Thread: Is poverty a Black Thing?

I'm not sure it is necessarily a black thing my brothers and sisters, but read the list below and come to your own conclusions. I think it has to do in part with the fact that some of the most dysmal political leadership and most profound and damaginmg corruption practices can be found on our Mother Continent.

Let me also say that it akes two to tango: For every corrupt official and lader who milks the public purse in an African country there is a corrupt institution or organisation or individual somewhere else in the world (be it China, the US of A or Europe) who rubs his hands with greed and willingly accepts money that is actually not for the business partner to disburse and dispense and not to accept. Billions and billions of dirty money that belongs to the people of Africa languishes in bank accounts in Switzerland, Europe, the US and elsewhere. Sepcifically Switzerland is at the top of countries that lives off the wealth of our people.

How wrong and immoral and scandalous that is is the topic of another discussion heren and here.

To come back to my point about corruption take Zimbabwe: What was once a breadbasket of Africa is now a basket case, and all because of the complete incompetence, corruption and mis- and maladministratino of the ZANUPF regime under that bankrupt leader called Mugabe. It is the same in many other countries.

So if we really want to challenge the perception that poverty is not a black thing we have to start challenging the rotten apples among us that have for too long had their fat fingers in the public purse and treat it as their own little piggy bank.

Unless and until the chefs and the fat cats that engange in illegal and unlawful business practices and that have more than dubious credentials, connections and questionable sources of property and wealth are put where they belong - behind bars - we and our people will stay where they are: In hopeless, abject poverty.

The fat cats will get fatter, the Mister 10%s will continue to milk the public purse at the detriment of our people and our countries will remain baskret cases.

It is easy to throw up our arms and say "we are being unfailry trated on the world markets.... look where the money is going.....etc.etc.". Let us cut off that flow of money so it does not even get to the other side and remains hwere it belongs to the benefit of our people and fund development projects, bursaries, school books, anti-corruption orgnaisations ...... We have an obligation to do our part and I am heartened by the news that the Nutech deal has blown up: It is exactly the kind of thing that keeps us where we are and although I don't think the inverstigations will come to much because the Chinese will not cooperate, it is at least a step in the right direction.

Similarly the work of the AAC is incredibly important in this respect, but I think more can and should be done to root out the people who cynically and wilfully exploit our limited resources for their private, individual gain and not that of our people and country.

And you wouldn't think riving thhrough Windhoek that even we are among the 100 poorest countries in the world, would you.

1 Zimbabwe - $200
2 Congo, Democratic Republic of the - $300
3 Burundi - $400
4 Liberia - $500
5 Guinea-Bissau - $600
6 Somalia- $600
7 Central African Republic - $700
8 Eritrea - $700
9 Niger - $700
10 Sierra Leone - $700
11 Afghanistan - $800
12 Ethiopia - $800
13 Malawi -$800
14 Mozambique - $900
15 Rwanda - $900
16 Togo - $900
17 Nepal - $1,000
18 Comoros - $1,100
19 Guinea - $1,100
20 Madagascar - $1,100
21 Uganda - $1,100
22 Burma - $1,200
23 Gambia, The - $1,200
24 Mali - $1,200
25 Burkina Faso - $1,300
26 Haiti - $1,400
27 Sao Tome and Principe - $1,400
28 Tanzania - $1,400
29 Bangladesh - $1,500
30 Benin - $1,500
31 Ghana - $1,500
32 Zambia - $1,500
33 Chad- $1,600
34 Lesotho - $1,600
35 Tuvalu - $1,600
36 Cote d'Ivoire - $1,700
37 Kenya - $1,800
38 Korea, North - $1,800
39 Senegal - $1,800
40 Tajikistan - $1,800
41 Mauritania - $1,900
42 Solomon Islands - $1,900
43 Cambodia - $2,100
44 Laos - $2,100
45 Kyrgyzstan - $2,200
46 Nigeria - $2,200
47 Sudan - $ 2,200
48 Kosovo- $2,300
49 Micronesia, Federated States of - $2,300
50 Papua New Guinea - $2,300
51 Cameroon - $2,400
52 Moldova - $2,500
53 Timor-Leste - $2,500
54 Pakistan - $2,600
55 Yemen - $2,600
56 Uzbekistan - $2,700
57 India - $2,900
58 Marshall Islands - $2,900
59 Vietnam - $2,900
60 Nicaragua - $3,000
61 Mongolia - $3,300
62 Philippines - $3,400
63 Fiji - $3,700
64 Honduras - $3,700
65 Kiribati - $3,700
66 Congo, Republic of the - $3,800
67 Djibouti - $3,800
68 Indonesia - $3,900
69 Guyana - $4,000
70 Iraq - $4,000
71 Morocco - $4,000
72 Cape Verde - $4,200
73 Paraguay - $4,300
74 Sri Lanka - $4,400
75 Tonga - $4,400
76 Maldives - $4,500
77 Bolivia - $4,700
78 Vanuatu - $4,700
79 Bhutan - $4,800
80 Syria - $4,900
81 Georgia - $5,000
82 Jordan - $5,000
83 Nauru $5,000
84 Samoa - $5,000
85 Swaziland - $5,100
86 Guatemala - $5,400
87 Egypt - $5,500
88 Namibia - $5,500
89 Turkmenistan - $5,800
90 China - $6,100
91 Albania - $6,400
92 El Salvador - $6,400
93 Armenia - $6,600
94 Bosnia and Herzegovina - $6,600
95 Algeria - $7,100
96 Ecuador - $7,700
97 Jamaica - $7,700
98 Ukraine - $7,800
99 Tunisia- $8,000
100 Palau - $8,100

interesting stuff, most all the african countries are poor