Page 76 - Reflexions of African Bishops and Priests

The Problem of Poverty in Africa

Louis Even, Prophet of Distributive Justice

In October, 2012, Father many mouths to feed and yet so much land to cul-
Joseph Lukelu, in charge tivate, but, because of lack of means, these African
of the parish of Our Lady of people are dying of starvation while the land is left
Wisdom at the University fallow.
of Kinshasa, in the Demo- A second point that I want to mention – after
cratic Republic of Congo, population growth – the international relations that
but presently on a sabbat- are centered on the neo-liberal model. And the third
ical year, gave the following point is the drastic reduction of social budgets. And
speech to the Pilgrims of St. the fourth element has to do with the politics of
Michael gathered in Rouge- structural adjustments. But all these rules, all these
mont, Quebec, for their dispositions, all the orientations and decisions are
monthly meeting: not taken by the African countries but by a very
As you know, the problem of poverty in Africa small clique of financiers. They are the ones who
is complex and cannot be explained in one hour. It fix the prices of our main extracted resources, they
comprises several factors but I will cover only some are the ones who invite us to indebt ourselves and
factors that are in my opinion the principal causes they are the ones who say when we can erase the
of poverty in Africa. A poor people is a people that debt, and they erase our debts after fifty years of
is dying of hunger. We have just listened to a con- independence. And when they lend us one dollar,
ference of Louis Even specifically about this ques- our government leaders sign to reimburse them 3,
tion of famine. If there were in this world more 4 even 5 dollars. And 50 years later they erase our
justice and more brotherly love, more sharing and debts saying: “We are inviting you to indebt your-
more solidarity, there would not be in today’s world selves again to help you develop yourselves”.
people dying of starvation. Tell me in which sub-Saharan African country
I believe that Louis Even bore in himself this con- you will truly see emerging development. And yet,
viction and the same conviction is today conveyed we have oil, we have gold, we have diamonds. For
by each of the pilgrims that you are, that we are. It instance in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a
was always noted and observed as an amazing and truly fertile land where there is no need for fertil-
paradoxical phenomenon, of seeing some African izer, corn grows without having to cultivate it; it is
countries, especially sub-Saharan, above ground sufficient for a mother to walk with her basket and
and below ground rich, I would even say VERY rich; there are grains of corn that fall because her basket
but there are people living in an indescribable mis- has holes in it and the corn grows by itself… But we
ery, in completely inhuman conditions. are poor…
I believe that each time Marcel Lefebvre ends Where is the aid? And how to understand this
his visits in Africa and that he returns here, he must aid? And yet every year we are propositioned to re-
be upset when he sees, on the one hand, the mis- ceive aid. It is a paradox, the contradictions that we
ery that affects the Africans, and on the other hand, live in our African countries. Besides that, we must
the waste that we see in this so called developed also note the brutal increase of prices on vital prod-
society of the West. It is also disgusting to see the ucts, in this way increasing the crisis and leading
quantities, the tons of food that are thrown in the to the destabilization of societies already very fra-
sea when they could have helped many starving gile and often victim of depressive, corrupt systems
people in the world. and of war. In our country, the Democratic Repub-
What can explain such contradiction? I could lic of Congo, tell my why for 15 years, the war has
observe in Africa the high growth of the population, not stopped? We cannot conceive developments
but also the misery of the people lacking financial under cannon fire and bombs! Instead of corn, rice
means, lacking infrastructures and along side this, and soy flour, we find in our villages, in our most
as you know, we find young girls 13-14 years of age remote villages, guns in the hands of 10, 12, 13 year
who already have one or two children. There are olds. Do we need a gun or do we need a bag of rice
many births in difficult conditions, and there are so and of corn? u

76 May 2013 session www.michaeljournal.org