Bienfait-Final Paper.docx

Politics and Economics of Developing Countries Bienfait Hahozi Mugenza The Essence of Democratic Failures and Continuous Underdevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Education Is Essential for Growth. The Case of The Democratic Republic of Congo. With respect to natural and human resources, Africa is a rich continent. Its underground is rich in gold, diamonds, oil and many other precious natural resources. Additionally, Africa has the second largest population in the world after Asia. However, despite its vast natural and human resources, sub-Saharan Africa remains underdeveloped and its people are trapped into a cycle of generational poverty. Recent reports from the World Bank and the Human Development Index indicate that sub-Saharan Africa’s rising number of people living in extreme poverty is alarming. Besides, the World Bank estimates that nearly 9 in 10 extremely poor people will live in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Globally, poverty has extremely fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to about 736 million in 2015, but reports indicate that almost every country in sub-Saharan Africa shows multiple signs of social, political, and economic underperformances. This has risen seemingly easy but complex questions such as Why is Africa, after gaining independence from colonial powers, still unable to efficiently use its (human and natural) resources to get itself out of the extreme poverty? Why is a democracy, with all its social, political, and economic advantages, failing in sub-Saharan Africa? My hypothesis is that equitable access to quality education can enable Africa to capitalize its massive resources and improve the livelihood of its people. In attempting to answer the above questions many scholars interested in Africa’s underdevelopment have offered their different perspectives. Some people have attributed Africa’s underdevelopment to events such as civil unrests, terrorism, and unending wars (Kajuju Murori 2016). This view contends that wars and terrorism disrupt human activities and result in poverty. From a business perspective, it is argued that wars destroy infrastructures such as roads and other communication networks, which hinders businesses while pushing people further into poverty. Murori adds that in a state of war, industries collapse, people lose jobs and investors distrust the affected country, which is economically unfavorable for the region. These arguments are sound correlations but not root causes of current Africa’s underdevelopment. Others have attributed Africa’s current underdevelopment to ecological factors (Sambit 2009). This argument maintains the views that tropical diseases such as malaria with its related mortality rate negatively affect people’s ability to save some money, therefore making them poorer. This argument is similar to that of Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson in their theory of institutional differences among countries colonized by Europeans. They argue that in places “where Europeans faced high mortality rates, they could not settle and were more likely to set up extractive institutions” and that these institutions persisted until today while affecting the economic performance of the victims (Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson 2001). While I acknowledge the underlying outrageous consequences of the multiple segregationist institutions and racist policies implemented by European colonizers in Africa, it does not fallow they did not settle in Sub-Saharan Africa for this one particular reason. If that was the case, Africa today would not be appropriate for any human habitation. Yet overwhelming historical facts show that almost every corner of Africa was settled by African kingdoms and empires before the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. Hereafter, arguing that colonizers did not settle for ecological reasons and that this pushed them into implementing extractive policies along with awful institutions racking African development today, is simply inconsistent. In fact, this claim helps me diagnose the continuous exoticness of the long history and process of state formations that took place in Africa before the arrival of Europeans in Africa. Before the arrival of Europeans colonized Africa, West Africa was referred to as Western Sudan. It comprised the region presently occupied by Senegal, Mali, Upper Volta, and Niger, and parts of Mauretania, Guinea, and Nigeria. The trans-Saharan gold trade was part of their own initiatives and social structure was based on communalism since 500 A.D. until feudalism replaced it in 1500 A.D (Walter Rodney 1973). Contrary to the assumptions of Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001), state formation was more advanced in Western Sudan, now Sub-Saharan Africa, than in most other parts of Africa for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in Africa. They totally ignored the distant consequences of Africa’s traditional education and cultural activities crushed by the barbarism of the slave trade and then prolonged under European imperialism in Africa. I am arguing that education, the primary factor for human development, could have alleviated the process of building favorable institutions in colonized Africa if Africans were not systematically denied access to it. Before the conquest of Africa by Europeans, there were traditional institutions. For instance, Walter Rodney, an expert in African history, tells us that Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu, were outstanding kingdoms, including Hausaland, in Mossi, in Senegal, in the Futa Djalon mountains of Guinea and in the basin of the Benue tributary of the river Niger (Walter Rodney 1973). If ecological factors made sub-Saharan unfavorable for human life and led colonizers to implement hash policies of extraction and overexploitation of people and resources, there could have not existed great empires and kingdoms before. Consequently, the nature and magnitude of slavery first, and then colonialism and imperialism in Africa suffice to disprove all ecological claims as explanatory variables for Africa’s underdevelopment today. Another set of arguments lacking a developmental state theory is the cause of Africa’s current underdevelopment (Siyum 2018). This argument equivalents that of corruption fighters who believe that corruption is the core cause of Africa’s underperformances (Awojobi 2014). These arguments rely on the fact that poorly designed institutions keep Africa underdeveloped regardless of its resources. Of course, these arguments have some merits in them, but these views point on the outcomes of a problem rather than its cause. Deep down, something needs explaining: what is needed for one to build strong institution? The answer is simple. Good educational systems are required to provide knowledge and skills needed to build favorable institutions. Taking knowledge/ education as a basic constituent of human development, historical facts prove that Africa is still underdeveloped people Africans were methodically denied access to knowledge under colonial policies. Stronger institutions require stronger education systems. I am suggesting, in general terms, that the current underdevelopment in Africa including democratic