CLIMATE CHANGE AND AFRICA: CASH OR INVESTMENT?

[whizkid]

Climate change is perceived by many as disastrous especially to Africa continent and to the rest of the developing nations, many models have suggested adverse effects on the entire world but these effects would be much pronounced in the developing world. While the developed nations have been taking proactive measures to combat these effects by investing heavily on low or zero carbon emission technology, the developing nations especially Africa are only deliberating on their personal profits from Climate Change without investments.
Africa and the majority of the developing nations lack scientific, economic, and political framework or capabilities to cushion these negative effects on the planet earth. This is mainly due to the level of corruption in these countries which has turned itself to a cancer and eaten deep into all institutions.
With the representatives of 10 African countries set for a meeting in Ethiopia to forge a common ground on their demands for Climate Change cash ahead of crucial UN meeting. The pertinent question to be asked is “does Africa needs cash or Climate Change Investment from the developed nations?” However, the critical analysis of various form of aids either humanitarian aid, charity-based aid, or systematic aid to Africa continent in the past 60 years would give us understanding of what good people of Africa have benefited from aid so far.
In the last 60 years over 1trillion US dollars had found its way to Africa in form of systematic aid with nothing to show for it. More than 90% of the populations are still leaving in abject poverty with no social infrastructures, poor health facilities, high rate of unemployment, but with exponential growth of corruption. It is sad that government officials travel around with private jets while their countries roads are suffering from continuous neglect, send their children to best schools abroad while the quality of education in their respective countries is deteriorating, invest their stolen monies abroad while their countries are faced with criminal activities due to unemployment. The dependency of African leaders on aid-driven economy is detrimental to the economic and infrastructural developments of the continent because most if not all of these monies are stolen back to foreign accounts in the developed countries. It is such a vicious cycle!
This is to conclude here that Africa needs no cash in returns for the effects of Climate Change, what Africa needs now is rapid and massive investments. Investment in Africa would not only reduce poverty but would also reduce the number of Africans in captivities in various countries abroad in order to find greener pasture.