AIDS and the future of the African State

Abstract

‘Seek ye first political kingdom and all else will follow.’ This was the optimistic proclamation of Kwame Nkrumah, the founding father of Ghana, at independence. Sixty years and seventy-two African coups later it has become painfully clear that ‘all else’ does not follow. In the intervening years, the aura of vigour surrounding the ‘political kingdom’ has faded, while the debilitating effects of its underlying fissures assume new realities. Across the continent, states preside over fractured societies with multiplicity of ethnic identities and divergent interests making it particularly difficult for governments to generate a legitimate basis for governance. In the process, ordinary people lurch between an alien superstructure (the western/colonial state) and a decaying traditional African past; their loyalties stretched between predatory elites and disintegrating tribal systems as many ordinary citizens head to the melting pots of ever expanding cities. Meanwhile the perverters of the ‘political kingdom’, Africa’s Big Men and their external allies, find innovative ways of plundering the wealth of the land and its people.KeywordsGross Domestic ProductAfrican StateEnduring ForceWorkplace ProgrammeCivil Defense ForceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.