failures, social and economic underperformances are distant outcomes of Africa’s longest and darkest history of educational marginalization. This was sustained slave trade and worsened throughout European imperialism in Africa under their policies of systematic overexploitation and domination of Africa and Africans. This paper follows the theory of knowledge/ education, especially with regard to its methods in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial Africa, its validity, and opportunity, to evaluate the root causes of current underdevelopment in Africa. This epistemological approach to development focuses on education in sub-Saharan Africa, looking at the case of the Congo to scrutinize the various ways people got access to education, how this declined or improved over time, and its instant and distant impacts. At the same time, this paper assesses the causes of democratic failures and economic underperformances facing in Africa countries today and the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular. Using historical facts and data associated with education during the pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial periods, this paper intends to uncover both the short-term and long-term consequences of imperialism in Africa. When education is historically contextualized, it becomes clear that it is central to human development and that without it, overall human activities are predestined to fail. Hence, various historical backgrounds or synopsis will follow the analysis conducted in this paper for contextualization. Then political crises and rule of law in relation to levels of education in postcolonial Africa, particularly in the Congo, will be looked at. Finally, the role of elites in sustaining the current governmental underinvestment in education in the Congo will be considered. A much better understanding of the word “education” is crucial to figure out why it is vital for humans and institutions in the context of this paper. Etymologically, the word education derives from “educare” (Latin) meaning bring up and is related to “educere” (Latin) meaning bring out, bring forth what is within, bring out potential. Similarly, educere (Latin) means to lead. According to Merriam Webster (online dictionary), education is the action or process of educating or of being educated. In addition, education means the knowledge and development resulting from the process of educating. The purpose of a good education is to develop the knowledge, skill, and character of individuals, hence, an important factor in human life and activities. A bad education implies the opposite. Aristotle believed that “education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body.” For Aristotle, education “develops man’s faculty, especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness, and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists.” This perfectly summarizes my view that good education is the center for every aspect of human development. Also, its effectiveness depends on various aspects such as theoretical and practical implementations, including procedures, planning, and policies. I will focus on two types of (formal and informal) education to evidence my arguments. Formal education is the one that students get in traditional classrooms. It is methodologically organized in a way that learning is administered by a teacher in an accredited institution. Its curriculum follows the customary standards of academic cycle. In contrast, informal education is learned in independent settings outside of the traditional classrooms. This involves the things we learn from at home, with parents or peers, cultural traditions, behaviors, values, and skills, learned through daily interaction. It can be self-taught by researching or reading, or through things that are experienced. In this paper, education is an independent variable while democracy as a form of government, including its legitimacy and its socioeconomic performance, will be assessed as dependent variables. Furthermore, for the purpose of this paper, if one is to reasonably talk about the success or failure of democracy in a particular established organization or country, to avoid potential misinterpretations of the concept, then one must succinctly define what one means by democracy. From its ancient Greek (Athens) origins, democracy means: “rule by the people.” In Greek, demokratia means democracy, from “demos” people or the masses and “kratia" rule or government, from “Kratos” strength, power, or authority. From this definition, it’s obvious that democracy as a form of government hands the power of ruling to the people (Merriam Webster). Even though there might be multiple forms of democracies, being it direct or indirect democracy, its legitimacy, and therefore success relies on thoughtful involvement of the people. If the existence, the legitimacy, the sustainability, the success or the failure of a given democratic government depends entirely and uniquely upon the abilities of citizens to govern, then the preeminent attention of every democratic regime should be focused on investing sufficiently and constantly in education. Socrates predicted that democracy without education will result in demagoguery. In Book Six of The Republic, Plato illustrates the conversation between Socrates a character called Adeimantus in which Socrates was trying to show Adeimantus the flaws of democracy by comparing the society to a ship. Socrates asked Adeimantus whether just anyone or only people educated in the rules and demands of seafaring on a journey by sea should be trusted in deciding who will be in charge of the vessel. Adeimantus responded that only those who are educated in the rules and demands of seafaring on a journey by sea should make such decisions. Socrates implied that only educated individuals should decide who will rule a country. In other words, illiterate and uneducated masses cannot be reasonably and logically better off in electing because it requires systematic skills and knowledge for there to be a rational choice. Alternatively, if one intends to promote democracy and its benefits, one must first promote equitable access to education for the people to be able to make rational choices rather than being taken advantage of by demagogues as it is the case in many African countries. Henceforward, terrible education results in horrible leadership and awful institutions. This logical reasoning suggests that if bad education is enforced, terrible leaders will be developed. Once horrific leaders get into powers, they introduce extracting policies and create awful institutions, leading to overall underdevelopment. Corruption should be considered as one of the results of a terrible education. It follows that Africa’s current social, political, and economic underperformances should be historically tracked looking the types of education enforced in terms of quality and quantity. This argument leads to education in precolonial Africa. Researchers came to the following conclusion: On the one hand, since the introduction of European slave trade and imperialism in Africa, Africans have been subjected to mistreatments, which in many ways destroyed their cultures, values, and traditional educations. Dr. Hakim Adi (London University) points out that Africa's economic and