We discussed yesterday on what changes can be done to change how we give
charity to the people of
Africa. But today we
are looking at the African governments themselves and what needs to be done to
improve
Africa so that it no longer needs to
rely on any countries for aid.
Step 1: Create a true economic union. Yes, creating a union
of all the African economies will aid in helping the African people. This means
a unified currency (or currencies) with a stable value is essential to giving
the people of the African continent buying power. Also, basic trade rules that
are simple and easy to understand work to protect and ease trade between
different countries in
Africa. Basically, the
African continent needs a unified banking and trade system with stable
currencies and a form of free trade for goods, services, capitol (businesses)
and labor (people). Once accomplished, a business once inside of the African
continent can sell to anyone in any part of
Africa.
Also, if this is done, people can move from one country to another unhindered
on the African Continent to find both work and to get away from conflict.
Overall, a union of this type if applied correctly will help the people of
Africa greatly with
Africa having an advantage
over its European Union neighbors in seeing where the EU went wrong and thus
not making the same mistakes.
Step 2: Infrastructure is crucial to the future of
business. As such, the continued expansion of the cell phone networks and
internet will further
Africa towards a better
future. What’s more, the African continent needs better road networks alone the
lines of the
United States'
interstate highways and rail networks. This would improve logistics with
respect to the shipping of goods and the movement of people in the African
continent. Not to mention, an advanced infrastructure attracts businesses from
other countries to an area which of course means more jobs.
Who is to accomplish this: The ones who should do this is
the African Union (AU) which is similar to the EU, but is made up of the member
States of
Africa. They would need to empower
this intergovernmental body with enough money and authority to accomplish these
tasks. By giving this responsibility to this multi-governmental body it also
ensures that all of the countries in
Africa
are represented along with all their interests. Thus, by the AU doing the job,
it prevents centralization of power and thus avoids conflict between
Africa's diverse countries.
Conclusion: These are very basic things that must be
accomplished for the overall success of the continent of
Africa.
I only assign the job to the AU because it is less likely to be corrupted by
external governments and there interests (
China,
U.S.,
EU, Russia etc.). While none of this will stop the ideological and territorial
conflicts still going on, it will allow for people to escape poverty and thus
escape from ideologies attempting to recruit the ignorant and impoverished. So
in essence, we solve poverty while denying terrorists and other violent groups
a recruitment base at the exact same time. What is not to like about helping
Africa. Long story short, this is what I feel is needed
to help
Africa in both the short and long
term, but this is by no means a cure all. It is simply my opinion on what could
and maybe should be done as a means to an end. That end being a prosperous
Africa.
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