Bush Administration Failed Policy in Africa

President Bush’s six day, six nations, African tour is a manifest of the administration’s willingness to continue the pursuit of a failed policy in Africa. The President trip is primarily focused on how American aid has helped to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa. The president will be making a visit to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Monrovia and Liberia. On Saturday, President Bush defended his decision to avoid touring war torn African nations- Kenya, Sudan, Somalia- but rather focus on countries where his program to fight poverty and AID has been highly successful. According to the president, “This is a large place with a lot of nations, and no question, everything is not perfect,…..On the other hand, there’s a lot of great success stories, and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories.” It is very important to praise the president’s commitment to fighting AIDS and Malaria in some of the poorest nations in the world.

However, the administration current policy in Africa is simple not sustainable for the following reasons:

1. Without strong, vibrant and viable political institutions across all countries in Africa, AIDS, malaria, starvation, etc, are still going to be prevalent in the region. Although few countries in Africa, such as Tanzania have made significant progress in fighting corruption and improving the lives of their citizenry, majority of other African nations have failed to do so. African countries, such as Nigeria, are becoming increasingly corrupt with the unequal distribution of oil revenue which has led to the oppression of several minority groups. Most African states also have a strong executive with weak judicial and legislative branches. The next US president should put money into building these governmental institutions so that there can be a system of checks and balances in these developing countries.

2. The problem with President Bush’s policy is that, it fails to address the root causes of the problems that Africa continues to face. Merely giving country money to buy mosquito nets is not going to improve the quality of health care, but rather, a very strong health care institution will (common sense). African political leaders continue to spend their legislative time discussing their salary increase as oppose to addressing the critical issues that are facing their countries. Meanwhile, they and their family member can travel to Western countries to get adequate health care at the expense of their own people. These African leaders are for the most part, uneducated, corrupt, and uncommitted to the process of development in their country. Rather, they use their political positions as a means of acquiring wealth for themselves and sending their children to elite universities in the West, while the education system is their country is decapitated.

3. There is also the issue of political instability. According to a report conducted by the Foreign Policy: The Failed State Index 2007, 8 African States are listed in the top 10 list of Failed States in the world. Failed States is a term used to define States whose central government is so weak or ineffective that it has little practical control over much of its territories. Example of failed states includes Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Congo, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, etc. Currently, there is some form of political violence (Clannism) enfolding in these countries. These countries have also been inflicted with post-election conflict, most notable in Kenya, which has led to the death of over 3000 people. Focusing on helping these countries address their internal issues will be a more sensible approach to take in helping Africa move forward.

The Bush administration continues to talk about democracy in Africa, but has failed to put money behind it. The west has to realize that the process of democratization in Africa is going to take a lot of patience and time, mainly because Africa lacks competent leaders who are willing to facilitate the process of democracy in their countries. For example, rather than welcoming the support of foreign nations, Kenyan ministers have criticized foreign nations for “meddling” in the internal affairs of Kenya. This is an unfair criticism because Kenyan political elites have proved themselves incapable of finding a peaceful solution to the post-election turmoil that has unfolded in the country for the past 2 months.

Finally, the democracy trend in Africa is very important and it has to be supported. Africa continues to play a significant role in the global economy with its increasing role in the global oil market, important voted in international organizations such as the UN, and its increasing role in confronting the global war on terror. The next president of the United States will have a huge burden to address all these issues. Failure to do so will only destroy the faith of many African men, women and children who continue to “sing a melody brushed in the colors of tomorrow, certain to be rich in confident consistency and dripping with hope…”- Cydney DuPree’