social development before 1500 might have been ahead of Europe's. He adds that “it was gold from the great empires of West Africa, Ghana, Mali and Songhay that provided the means for the economic take-off of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries and aroused the interest of Europeans in western Africa” (Adi 2012). On the other hand, the human and other resources that were taken from Africa to Europe left Africa behind while contributing to the capitalist development and wealth of Europe. Walter Rodney (1973) and Dr. Adi (2012), highlight that the forced removal of up to 25 million people from the African continent had a gigantic effect on Africa’s population growth and its socioeconomic development. Rodney deplores the fact that only able bodies were accepted by slave traders. In other words, only strong and healthy young people were transported to Europe by European slave traders to boost European economies while impoverishing Africa. Dr. Adi adds that between the 16th and 20th century, the population of Africa stagnated and so did the economy. Henceforth, the nature and magnitude of the transatlantic trade smoothed the road for succeeding colonial conquests of Africa by the European powers. That’s the origin of the unequal relationship that still exists between Africa and the world's big powers today. Both Rodney and Dr. Ali pointed out that the unequal relationship between Europe and Africa depopulated Africa and racked its cultural, social structures, and its traditions while shipping humans (free labor) and other precious resources into Europe and other parts of the world. This, of course, boosted capitalist economies in Europe and left Africa impoverished. On the one hand, the unequal relationship and abusive trade between Africa and Europe certify the unequal access to education that existed within Africa. On the other hand, the levels of unequal access to education made it easier for Europeans to convince their African agents that Africans were naturally inferior to Europeans. Historian, political activist like Walter Rodney pointed out that pre-colonial African education was its relevance to Africans in the most crucial aspect and juxtaposes what was later introduced by colonizers. According to Walter Rodney, indigenous African education was outstanding for its “close links with social life, both in a material and spiritual sense; its collective nature; its many-sidedness; and its progressive development in conformity with the successive stages of physical, emotional and mental development of the child. These features were very educationally significant and can serve as a rebut for those who argue that colonization came to civilize Africans. I am arguing that it did the opposite. Rodney tells us that African education and productive activity were consistent. He adds that manual and intellectual education was connected. Historians endorse that view that pre-colonial African education was acquired through informal means to match the realities of pre-colonial African societies and produced well-rounded personalities to fit into that society (Rodney 1973). The outstanding aspect of formal pre-colonial African education is that it was also directly connected with the purposes of the society, same as informal education. Formal educational practices during communal times in Africa focused on programs such as hunting, organizing religious ritual, and the practice of medicine within the family or clan. All this depended on certain periods and need for specialized functions (Rodney1973). This form of education persisted even in the feudal, pre-feudal African societies. As the mode of production moved towards feudalism in Africa, the educational pattern shifted too. Ever since formal specialization in formal education increased with technological advancement under feudalism till the eve of imperialism. Besides hunting and religious practices, historical facts show that the division of labor required a more formal education to pass down the techniques of iron working, leather making, cloth manufacturing, pottery molding, professional trading etc. Also, an emphasis was put on military force and required formal education (case of Dahomey, Rwanda, and Zulu armies). And when a state structure with a well-defined ruling class emerged, historians were needed to teach people the glories of the rulers. For instance, as early as in the 19th century, a school of history was built in the Yoruba state of Keta, where a teacher taught his pupils a long list of the kings of Keta and their achievements (Rodney 1973). Furthermore, literacy in Africa was connected with religion. Islamic states learn Koranic education and Christians in Ethiopia were trained into priests and monks. Rodney points out that the education received by Muslim students was exceptionally extensive at the primary level, and it was also available at the secondary and university levels. In Egypt, there was the Al-Azhar University, in Morocco the University of Fez, and in Mali the University of Timbuktu. These great institutions evidence that at least some Africans were educated by Africans in Africa before the colonial interruption. This leads to me to the next part of this paper, which focuses on the colonial education in sub-Saharan Africa. Colonizers did invent education in Africa. They introduced a new set of formal educational institutions which partly supplemented and partly replaced those which were initiated by Africans in Africa before the arrival of Europeans. In his greatly appreciated book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney offers an uncompromised analysis of the undesirable influence that colonial education had in Africa. The main purpose of the colonial schools was to train Africans to help operate the local administration at the lowest ranks and to staff the private capitalist firms owned by Europeans (Rodney 1973). This strategy intended to select a few Africans to participate in the domination and overexploitation of the African continent. Rodney highlighted that this method was not an educational system that grew out of the African environment or one that was designed to promote the most rational use of material and social resources. Consequently, colonial education “was not an educational system designed to give young people confidence and pride as members of African societies, but one which sought to instill a sense of deference towards all that was European and capitalist,” said Rodney. And he added that “education in Europe was dominated by the capitalist class” (Rodney 1973). In other words, this exotic educational system was to offer the same class bias inherent in European education systems to Africans. Among others, racism and cultural boastfulness embraced by capitalism were also included in the package of colonial education. European education enforced the idea of Europeanization. Rodney concludes that colonial teaching was an education for subordination, exploitation, the creation of mental confusion and the development of underdevelopment. During the first forty years, colonialism and its education established did not work in Africa. Rodney highlights that during that same period, missionaries gave schooling for their own Christianizing purposes until the 1920s when colonizing powers carried out a series of investigations