Summary

The absence of essential attitudes for social economic transformation in Uganda and other sub-Saharan societies, and how this absence failed their economies in the first 50 years of independence, are described in detail below.

Introduction

The sub-Saharan Africa we see today is explained largely by the Berlin conference (1884-1885). Almost all the national boundaries, the official languages spoken, the education systems followed, among others, are traceable to the consensus of the Berlin conference that took place in Germany from 1884 to 1885. In other words, this conference shaped sub-Saharan Africa as we see it today, but not as we know it today.

The sub-Saharan Africa we know today is a result of the nature of sub-Saharan societies. The nature of sub-Saharan societies was shaped and molded by a problematic chapter in the history of the continent that subdued the African mind. Containment of the African mind relegated Africans to the peripheries of human society. Had this relegation been a temporary setback, it would not have been a problem. But it was not. This is because the shaping and molding of Africa societies by that disastrous chapter in history also prevented the African mind from growing the essential attitudes to development. The absence of these essential attitudes, which are collectively called the right mindset for development, condemned sub-Saharan societies to the peripheries of human development, as described in the impact below.

Impact

Some countries appear to move out of poverty and underdevelopment on the basis of luck, i.e. a relatively small population yet blessed with huge earnings from a natural resource(s). Such examples are however uncommon. Besides, they face the challenge of sustainable development, especially after the natural resource(s) is exhausted or its demand is eroded. In this concept note therefore, we will disregard luck as a basis for moving society out of underdevelopment.

Contrary to what most people think, transforming society socio-economically does not require a leader with exceptional qualities. In Uganda for example, some leaders the country has had were indeed capable of transforming us socio-economically. The same can be said of many other sub-Saharan countries. Actually, the primary reason socio-economic transformation evaded sub-Saharan Africa is because leadership is not the decisive factor.

There are two complementary factors responsible for moving society out of underdevelopment. They interact in a ‘lock and key’ principle to yield an output that determines the fate of any society. The first factor is the education empowerment of society through knowledge, skills, values and work-related attitudes. The second factor is the nature of society, its mindset to be exact. Like the right key opens a padlock, the right mindset for development ‘unlocks’ the education empowerment of society, enabling the country to systematically move society out of poverty and underdevelopment, irrespective of whether the leader is special or ordinary.

In the absence of the right key, the padlock remains locked. Similarly, in the absence of the right mindset for development, the education empowerment of society remains ‘locked-up’ (meaningless) with regard to moving the country out of underdevelopment. In other words, society gets stuck in vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment no matter its education coverage, its’ endowment with natural resources or the qualities of its leader. This is the tragedy of sub-Saharan countries (Fig. 1a).