Mobilizing the African Diaspora for Development

The euphoria of political independence in Africa in the 1950s and 1960s was not accompanied by economic independence. Africa’s economic decline peaked in the mid-1970s. So grave was Africa’s economic decline during the 1980s that the period has generally been referred to as the “lost decade.” ² Standards of living plummeted in country after country, and by the mid-1980s, the majority of the continent’s citizens were as “poor or poorer than they had been at the time of independence.” ³ With unserviceable debts, mismanagement, and a collapse in tax revenues, African governments could no longer maintain proper public services. Decline was observed at every level of government, and this greatly affected the capacity of governments to design and implement new policy initiatives. For instance, in the 1970s and early 1980s, the political instability in Ghana and the near collapse of the Ghanaian economy sparked a new surge in different groups of migrants. ⁴ Worst of all, the economic crises were exacerbated by bad governance presided over by military dictators. Freedoms and basic human rights were curtailed. Generally, this period was characterized by severe economic austerity measures and political oppression among others. The cumulative effect was the exodus of Africans to various parts of the world. Many citizens, both skilled and unskilled, left the shores of the continent for Western Europe and North America. A current World Bank report estimates that about 22 million sub-Saharan Africans have left the continent. ⁵