into educational possibilities in Africa. Subsequently, colonial education became systematic and noticeable. In the post second World War period, it approached its maximum dimensions. Also, it is argued that colonial education was a succession of limitations. The first concrete limitation was politico-financial. This means the political policy was guiding financial expenditure rather than the actual availability of money. Rodney underscores that colonial governments and their African administrations claimed that there was not enough money for education. The second limitation was its quantity. Colonial education reached a limited number of Africans, and it was restricted to elementary levels. The third and most serious limitation is that its pedagogical and ideological content was such as to serve the interests of Europe rather than Africa. Even so, the numbers enrolled would have been much smaller, were it not for efforts on the part of Africans themselves. The secondary school opportunities would have been narrower, and the ideological content would have been more negative if the activity of the African masses were not in constant contradiction to the aims of European colonizers, said Rodney. Additionally, in colonial Africa, most of Africa’s surplus was exported. The small portion which remained behind as government revenue, the percentage channeled into education was tiny. Rodney pointed out that in every colony, the budget for education was extremely small, compared to amounts being spent in capitalist Europe itself. For instance, in 1935, of the total revenue collected from taxing Africans in French West Africa, only 4.03% was utilized on education. In the British colony of Nigeria, it was only 3.4%. In Kenya, as late as 1946 only 2.26% of the revenue was spent on African education. Because such small sums were spent on education, the basic quantitative limitation proves that very few Africans made it into schools. For example, in the whole of French Equatorial Africa (Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, and Congo Brazzaville), there were only 22,000 students enrolled in 1938 and this was improvement made compare to the preceding five years. Moving forward, the French provided education for 77,000 students in French West Africa, with a population of at least 15 million. By 1945 there were more than 80,000 students attending independent Islamic schools in French West Africa. Rodney underscores that it was only in the final stages of colonialism that the ruling European power began to provide Africans in the former Islamic states of West Africa with educational institutions having an enrolment greater than the previous formal education. But generally, this insignificance in levels and the quality of colonial education negatively affected Africa’s overall development. It should be noted that Africa’s preexisting educational institutions did not survive colonial assaults. During French North Africa, the old established Islamic Universities suffered because colonialism deprived them of the economic base which previously gave them support. For example, in Algeria, the Islamic institutions of learning suffered severely during the French wars of conquest and at the same times, other educational institutions were purposefully suppressed when the French gained control. However, British colonies tried to do on average slightly better than French ones with regard to educational activities. Rodney revealed to us that this good intention was largely due to missionary initiatives rather than the British government itself. Particularly, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda were somewhat well off in terms of colonial education. Another limitation of the educational system of colonial Africa is the great variation in opportunity between different regions in the same colony. This fact is almost always obscured by statistical averages. In many colonies, only Africans living in or near the principal towns had educational opportunities. This was observed in Madagascar where the capital town of Tananarive had the most substantial school facilities. Also, in Gambia literacy was high for Bathurst town and low outside. And in Uganda, the urbanized region of Buganda had a monopolized education. Taking everything into account, Rodney underlines that the unevenness in educational levels reflected both the unevenness of economic exploitation and the different rates at which different parts of a colony entered the money economy. Various historical facts related to unevenness in educational opportunities indicate that Africa’s overall underperformances are distant results of colonial strategies. Rodney reveals that in Gold Coast (now Ghana), the Northern Territories were disregarded educationally because they did not offer the colonialists any products for export. In Sudan, the huge southern region was as well neglected for exactly the same reasons. In Tanganyika (now Tanzania), a map showing the major cotton and coffee areas effectively corresponds to a map showing areas in which colonial education was accessible (Rodney 1973). This indicates that areas, where the colonialists could not readily exploit, were not offered even the scraps of education. This proves the overwhelming, yet inexplicable difference in levels of development between and inside countries in Africa. For instance, South-Sudan, the huge region that was neglected educationally by colonizers, remains one of the poorest and underdeveloped countries in the region. Those who were left behind during the colonial period have had a very hard time trying to catch up with those who somewhat benefited in the process. Meanwhile, Rodney stressed that there were extremely high rates of drop-outs. The majority of those enrolled never finished school. While drop-outs are usual in higher educational institutions such as universities in developed countries, drop-outs were occurring at the primary level in colonial Africa at a rate as high as 50% (Rodney 1973). This means, for every student who completed primary school, one fell by the wayside. The drop-outs from primary schools were caused by the fact that there was no other type of school. Also, the absence of secondary, technical and university education was another serious limitation in the colonial type of education. In colonial Africa, Africans were educated to become leaders of their countries or were they given a chance to become successful entrepreneurs. Africans educated inside colonial schools were educated to become junior clerks and messengers. Colonizers believed that offering more than just a primary school to Africans would be both excessive and dangerous for clerks and messengers. Consequently, secondary education was rare and other forms of higher education were virtually non-existent, throughout most of the colonial period. “That which was provided went mainly to non-Africans” (Rodney1973). And as much as racism dictated, Africans had to access the poor quality of education and unsatisfactory educational resources. For example, as late as 1959, Uganda spent about £11 per African pupil, £38 per Indian and £186 on each European child. Rodney highlighted that this difference was due largely to the availability of secondary education for the children of the capitalists and the middlemen. In Kenya, the discrimination