Neglected Aspects in the Understanding of Holistic Development in Africa

Augustine Chingwala Musopole

doi:10.4314/jdcs.v8i1.10

Abstract

How does one explain Africa's underdevelopment when compared with other regions of the world? Over fifty years of independence have little to show for economic progress and poverty has continued to afflict the African population even as it continues to grow. Political instability, economic regress, corruption, and bad governance have been identified as some of the problems facing Africa and keeping it underdeveloped. Yet, I believe that there are still other matters that have been neglected preventing leaders coming up with a holistic vision of development. Attention to these neglected aspects would, most likely, contribute to removing the bottlenecks to more accelerated holistic development of the continent thereby making it possible for Africans to realise abundant life.

Highlights

Introduction to an AfricanPhilosophy, Lambert Academic Publishing, Moldova, 2018.To cite this article: Musopole, A.C. (2021)
The verdict has been expressed in the following terms: In short, given the opportunities, the resources, and the power and influence of the colonial rulers, they could and should have done far more than they did for Africa. It is for this failure that the colonial era will go down in history as a period of wasted opportunity, of ruthless exploitation of resources of Africa, and on balance, of the underdevelopment and humiliation of African people. (Ohaegblum, quoted in Kashambuzi, 2001:15)4 This phenomenon has raised a variety of theories as to why this is the case
This paper argues that there have been some critical, but neglected aspects in the understanding of African development which have contributed to a large extent to this underdevelopment