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The Collectivity Question

by Cobus van Staden
From (L-R): Presidents of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara, ECOWAS Commissionenr Jean- Kassi Brou, President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, and President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria pose for a group photo during an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders summit in Niamey on September 7, 2020. Boureima HAMA / AFP

Is unrelenting grimness more palatable if it is also instructive? Africa’s current debt crisis will soon provide an answer.

The continent’s slide into debt distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been very revealing of Africa’s position in the world. Despite all the calls for debt relief, it soon became clear that much of the world doesn’t particularly care how it will make it through. 

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