was even worse. Also, the number of European children involved was high. Rodney shows that as late as in 1960, more than 11,000 European children were attending school in Kenya, and of those 3,000 were receiving secondary education. This was the case in Algeria where only 20% of the secondary students in 1954 were Algerians. Rodney noted that in colonial Africa, only Africans were both object and subject of exploitations and exclusions because other minorities were treated better than the indigenous population. This was the case of the Jews in North Africa, especially in Tunisia, who played the middlemen roles, and their children were all educated right up to secondary standards. The first secondary school in colonial Africa was established in Somalia in 1949. This was not built by the colonial administration or on the initiative of the church but by a Somali trader. Henceforward, the colonial educational system was not designed to promote Africa’s prosperity. According to Rodney, educational systems are designed to function as props to a given society, and the educated in the young age groups automatically carry over their values when their turn comes to make decisions in the society. However, colonial education was not fit for African conditions. It was more about confusing and mystifying rather than educating African minds. As late as 1949, Principal Education Officers were obliged asked to proliferate propaganda about the British royal family in primary schools. This was the case in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) where teachers were bombarding such propagandas to primary school children. Rodney revealed that teachers were required to highlight topics praising the (British) king as a father should be stressed throughout the syllabus and mentioned in every lesson. They were further urged that African children should be shown frequently multiple pictures of the English princesses to fortify the mental colonization. This mental colonization was effective and very dangerous because Africans could grow up knowing that they are inherently inferior to Europeans. These ideological tactics were always validated as imperialists trained low-level administrators, teachers, non-commissioned officers, railroad booking clerks, etc., for the sole purpose of preserving colonial interactions. Rodney’s definition of educational systems suggests that it should not be so surprising that individuals trained under colonial systems would carry over colonial values into the period after independence was regained. In other words, terrible education yields horrible leaders, and these create abysmal political, social, and economic development. As Rodney suggests, those who were educated under colonial systems carried over colonial values into their societies. After gaining independence, many Africans hoped to see prosperous economies and flourishing societies, free and hopeful. However, colonially educated leaders who grabbed leadership positions became dangerous dictators. Once the power is in their hands, they never want to step down in normal circumstances. They used kleptocratic strategies to accumulate wealth for themselves while pushing their economies and people further into severe poverty and despair. They tread people and national resources as their own, private properties. This was constantly observed in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) under Mobutu, Nigeria under Gen. Sani Abacha, Equatorial New Guinea under Franciso Macias Nguema, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, Equatorial New Guinea under Tedodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Sudan Omar Al-Bashir, Uganda under General Idi Amin Dada, Uganda under Yoweri Museveni, Angola under Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Chad under Idriss Deby, Liberia Charles Taylor, ... Many of these dictators have been in power for more than three decades. While the majority of them these leaders came into power through military coups, most of them decide to overstay in power regardless of the choice of the people. These are considered the most corrupt African dictators in modern history (Stephanie Schoppert). Some launched the kleptocratic system and others insensitively inherited and carried it over the system, hereafter creating systematic chaos and colossal destructions under their uninterrupted corrupt systems. Of course, one cannot deny that some noticeable progress has been made despite the maintained chaos in the system. Sequentially, one cannot confidently expect equivalent developments between highly literate, well-educated and therefore “developed” countries and those whose educational systems were devastated by colonialism, forcing them to cuddle colonial schools which taught them to colonize each other both in the short-term and in the term perspective. This leads me to the critical part of this paper: education in the Congo under Belgian hands. Like other sub-Saharan African countries, the Congo was smashed by colonialism. Particularly, the abuses of power, excessive terror, and inadequate education system enforced by colonizers yielded immediate horrors and distant damages in the Congo. A synopsis of Congolese history— detailed in Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914, by Henk Wesseling, published by Bert Bakker in 1991— could help to make sense of the degree to which imperialism harmed African continent. Africa was still freshly wooded by European slave trade when European powers formally launched the “Scramble for Africa.” Convocated by German Chancellor Bismarck, the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 intended to share African lands among European powers to avoid potential confrontations that could rise between European nations over African lands. All major European countries were represented but Africans were not invited nor represented in this conference. While most of the African colonies were controlled by countries, the Berlin Conference granted King Leopold II of Belgium the vast area that is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. This vast area was given to Leopold by the other European powers in condition to be used as the center of Free Trade for all Europeans in Africa. Leopold agreed to this condition as well as bringing Christian missionaries in this area. The Congo's most valuable commodities such as latex and ivory were more profitable to make pneumatic tires. The Congo Free State exported more than 1500 tons of rubber in 1897. In trying to boost rubber production, Leopold used brutal and systematic exploitation of Congolese people and Congolese resources. The work was labor-intensive and injurious to health. Villages were given an ever-higher quota of latex to be collected as it leaks from the trees. If the target is not met, ferocious reprisals of looting, burning villages, and massacring families followed. Also, women hostages were brutally raped. Leopold’s companies used barbaric militia were ordered to bring hands or legs as evidence of disciplinary activities. The Congo Free State became Leopold’s narcissistic slave plantation. In 1903 Roger Casement, living in Boma as the British consul to the Congo Free State, was instructed by Britain to travel into the interior areas to investigate the suspected abuses committed by Leopold