Client state syndrome should end
DEPENDENCY Theory gained traction in the late 1950s under the guidance of the Director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, Raul Prebisch.
Prebisch and his colleagues were troubled by the fact that economic growth in the advanced industrialised countries did not necessarily lead to growth in the poorer countries.
Research shows that their studies suggested that economic activity in richer countries often led to serious economic problems in poorer countries.
“Prebisch’s initial explanation for the phenomenon was very straightforward: poor countries exported primary commodities to the rich countries who then manufactured products out of those commodities and sold them back to the poorer countries. The “Value Added” by manufacturing a usable product always cost more than the primary products used to create those products.
“Therefore, poorer countries would never be earning enough from their export earnings to pay for their imports,” an online bloger wrote.
By virtue of African countries the rest of the Third World not using their God-given resources to the maximum, they were always left at the mercy of the so-called developed countries who were to come back dangling carrots in the form of aid, to help Africa develop as it were.
But in essence, the carrot that they were dangling was in fact grown on African soil. The chain reaction from Non-Governmental Organisations and multi-national finance institutions flocking to developing countries under the disguise of providing aid then created what some scholars call the “Client state” syndrome, which simply means that African countries and the rest of the Third world have become perpetual clients of the West, who are providing the supposed aid, which of course, has been politicised and used to influence the socio-political landscape here.
In short, that is what President Mugabe has been preaching.
He has travelled the length and breadth of Africa telling African leaders that the time was now for Africans to harness their natural resources and engage in value addition so that they export finished products that will fetch better prices and also create more employment for local people.
President Mugabe has often told Africans to join hands and look for home grown solutions instead of looking up to former colonisers who are still keen to maintain grip on the economy and politics on the African soil.
Last week, in Mauritius, President Mugabe said Africa has suffered too much from external influence, resulting in the continent failing to develop economically using a development plan of its choice.
He said the meddling started with colonisation, and was now playing out throughout Africa via non-governmental organisations.
“So we have not been left to ourselves to do our own things, to develop ourselves indigenously. No. But what has it (democracy and multi-party system) meant?
It has meant in some cases coup d’etats, in others, a continued reliance on the big powers in Europe, America to support certain parties, and we have in our systems today so much interference by outsiders. Sometimes direct and now very common through what they call NGOs.” There you have it. The client state syndrome must end.