The Role Of National Politics In The Endless Poverty Cycle The Democratic Republic Of Congo Faces
Located in Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo is home to over 80 million people making it overpopulated despite its vast territories. Being the second-largest country in Africa and the eleventh in the world, the DRC is extremely rich in natural resources; however, its economy does not reflect its wealth; it is known to have the natural resource curse. The country, two thirds the size of Europe is sinking in poverty, now considered as the world’s second poorest nation. It faces absolute poverty which is a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, shelter, safe drinking water, education and information.
It is estimated that almost 3 out of 5 of the citizens live on 1. 25 dollars per day. Additionally, diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS are still killing a large fraction of the population. Since the wellbeing of the population is low and their wages are below minimum, there will be a smaller workforce, able and willing to work for the country hence low generation of revenue for the government. This leads to limited spending on public health and social factors therefore creating a poverty cycle. Many say that the DRC has fallen into an endless cycle of poverty due to external exploitation suggesting that the reason the country is so economically down trodden is because of past colonization that has devastated the country greatly and recent manipulative superpowers which take advantage of the nation’s fragile state to promote the growth of their own economies. I would argue, however, that the DRC’s prolonged downfall is also caused by several other factors such as the president, or the government and other, politically stimulated events. Corruption has been running like a stream between the political leaders of the country, starting from former leaders like President Mobutu to the current president, Joseph Kabila. President Mobutu has allegedly stolen as much as 4-5 billion USD while in office. This money is part of the nation’s revenue acquired through the citizens’ taxes and trade that could be used to develop the living standards or at least the infrastructure of the country. This depicts abuse of power as those in charge of the development of the nation use their position for private benefits.
The ruling of Mobutu Sese Seko resulted in the uprising of the suppressed hence causing the Second Congo War of 2008, which gravely devastated the country’s already deteriorating infrastructure and killing thousands of people. The effects of the civil war are now becoming apparent as the life expectancy of the people drops to 49 years compared to the global average of 70 years. More than 2. 3 million citizens remain displaced from their homes within the country, and thousands more have fled to neighboring countries for refuge from the ongoing violence. This raises the question of security and how safe the environment is within the nation for the citizens to live and prosper as it is evident that the lives of the people is under constant threat. Following the end of the civil war the country fell into an economic and political crisis. Since then 71. 3% of the DRC’s population continues to live below the poverty line a large number of which die from easily preventable diseases such as malnutrition, malaria, and pneumonia. The lack of access to drinking water has led to conflicts over the resource. This clearly depicts that the state is failing to uphold simple human rights such as “Right to Security”, “Right to Life”, and “Right to Healthcare”. An unhealthy population is unable to contribute to the development of the nation.
Therefore, the less effective the people, the slower the development, leading to a poorer nation. Furthermore, the current president Joseph Kabila who is supposed to have stepped down as his second and constitutionally last term ended in December 2016 is refusing to leave the throne. Joseph Kabila has ruled Congo since 2001. By law presidents are limited to two terms of five years each, however, the president says that since elections have not been held, he should stay in power until they are. He has promised to organize elections by April 2018. Tension has been building since it became clear that President Kabila would not step down. In January, when Kabila’s government attempted to change the electoral law to enable extending his time in office, thousands of people took to the streets of Congo’s major cities to protest. Government security forces responded with violence and repression, killing at least 38 people in Kinshasa and 5 in Goma. The president’s refusal to abide by the Rule of Law is an indication of political disorder within the nation which is a justification for the various conflicts over resources and power that eventually lead to poverty in the country. Moreover, the Democratic Republic of Congo is known to be cursed for its extensive wealth in minerals like diamonds and gold. This vast natural wealth has brought nothing but suffering to the Congolese people since it failed to deliver any economic benefits. Mineral resources are plentiful in the country, amounting to about $1. 24 billion.
This has led to more violence, as political and ethnic groups continue to fight over control of resource wealthy regions which does not allow most Congolese proper access to food and health services. Companies from western countries such as Canada have contributed through large investments in the eastern Congo mines. It is estimated that that the sale of mining contracts to five anonymous British Virgin Island companies deprived Congolese citizens of $1. 35 billion, or about twice their health and education budgets combined. It is important to note that these assets were sold at one-sixth their commercial value leading to a loss of 1 billion USD in resource revenue that could otherwise be used to reform the country’s security, health and education sectors. This is severely deteriorating as the public sector is suffering losses due to corruption and bad governmental decisions; the opportunity cost of the government’s choices makes the country poorer. In situations such as this the DRC is unable to refuse the entrance of international companies due to the fact that those external countries are more powerful. Countries like the USA and Canada provide aid to the DRC hence making it dependent, and when a small country is dependent financially, it is easily manipulated. This therefore challenges the sovereignty of nations such as DRC as well as questioning their legitimacy as a state to act in the interest of the people. In 2008 Canada had 4 mining companies involved in large-scale commercial extraction of minerals.
In 2009, First Quantum, one of the largest Canadian mining companies in DRC made a 3% contribution to the GNI. This shows how much the country is dependent on international companies in terms of economic growth. Additionally, countries with low employment rely highly on international companies that can offer jobs to the citizens. In 2012 a large-scale mining firm from China acquired the Makombo Copper mine project in DRC creating jobs for 3000 people. The negative impacts of this reliance is seen through the example of First Quantum closing all its Congolese operations hence leaving thousands of people unemployed, which further contributes to poverty within the nation. This creates an unhealthy reliance of an LEDC on an MEDC making them less willing to generate their own income, which in the long run leads to poverty. Conclusively speaking, it is right to say that the endless, DRC poverty cycle is to a great extent created as a result of national politics. This is due to their illegitimacy and lack of accountability. This issue is further enlarged due to the involvement of international mining companies that take away most of the profit leaving DRC trapped in poverty. My Global Political Challenge Presentation, titled “The extent to which the endless poverty cycle The Democratic Republic of Congo faces is caused by National Politics” is on the issue of poverty specifically exploring the causes of it on a local level in one of the poorest countries in the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The reason I chose to investigate this issue is because in every discussion I have ever had on the topic of poverty and politics in general, the DRC is always brought as an example of ‘what went or can go wrong’. I therefore wanted to understand the reason as to why the Democratic Republic of Congo holds the position it is in currently.
The population of the country is 80 million which means that despite its large territory it is still overpopulated. The country is literally drowning in poverty as 3 out of 5 of the citizens live on 1. 25 dollars per day many of which are killed by diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. When researching on the causes of this high level of poverty, I discovered that the issue finds its roots in corruption, mainly of the country’s leaders over the years. For example, the former President had allegedly stolen between 4 and 5 million USD while in office. The Current President, Joseph Kabila is refusing to leave throne after his terms of ruling ended which has resulted in prolonged violence further worsening the living standards in the country. Through my presentation I learnt that the issue of poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a very unique case where several actors have influenced the current state of the country. I also realized how dependent corruption makes countries on non-state actors menaing that it weakens their sovereignty.
