Land of Traditions, Land of Change
Africa Has Had Extraordinary Political and Economic Growth in a Decade
By BARBARA WARD
I SUPPOSE the starting point for
any consideration of Africa now
is the extraordinary changes which
have occurred since the Second
World War.
I think even those who haveha d
along and varied expeience of
Africa could hardly have fore-
s the ynasism and the ch ang
whirts s ould have coie into the
Afriana mee in the last ten or .
tse lhve yrs.One reason hsi
doubicdlywas the en rouis emo-
tions r th ed b the Wai nthe
realization of what a contiu tion
Africa usadi in the rea t stiughe
Aisd this politic.a1 realizaton has"
iince Ihad thserost fruitful eco-
nomie iid social1 ccslts But
whatever the reason, there is no dutaoti hti h at"
twelv years, Africa has been
drawn along in a great torrent ofw
chinge.
N BROAD MEASURE I would
say that whatever the problem
in the next thirty or forty years
the direction of Africa is set
towards the emergence of Africanq
states in which the majority of
the population have the final word
in the determining of policy. And"
the changes that have been in-
troduced in West Africa will
spread, whatever the problems
created.l
In the sphere of economic , =h
change, the decisive fact of the
last decades is that with varying
degrees of speed and varying de-n
grees of effectiveness, the whole
vast continent is being drawn into
the web of modern economic insti-
tutions-the market economy, theN
expansion of resources, the build-f
ing up of modern agriculture, theX
origins of industrial growth.
Now there is here, I think, a
sharp distinction to be made be-
tween the different rates of
growth.
If you take as the prime moverso-
of economic change four factors
above all-thougI of course therep
are others in varying degrees--I
think you can define them as the
growth of export income, the in- a
troduction of dynamic agriculture,
the provision of basic services-in-
frastructure, in the convenie nt
French shortha nd-aind the begin- I
Frnchgso tand -an the A new and modern Africa with strong ties to the West is emerging. The growth of its larger cities
nings'ofin duutryya nand its economic potential is seen in this air view of Leopoldville, Belgian Congo.
NOW IF WE look at these prime EXPORTS are provided, too, by comparable expansion. First of all, prime mover-infrastructure-and
movers in Africa, it is quite the second of the prime mov- these are areas which on the whole here, undoubtedly, an enormous
clear that the continent has been ers-dynamic agriculture, do not have the rich endowments amount has been done.
moving forward with great and Agricultural exports are large of minerals which you find further I suppose that under the various
seeers and growing. Southern Rhodesia - colonial welfare and development
twelve years. has become the second largest ex- It is, broadly speaking, true to schemes something like 60 to 80
But I think we have to make a porter of tobacco in the world. say that the main export incomes million dollars a year has gone
distinction here between the The Union of South Africa has of this area are due to agricultural from the metropolitan government
southerly tip, which includes the pushed ahead to become an ex- exports. To the typical tropical into British Africa, and perhaps
Union, the Rhodesias and the porter in wool second only to Aus- products which the world can ac- 150 million dollars a year has gone
Belgian Congo, where every single tralia. quire in the main most cheaply in from France into French West and
factor making for economic growth On the third point, certainly the this large central belt of Africa- Equatorial Africa.
has been, as it were, "roaring" Southern economies have enjoyed such as palm oil or cocoa-have This has been devoted in large
ahead, and the marked but never- booming conditions in every aspect been added other crops introduced measure to communications, to
theless much more modest growth of infrastructure, largely under or reintroduced from outside such power, and to ba'ic urban develop-
of other parts of Africa. government investment and gov- as coffee, or cotton, or tea. And it ment. These are the areas which
I would say that in the southerly ernment plans. Transportation in is on these that a very large mea- must be developed if there is to be
tip - in the Rhodesias and the the Rhodesias and the Union has sure of the prosperity in this area any expansion in the industrial
Union and the Congo-every single incidently received considerable has been based. field or any really dynamic growth
prime mover has been working at help from the World Bank. There is a dependence here in in the economy as a whole,
a pitch which probably equals any- Throughout the Southern eco- the main upon a single crop or
thing that has been done in the nomies, whether it is a question upon a single agricultural range Only 150 years ago Africa's in-
Communist zone, and surpasses of power, communications, urban of crops which makes these eco- taylarg yteonf edtransportat
any rates of growth achieved else- development or port development, nomies vulnerable. But do not argeyofnedwto-the see
where in the free world. In over- capital, in large measure public underestimate what these export
all terms these economies have capital, has been pouring in and incomes have made possible for who arnid burdens on their eads
seen bounding growth and for a this great movement has of course these countries, or manned the oars on river boats.
