Insisting that the biggest threat to Africa is poverty and not invasion by neighbors, Harvard Professor Calestous Juma appealed to African countries to deploy their armies to develop infrastructure.
Juma, director of science, technology and globalization at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, spoke at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, according to a report in How We Made It In Africa.
Defense ministries can participate in expanding road networks in Africa, Juma told the audience. He cited Senegal, Ghana and Uganda, which he said have all been creative in leveraging domestic resources to support infrastructure investments.
Poor transportation, communications and energy infrastructure have hampered Africa’s economic development in areas including agriculture, Juma said in the report.
Deployment of the militaries for peaceful purposes should be done by policy, not by accident, Juma said. “We allocate large portions of our budget to defense; to me the first defense is economic defense,” he said.
Read the rest at How We Made It In Africa.
