COTE D’IVOIRE-HABITAT: POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

MELVIS DZISAH

MAN, Mar 13 1995 (IPS) - PROMISES BY COTE D’IVOIRE’S RULING DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDCI) TO UPGRADE LIVING STANDARDS HAS HAD LITTLE IMPACT IN THE RURAL AREAS OF WHAT IS AMONG THE DEPRESSED WEST AFRICA REGION’S MORE PROSPEROUS COUNTRIES.

AT INDEPENDENCE IN 1960, THE PDCI VOWED TO DO MORE FOR THE LOCALS THAN THE FRENCH DID DURING THE ENTIRE PERIOD OF COLONIALISATION.

THIS SPURRED SOME IMPROVEMENTS, AS IN THE CAPITAL ABIDJAN WHICH IN SOME AREAS CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR MANHATTAN IN THE UNITED STATES.

A FEW KILOMETRES OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL, HOWEVER, THE BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE GIVES WAY TO SQUALID SHANTY TOWNS AND THEN THATCHED HUTS, STARKLY DEMONSTRATING THE UNDER-DEVELOPMENT WHICH STILL HOLDS 85 PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY’S 13 MILLION PEOPLE IN ITS GRIP.

COCOA AND COFFEE PRODUCTION HAVE PLACED COTE D’IVOIRE ON THE WORLD MAP, YET 60 PERCENT OF THIS WEST AFRICAN STATE HAS NO ELECTRICITY AND MAKES DO WITH IMPROVISED KEROSENE LANTERNS.

MOST RURAL FOLK DEPEND ON RIVER WATER FOR SURVIVAL AS THEY HAVE NO ACCESS TO BOREHOLES OR TAP WATER. RELIABLE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS, TAKEN FOR GRANTED IN THE CAPITAL ARE PRACTICALLY UNHEARD OF OUTSIDE ABIDJAN.

THERE ARE MORE THAN 69,000 KMS OF ROAD, BUT ONLY ABOUT 5,000 OF THESE ARE TARRED AND MOST ARE INACCESSIBLE DURING THE EIGHT MONTHS-LONG TROPICAL RAINY SEASON.

THE EDUCATION AND HEALTH SECTORS ARE ALSO FARING BADLY, FOR WHERE THEY ARE AVAILABLE, THEY ARE BEYOND THE POCKETS OF MOST PEOPLE.

SUCH PROBLEMS ARE ENDEMIC IN THE WESTERN REGION WHOSE CAPITAL IS MAN.

SITUATED SOME 600 KM FROM ABIDJAN, THE REGION HAS RICH FOREST AND SAVANNAH LANDS. MOST OF ITS ROUGHLY ONE MILLION INHABITANTS ARE FARMERS, AND THE REGION IS CONSIDERED A NATIONAL BREAD BASKET.

OFFICIAL FIGURES SHOW THAT IN 1992 THE REGION PRODUCED ABOUT 56,000 TONNES OF COCOA AND 78,000 TONNES OF COFFEE. IN THE SAME YEAR THE AREA TURNED OUT SOME 60,000 TONNES OF RICE, 53,000 TONNES OF BANANAS AND 171,000 TONNES OF MANIOC.

BUT CRITICS CLAIM ALL THIS IS CARTED AWAY FOR SALE BY THE AUTHORITIES IN ABIDJAN WITH LITTLE CONSIDERATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGION.

AS EARLY AS 1969, A 565-KM ACCESS HIGHWAY WAS CONSTRUCTED BETWEEN ABIDJAN AND MAN TO SPEED UP DEVELOPMENT BY INTEGRATING THE REGION INTO THE NATIONAL ECONOMY.

IN A FURTHER EFFORT TO INDUSTRIALISE THE REGION, TWO FACTORIES TO PROCESS COFFEE AND RICE RESPECTIVELY WERE BUILT IN THE 1970S.

BUT THE STATE ENDED ITS SUPPORT WHEN PRICES OF COCOA AND COFFEE COLLAPSED ON THE WORLD MARKET. SO THE FACTOTIES FLOPPED — AS DID MANY OTHER POST-INDEPENDENCE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTSAFFECTED BY THE TIGHTENING OF GOVERNMENT PURSE STRINGS.

“TODAY, IT (THE WEST) DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS INDUSTRIALISATION. LT IS THE POOREST FATHER AMONG REGIONAL FATHERS IN THE COUNTRY,”CLAIMS THE MAYOR, GILBERT BLEAU LAINELAIMS .

WHILE THERE ARE ENOUGH EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH CENTRES TO CATER FOR THE PEOPLE THERE IS A DEARTH OF TRAINED PERSONNEL TO RUN THEM.

“OUR SCHOOLS ARE SICK (BECAUSE) OF INSUFFICIENT TEACHERS, WHILE THE HOSPITALS LACK EQUIPMENT TO ENABLE THEM FUNCTION WELL,” SAYS BLEAU.

BLEAU LINKS THESE SHORTFALLS TO THE GROWING EXODUS BY DISAFFECTED YOUTHS WHO MIGRATE TO OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY IN SEARCH OF BETTER LIVES.

“OUR YOUTHS, (WHO ARE THE) ENGINES OF DEVELOPMENT, ARE LEAVING IN DROVES, BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF PROSPECTS. WE CANNOT STOP THEM, BECAUSE THEY HAVE THEIR LIVES TO LIVE,” LAMENTS BLEAU.

POVERTY IN THIS REGION MADE IT THE FIRST STOP OF PRESIDENT HENRI KONAN BEDIE, ON A NATIONAL TOUR IN THE RUN-UP TO ELECTIONS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER THIS YEAR.

BEDIE, WHO SPENT SIX DAYS IN THE AREA, PROMISED A 114 MILLION- DOLLAR DEVELOPMENT FUND TO REHABILITATE COLLAPSED DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND BEGIN NEW ONES. ROADS AND THE HEALTH SECTOR ARE TO BE DEVELOPED AND MORE THAN 400 BOREHOLES ARE TO BE SUNK.

MANY PEOPLE WELCOMED THESE PROMISES, BUT CRITICS SAY IT SMACKS OF ELECTIONEERING ON THE PART OF BEDIE — WHO WILL BE DEFENDING FORE THE FIRST TIME THE PRESIDENCY HE INHERITED FROM THE LATE FELIX HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY.

“BUT FOR OUR VOTES, THE PRESIDENT WOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT,” SAID ONE MAN RESIDENT WHO ASKED NOT TO BE NAMED. “THEY (POLITICIANS) ALWAYS COME WHEN ELECTIONS ARE APPROACHING, MAKE BIG PROMISES, WHICH THEY NEVER FULFIL AFTER THE ELECTIONS.”

“OURS IS A LIFE OF POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY,” ADDS MAN RESIDENT JEAN-BAPTISTE KROULAY. “SOMETIMES I WONDER IF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT CARES ABOUT US AT ALL.”

BEDIE’S VISIT TO THE WEST WAS THE FIRST BY A PRESIDENT SINCE 1969, WHEN HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY VISITED MAN, TO MARK LNDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS.