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Changes!

Commentary

These African leaders are almost certainly best placed to understand how to manage

the potential for political instability. Their task is made more difficult when the aid policies

of donor nations is subject to the self-appointed and the self-righteous who see everything
as an issue of ‘democracy’.

Africa’s least developed nations urgently require a reasonable level of progress in
economic development. The high levels of income inequality and the latent potential for

political instability in countries which also have a high level of fractionalisation means they

have a high potential for fracture.

It’s right that African leaders should focus on Change Management. Democracy does

matter, but democracy without the implementation of change that reduces income
inequality and therefore leads to political instability and possible fracture is of no use.

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There is a real need for a regional development strategies
Africa’s 16 Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC) should be regarded as a pivot point in
regional economic development.

The economic development of an LLDC has a strong connection to that of their
international neighbours (Research shows that a 1% increase in the GDP of a ‘transit’ country is
linked to a 2% increase in the GDP of the LLDC).

LLDC

can be both the cause of economic and political instability in their neighbouring
countries and vice versa.
continually rank highly across a range of negative factors relevant to economic
development.

Population living below the national poverty level
In 7 of Africa’s 16 LLDC, more than 50% of the population live below their country’s
poverty line

in a further 4 of the 16 LLDC, between 40% and 50% live below their country’s poverty
line

LLDC & LICUS (Low-Income Countries Under Stress) status

10 of the 13 countries that were given LICUS status were African nations.
3 of these 10 were LLDC : Burundi, Central African Republic, Zimbabwe

"Low-Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS): A World Bank Program,"
(November 2010)