number of obvious reasons. They affected the last of the prime Take, for example, the experi- And now we can reasonably talk
enjoy large export incomes mainly movers-industrialization. ence of Ghana. There the full of the development of a grid of
based upon minerals-the first of Growth has stimulated a grow- gain in world prices for cocoa power and transportation for the
the prime movers in southern ing internal market, the possibility after the War has not been passed whole costinent. This is the mea-
Africa. of local processing has been seized, straight on to the farmer to create sure of change.
all these areas have the fuel need- internal inflation. The internalN-
B b Waed to make local industries a prac- price is about three times above IN THIS FIELD of ifrastruc-
Barbaran Ward, notedrit- tical proposition. As a result the pre-war. But the balance over and ture, public investment has been
currently living in Ghana. 'The decade has seen a wide expansion above the level has been held back in the main employed.
article printed here is c of industry, and put into capital reserve. This Large-scale basic installations
densed from an address Miss country of five million people has are not now the province of for-
Ward gave last May to the NOW WE COME to the other stashed away something like 200 eign private capital. And local
13th American Assembly in part of Africa, West Africa millions' worth of capital as a re- private capital cannot come into
New York on "The United and British East Africa-the cen- sult of the steep rise in cocoa existence until the basic invest-
States and Africa. The As- tral bloc of territory between the prices after the War. ments in transportation, in ports,
sembly was sponsored by the Sahara and the booming South. in the utilities, above all in power,
Carnegie Corporation. We find that the outlook, al- M OVING ON from dynamic agri- have been undertaken. Private en-
though promising, is not one of culture, we come to the third terprise grows up with the expan-
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1959
son of infrastructure but no long-
er provides it.
At this point we come to the
last prime mover-the factor of
industrialization - and here we
confront a difficulty of critical
importance in East and West
Africa. In the field of idus-
triapliztion, te key factor has
repeatedly becis shown to be not
so muchsloca1 resources as cte
existensce of managerial and ci-
trepreneurial1 tailcnt
Keny'a is not one of the rcally
wealthy areas of Africa. Compared
with West Africa, Kenya's re-
sources are meagre. But it has
developed an expanding economy
with a marked industrial thrust
because it can command the man-
agerial talents of the incoming
settler and the administrative
framework of the old colonial
system.
N OW THOSE are, broadly speak-
ing, some of the differences
that one sees in the rate of change
and the rate of growth in the
different regions of Africa.
Now let us try to see how these
economic changes affect some of
the political problems of Africa.
If we take, shall we say, French
West Africa as a whole, the British
territories, Sierra Leone, Ghana
-already independent, Nigeria-
on the way, French Equatorial
Africa and East Africa (with the
single exception of Kenya) in this
broad area, the path I think is set
towards African self-government.
The French adoption of their
loi cadre in 1956 is a decisive step
towards the development of Afri-
can states sufficiently autonomous
to be, whatever their link with
France, in broad measure inde-
pendent.
Now these are the areas, as I
have pointed out, of change, but
not of especially dynamic change.
Ther is growth but not booming
growth. And we reach the central
theme in the drama of Africa
when we realize how much of this
growth has been stimulated, guid-
ed, or even entirely provided by
people of non-African stock. It
was the link with Europe, through
colonization or migration, that set
most of the changes in motion.
And now the link will be modified
or broken. What takes its place?
AFRICA'S dependence springs in
part from the backwardness
of the African community, which
100 years -ago, was, save in parts
of West Africa, still confined to
static, tribal society.
It is also due in some com-
munities to the extent to which
African advance has not enjoyed,
shall we say, a very high priority
on the local program.
The great challenge in this part
of the world is, therefore, to en-
sure that the passing of the colo-
nial phase-either directly as in
Ghana or by radical modification
as in French West Africa-does
not also entail a slowing down of
growth, a reduction of opportunity
just as independence comes into
sight.
It is to devise means whereby
the "prime movers" still move and
the changes that are needed still
go forward and that Africa does
not become stagnant for lack of
the external stimulus which it
has had in the past. If we devise
no alternatives to our past rela-
tionship and stimulus either the
task will not be done-which is
tragic for Africa-or it may be
done by other people--which could
be tragic for everybody.
WHAT CAN BE done?
Our first look, I suggest,
should be at the problem of man-
power, trained technical and ad-
ministrative officials, experienced
managers, skilled workers in agri-
culture and industry-no African
development can proceed far with-
out local men to guide it.
Obviously then, our first con-
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