The practice of social security in black Africa; a shadow of the real concept: The Cameroonian transcript

Abstract

Social security is a corner stone for the socio-economic and even political development of many countries in the world today. Developed countries like Germany, Britain and many western countries have developed and made use of theories propounded by founders of the concept of social security like Otto von Bismarck and Lord Beveridge to develop their societies. But the unfortunate thing is that all along their stay in Africa, these colonial powers did not border to institute and impregnate Africans with the concept, thus, living Africans completely ignorant of the concept of social security. Studies have proven that the application of this concept in Africa, especially south of the Sahara is still a nightmare. Africans are unable to put into place a veritable social security scheme, yet most of them aspire to emerge by 2035. With the example of Cameroon, the causes of this failure are attributed to the colonial masters and poor governance in post-colonial Africa. As a remedy to this situation, results of this research demand that African governments must show prove of good governance and elaborate an inclusive social protection scheme. Besides, specialize United Nations agencies like the International Labour organization (ILO) and the Human Rights Commission must stand by these countries with their technical knowhow to help develop a meaningful social protection scheme in Africa. As an alert to those countries warming up for emergence, it is an illusion if the welfare of these people is not put at the center of every development action.