ZEROs on em…Trillions of em… => Came home to my YMCA room about 8PM…door was busted open, 2 very large TanZan males inside with around 6-7 empty beer bottles on my floor… => THE POLICE were running the Black Market! so they marched me off to Heaquarters, told me I’d get 7 year sentence Monday morning (it was Friday)….. => but…………but….they felt SORRY for me so……. Just (the 100s of Trillions of shillings cash) with them for safekeeping..n leave…. They even wrote me a RECEIPT (!!!!!) for the EVIDENCE n then told me to get the Hell outa town n NEVER come back… => such behavior not conducive to economic prosperity… => that was Tanzania….a relatively government………. => just imagine how they were Zaire on the OTHER side of the non-existent border…..