II. Casement found villages depopulated, people terrified, gruesome tales of death and torture brutally raped women and young girls, and a strangely large number of victims whose hands have been amputated. Between 1885 and 1908, estimates for the number of people killed varied between 10 to 15 million. Casement's report caused a sensation to international statesmen when it was published in Britain. Leopold fought strongly to keep his treasure, but by 1908 his position was indefensible. Under international pressure, the Belgian government annexed the Congo Free State to Belgium until its independence in 1960. The most famous explanation of Leopold’s abuses in the Congo is Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness (1899). Leopold was classed in the top ten of history’s mass murderers (Stanley 2012). Nevertheless, as far as colonial education is concerned, the case of the Congo under Belgium hands is special. By colonial standards, the people of Congo and their neighbors of Rwanda-Burundi had fair access to primary education, but schooling beyond that was practically impossible to obtain. This was the consequence of a methodical policy pursued by the Belgian government and the Catholic Church that the African ‘native’ was to be gradually civilized. “To give him secondary education was like asking a young child to chew meat when he should be eating porridge” (Rodney 1973). In many ways, this limitation is similar to those previously underlined about colonial educational systems in Africa. As late as 1948 a Belgian commission recommended the establishment of secondary schools for Africans in the colonies. This was twelve years before the independence of the Congo. At the time of gaining political independence, the Congo had only 16 graduates out of a population of more than 13 million. Strictly speaking, the quality and quantity of Belgian education in the Congo were not advantageous for the Congo. In addition, the Belgian education used a language policy that intended to very tightly isolate one Congolese ethnic group from another and to cut the educated off from a wider world of knowledge. That is how French was introduced in the Congo as the main educational and official language. The missionaries could translate into the local languages only that which they thought desirable. Although the fundamental purpose of the colonial education was not to develop industrial skills within Africa, the rare cases, such as in the Congo, was there an objective necessity for technically trained workers. The exploitation of mineral had developed in the colonial Congo to such a point that there was a real need for extensive rudimentary technical skills among Congolese workers. Since their profits were at stake, private companies took the initiative to train their workers. Some people from Katanga and other Congolese received technical training of a secondary equivalent. The technical schools were extensions of colonial production processes. But, for the most part, whatever skilled jobs needed to be done within the restricted field of mining and industry in Africa necessitated the importation of European experts. In other words, Europeans did not want to provide more than just the rudimentary knowledge to Africans. This corroborates with the lack of manufacturing and industrial growths in Africa today. Besides, the most significant aspects of the colonial educational system were that provided by the armed forces and police. In Congo Belge, colonial armies such as the King’s African Rifles, the French Free Army and the Congolese Force Publique produced sergeants who later became the majors and generals in independence epoch. For some reasons, policemen did not reach similar rapid promotion like the military officers. This made their political position rather weaker than the military proper. Like their civilian counterparts, the future police and military elite were at one time trained to be simply low-level assistants to the colonial overlords (Rodney 1973). But when it was time for independence, for the lack of competition civilian leaders, military officers were judged by the colonizers to have the requisite qualities of colonial cadres fit to be part of the ruling class of neo-colonial Africa (Rodney 1973). This was the origin of kleptocratic dictators such as the case of Mobutu in Zaire (now the Congo) considered as one of the most corrupt African leaders. These kinds of political leaders created an environment that normalizes corruption, undermined the rule of law, therefore making their regimes illegitimate and this has resulted in continuous rebellions and chaos, as it is in the case of Congo. Apart from the Portuguese, it is noted that the Belgians were the most reluctant in withdrawing in the face of African nationalism. In 1955, a radical Belgian professor suggested independence for the Congo in thirty years. Consequently, the strength and potential of the nationalist movement under Lumumba forced the imperialists to resort to murder and invasion (Rodney 1973). Nevertheless, in 1960, Congolese got their independence, creating the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Moving forward, like all other victims of colonialism in Africa, once the independence was gained, the Congo stumbled and got caught up into a chaos of political and economic underperformances, crude corruption, and rebellions. Historical facts have confirmed that this terrible situation in most African countries, including the Congo, is a distant result of horrendous educational systems enforced by colonizers and followed by cruel exploitation. One may then ask: were colonizers trying to develop Africa by denying Africans access to higher educational opportunities? My answers to this question are straightforward: First, did not come to develop Africa nor to save Africans. Also, colonizers knew that social, political, as well as economic, improvement in every aspect of society relies on its educational system. It follows that they denied Africans access to higher educational opportunities to keep Africans forever dependent on imperial powers. Second, because education deals with improving the human mind and senses, behavior and character, human activities in socially constructive and desirable ways, colonizers knew that educated, Africans would turn against imperialism. Colonizers knew that “knowledge is power” in the sense that providing social constructive education to Africans would empower them to overthrow European imperialism. So, they denied Africans such opportunities in all possible ways. This was even clearer in the letters sent by King Leopold II to missionaries in the Congo Free State. In a “Letter from King Leopold II of Belgium to Colonial Missionaries, 1883,” the following was the message: Reverends, Fathers and Dear Compatriots: The task that is given to fulfill is very delicate and requires much tact. You will go certainly to evangelize, but your evangelization must inspire above all Belgium interests. