Africa cannot outsource its own cure

August 20, 2025 in Business, Editorial by Editor

If Africa were a patient, it would be the most confounding case in modern history. For decades, the continent has been examined, diagnosed and prescribed treatment plans by the world’s leading powers. From Washington to Beijing, from Brussels to Tokyo, the diagnosis is always clear and the prescriptions always generous: more aid, more investment, more capacity building. Yet the patient remains stubbornly unwell.

This week, Africa’s leaders gathered in Yokohama, Japan, for TICAD 9, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Japan, like others before it, is extending a hand to help Africa unlock its potential. The conference showcased ambitious initiatives, including the landmark Safaricom Ethiopia project backed by Japanese capital and guarantees. The event brimmed with optimism about unlocking private investment and building strategic partnerships for infrastructure, energy, and digital transformation.

But beneath the pledges and panels lies the persistent paradox: Why, after decades of similar interventions, is Africa still lagging behind? Why does the continent remain a patient perpetually in recovery, unable to stand on its own feet?

Part of the answer lies in the structure of these engagements. While pitched as development partnerships, many conferences also serve as gateways for external powers to secure access to Africa’s vast resources and strategic markets. For Japan, TICAD is both an instrument of diplomacy and a hedge against Chinese dominance in Africa. For Africa, it becomes yet another forum where leaders shop for aid and projects, while sidestepping the deeper structural reforms needed at home.

Yet Africa’s biggest problem is not a lack of partners. It is the failure to govern itself effectively. Weak institutions, poor governance, corruption, and regulatory uncertainty keep investors wary and citizens disillusioned. Youth—who make up the bulk of the population—see leaders who talk about the future in foreign capitals while failing to build the basics at home.

The African patient, in truth, has never been short of medicine. What it lacks is the discipline to take the treatment consistently. Cleaning up governance, creating a predictable business environment, liberalising economies, and investing heavily in human development are tasks that cannot be outsourced. They require courage, vision and accountability from African leaders themselves.

This is why the continent’s youth and thinkers must interrogate both the motives of foreign partners and the decisions of their own leaders. Development is not imported; it is built. Japan’s interest in Africa is welcome. So was China’s, America’s, and Europe’s. But without internal reforms, even the most generous partners will not cure Africa’s chronic malaise.

At TICAD 9, the theme was “co-creating innovative solutions with Africa.” That “with” is the key. No external partner can substitute for Africa’s own agency. Conferences may open doors, but only Africans can walk through them with conviction.

Until the continent takes full responsibility for its own recovery, Africa will remain the paradoxical patient—surrounded by doctors, prescriptions and medicine, but never quite healed.