Kenneth Kgwadi: Disastrous mismanagement of disasters by African governments

Key topics:Africa suffers severe climate disasters, harming economies and food security.Governments often fail to implement climate policies or prepare proactively.Regional cooperation is key to prevent displacement and reduce disaster impacts..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Kenneth Kgwadi*.It is often said that Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the catastrophic impacts of climate change worldwide. These environmental consequences are characterised by severe floods and droughts, which directly affect national economies, thereby lowering their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agriculture continues to be the cornerstone of the economies of many African nations, ensuring food security and serving as the largest employer. Inaction towards the impact of climate change by the African governments will continue to witness the expansion of human movement to Europe and Asia. Climate change will continue to bear negative impacts on various fronts in African societies and change how they have been organising themselves from how they used to do. The beginning of 1990 brought distasteful experiences to African countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi, Sudan, and others. Disasters often feel distant when they don't occur in our own countries, but the reality is that they can strike unexpectedly. The saddest truth is that these events not only devastate livelihoods but also claim innocent livesThe continental spokebody, African Union (AU), has developed progressive policies to address the environmental crisis befalling the continent, such as the Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan (2022 - 2032). Individual African countries also adopted climate change policies as a mechanism to address this global quagmire. The persistent challenge in many African governments is the failure to implement effective policies. Often, well-crafted policies remain neglected on the shelves while corruption, mismanagement, and malfeasance prevail.African governments have tended to become reactionary forces waiting to respond only when they experience these natural crises. Individual African governments take no pre-measures to mitigate the gross impacts to be witnessed by thousands of people. African politicians are very much aware of what is coming, but they choose not to be prepared. .Read more:.COP30: Another climate conference, another failed climate conference .As natural disasters affect every sector from energy to food, health to environment, welfare, and education, it requires a coordinated response by everyone, with the government taking the lead to ensure that early signs and warnings are identified and measures to prevent severe harm are taken to lessen the consequences. There is a significant lack of collaboration between the public and private sectors, which should work closely to provide financial support. This partnership is essential for enabling weather officials to gather data, make predictions, and communicate timely information to the public, ensuring preparedness for upcoming weather conditions.Countries in various regions ought to work together because there is strong evidence showing that natural disasters know no boundaries. We’ve seen how recently the deadly floods affected Mozambique and South Africa. Again, in 2019, Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, killing thousands of people across these countries and causing an estimated $2 billion in property damage.These occurring deadly and devastating natural crises seem to be ignored by African governments, who continue to be unprepared for future worst scenario cases or tragedies. As these disasters respect no national boundaries, countries need to form regional bodies aimed at dealing with mitigating the effects of these kinds of natural disasters. When countries form regional bodies, it would be easier to pool financial resources, which would enable them to deal with future tragedies. Unfortunately, Africa bears the greatest impact or consequences of climate change, while it does not contribute even 5 percent of the global greenhouse emissions. But it impacts the growing, developing economies. This poses a serious threat to water and food security, which has, in turn, been responsible for the migration of over 86 million young people from African countries to elsewhere to look for greener pastures. There is often an outcry about the impact of slavery, but the ongoing African migration is bigger than all the previous forced human movements. .Read more:.Cape Town hit record rainfall in July, thousands displaced.It is time for Africa to start walking the talk, improve on the implementation aspects of their climate change policies, and ensure that they safeguard their countries against the upcoming natural disasters. These disasters have already kept families apart due to climate-induced migration. The movement of the people (pulling and pushing factors) is no longer determined by military wars; the natural disasters around Africa are responsible for the internal and external displacement of people around the continent. Every country has a role to play in ensuring that the continent is ready to fully prepare for the undesired natural events..*Kgwadi is a political analyst and research fellow at the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI).

Kenneth Kgwadi: Disastrous mismanagement of disasters by African governments

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