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. They speak and submit to a Mungu, one Nzambi, one Nzakomba, and what else I don't know. They know that to kill, to sleep with someone else's wife, to lie and to insult is bad. Have the courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. Your essential role is to facilitate the task of administrators and industrials, which means you will go to interpret the gospel in the way it will be the best to protect your interests in that part of the world. For these things, you have to keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty in their underground. To avoid that, they get interested in it, and make you murderous competition and dream one day to overthrow you. Leopold II told colonial missionaries that their knowledge of the gospel will allow them to encourage their followers to love poverty and ordered them to insistently tell Congolese people that the gospel says: “Happier are the poor because they will inherit the heaven” and that “It's very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” He added explicitly wrote: You have to detach from them and make them disrespect everything which gives the courage to affront us. I make reference to their Mystic System and their war fetish – warfare protection – which they pretend not to want to abandon, and you must do everything in your power to make it disappear. Your action will be directed essentially to the younger ones, for they won't revolt when the recommendation of the priest is contradictory to their parent's teachings. The children have to learn to obey what the missionary recommends, who is the father of their soul. You must singularly insist on their total submission and obedience, avoid developing the spirit in the schools, teach students to read and not to reason. There, dear patriots, are some of the principles that you must apply. In conclusion, King Leopold II clearly told his colonial missionaries to “evangelize the niggers so that they stay forever in submission to the white colonialists, so they never revolt against the restraints they are undergoing. Recite every day – “Happy are those who are weeping because the kingdom of God is for them.” This “Letter from King Leopold II of Belgium to Colonial Missionaries, 1883” was made accessible by Dr. Vera Nobles and Dr. Chiedozie Okoro. It proves the real intention of European colonialism and its horrific strategies. It also corroborates with my previously highlighted hypothesis education is fundamental for human development and that its deprivation to Africans under the colonial era explains Africa’s current underdevelopment. Without education, life is but worthless. Historical facts have proven this, times without numbers. The lack of education perpetuated imperialism and its voracious policies in Africa. Even if proponents of colonization may argue that it was conducive for African economic development, facts have proven that one cannot have it both ways. One cannot impoverish and enrich at the same time. Such one-sided arguments ignore the essential role of educational systems both for the colonized and the colonizers. On the one hand, the colonized could have been uncontrollably free if they accessed constructive education. On the other hand, the colonizers could have completely failed their mission of overexploiting and abusing Africans if constructive education was offered to the subjects. Therefore, denying educational opportunities to Africans indented to keep them in an exploitable state. Some writers, such as Walter Rodney in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, are right when they argue that colonial policies are directly responsible for many of Africa's modern problems. It is evident that most dangerous colonial policies were barring educational opportunities to Africans. Which in fact, is consistent with my argument that Africa’s current underdevelopment is, therefore, a distant result of educational exclusions maintained in colonial rules. This claim outweighs other speculations related to the economic development in colonial Africa. In addition, the distant consequences of European exploitations in Africa should be taken into account in its specific shapes. This leads me to my analysis of democratic failures in Africa, particularly in the Congo. One finds shocking news when one examines democracy without education. Historical accounts show that most African countries got their independence before they got access to education. This directly implies managerial difficulties as well as the inability to make democratically desirable policies. Taking everything into consideration, as late as in 1960, only 16 graduates were in such a big and rich country as the Congo. One should rightfully imagine how difficult it can be to manage an ethnically divided, freshly and severely injured country by colonial brutalities, without higher leadership skills and socially constructive education. Especially, if democracy means the power of the people, for the people and by the people, then the people are central to the ruling of a democracy. Sadly, one faced difficulty trying to think about the good decisions that uneducated masses could make. It is practically impossible. If good decisions could be made without education and required skills, why do people school? Why do people learn ethics, philosophy, politics, economics, mathematics, psychology, reading, writing, etc.? it should be even strict when the matter involves choosing the right person to lead a country. This brings us back to the central argument that education is essential. Socrates believed that voting in an election is a skill that needs to be taught systematically to people. In other words, every citizen must have access to quality education for there to be a rationally democratic election. Socrates believed that a random intuition in an election will turn democracy into demagoguery, meaning a system in which a leader takes advantage of the people using false claims and unrealistic promises to gain power. He knew that people seeking power can easily exploit the desires of the uneducated mass voters. So, democracy without a strong and socially constructive educational system surrounding it could become very dangerous to the people, leading to political squabble and democratic failure. Since the Congo got its independence, this has been the case, same as most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This leads to my final analysis which says that denying the people access to education is a strategy used to control them and use them as means to an end. Elites have demonstrated this in many African countries including the Congo in the post-colonial period by sending their children in European and American schools, therefore, draining their incentives to invest in national education. I believe that investing in education is the best investment for every country that wants to grow. Observations found that almost all African presidents, governors, ministers, deputies, and other elite members of elite groups, send their children into prestigious schools in America, Europe, China and elsewhere overseas, to get a quality education. The underlying intention is that once these well-educated sons and daughters of government officials come back in the country, may take over the powers. This was observed in Zaire (now DRC) under Mobutu, who sent all his children to study in Belgium, expecting them to replace him in power, though he was overthrown by Kabila before the children could do a thing. This indicates why many elites and government officials lack the incentive to improve their local educational systems. The recent report from UNESCO indicates that “of all regions, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of educational exclusion. Over one-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 are out of school, followed by one-third of youth between the ages of about 12 and 14. According to UIS data, almost 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school” (UNESCO 2018). This is, once again, bad news for Africa’s future. The fact is, educational exclusions and poor-quality educational systems do not directly affect government officials and other elites who intend to perpetuate the overexploitation of their fellow Africans and African resources selfishly. Also, they do not invest in education while overstaying into power to secure higher governmental positions for their sons and daughters who got access to quality education overseas. Good-quality education denotes an educational system which focuses on unlocking potentials’ students by providing them with the capabilities they need to become economically productive so they can improve themselves and their communities. This unquestionably is the best way to go, if one would like to sustain economic growth and democracy. The lower education index in the Congo today reflects its economic and political underperformance. Government expenditure on education is only 2.3 % of GDP with a literacy rate in adult ages 15 and older of 77.0% which is, of course, an improvement compared to what we saw in the colonial epoch, but it is far from enough. The population with at least some secondary education ages 25 and older is 50,7% which is also a milestone compared to the colonial period, where until 1960 there were only 16 graduates. Meanwhile, one can notice significant educational disparities between 36.7% for female ages 25 - older and 56.8% for male. At the same time, primary school dropout rate skyrockets at 54.7%. One may argue that this high rate of drop-out in primary education is caused, on the one hand, by antagonistic wars which result in the forceful displacement of families and their children. On the other hand, one can point out the fact that many families have been impoverished by the system to the point that they cannot afford to even primary school fees for their children. And unfortunately, the government does not help. Therefore, drop-outs skyrocket. This statistical report said nothing about the millions of children who cannot even make it in school in the first place because they live in areas where there is no school at all. Many territories and villages do not have schools, and if there are few, they are in a thousand miles away from villages, making it almost impossible for a hungry child to attend school. This is highly deplored in the Territory of Idjwi (where I was born and raised) and in the territory of Kalehe (where my mother who never got access to education for the stated reasons was born and raised). It should, therefore, be noted that some noticeable improvements have been made but there are still substantial fissures between the quantity and the quality of education due to lower governmental investment in local education. In “Democratic Recession,” a series of lectures by Professor Larry Diamond and Lipset, illegitimate regimes collapse sooner or later. His “Theory of Legitimacy” suggests that regime legitimacy and effectiveness predict the survival of a regime. When one breaks legitimacy into high and low levels and performance into effective and ineffective performances, there are 4 possible outcomes which can help predict the longevity of a regime, he said. First, the combination of high legitimacy and effective performance result in highly stable regimes. This is the case of stable democracies. Second, the combination of low legitimacy and ineffective performance results in highly unstable regimes. These types of regimes survive in force and fraud. This can be considered as the case for many African countries, particularly the Congo. Third, the combination of low legitimacy but effective performance results in contingent consent. This type of regime survives in circumstances, not because it is valued by the citizens but because it’s providing some goods in a short-run. Finally, the combination of high legitimacy but ineffective performance result in a reservoir of legitimacy to draw on in times of stress. This means such a regime accumulated good economic performance, which maintains its legitimacy in times of crisis (Diamond 2015). As Seymour Martin Lipset put it in his book, Political Man, “Perhaps the most common generalization linking political systems to other aspects of the society, is related to the state economic development. The more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy” (Lipset 1963). I believe that for a country to secure economic development, quality education is central. Global Partnership for Education further emphasizes that Education should be understood as a “vital human right” because it plays a major role in individual, societal, and economic development. It follows that if a democratic regime would like to survive, it must invest in its local educational system, making it equally accessible and largely affordable as a legal right. This would stimulate productivity for individuals to grow economically and for the democratic regime to gain legitimacy and enforce rule of law therein. The sequence of development follows education. Finally, the essence of Africa’s current underdevelopment and democratic failures is the long and dark period of educational prohibition maintained under colonial policies. Many Africa countries got their independence well before they had access to education, which implies that their ability to build and maintain strong political and economic institutions was not at its best. Particular, in the case of the Congo where there had never been an established political structure under the Congo Belge, which should be considered as one more special weakness of Belgians. The paternalism of Brussels created a total absence of developing political structure in the Congo, which is the reason why as late as 1957 nobody in the Belgian Congo, white and black, had ever voted. Therefore, after gaining their independence, Congolese people had to create a governmental structure, which becomes the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, due to the educational prohibition under Congo Belge, Congolese were not educated enough to build strong democratic institutions, which resulted in political crisis and civil wars that continue until now. This justifies the economic underperformance in the same system. When the education surrounding a democracy is not effective, demagoguery replaces democracy. Persuasive dictators grab the power, develop a kleptocratic system to accumulate wealth and continue exploiting the uneducated masses, further sinking the country into poverty and despair. This is what colonially trained Leaders like Mobutu in Zaire (now the DRC) had to offer. The lack of education is a direct threat to democracy and overall human development. So, providing quality education to every child— boys and girls— can boost individuals’ productivity which result into economic development, an essential ingredient for the legitimacy and the stability a democracy. 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