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Richard Dowden
Wednesday June 16,
2004
The Guardian
A third of Africans feel worse off this year than
last and half feel
the world is going in the wrong direction, according to
a survey of
nearly 8,000 Africans to be published today.
The survey
shows that Africans feel their countries are not run by
the will of the
people, have more trust in their churches and
religious leaders, but hold
their governments accountable for solving
their most important national
problems.
They are in favour of globalisation but think rich countries
get more
from it than they do. They like what America is doing in the
world
but do not trust rich countries in trade negotiations and worry most
about Aids, jobs and poverty.
In all, 37% of those surveyed by
Globescan, a global public opinion
research organisation, think life has
got worse in the past year
while only 24% think it is getting better. Even
the richest and best
educated groups are polarised, with just 32%
believing life is
improving, while nearly half of the poorest group feel
it is getting
worse.
The survey reinforces the impression of a
continent struggling with
crime, war, corruption, economic malaise and the
scourge of Aids.
Almost 30 million of the 635 million people in
sub-Saharan Africa
have HIV/Aids. The per capita income for the region is
$575 (�315) a
year, with half the population on less than a dollar a day.
And yet attitudes are not universally gloomy. In South Africa 60% of
respondents said the country was going in the right direction. The
only two countries that do think their governments reflect the
people's will are Ghanaians (65%) and Kenyans (73%).
Overall
Africans expect their governments to sort out problems such
as Aids but
36% have not much little or no trust in their national
governments.
The sentiments are gloomiest in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. In Nigeria
three-quarters of the people believe the country is going in the
wrong
direction. Only 3% of people think life is getting better in
Zimbabwe, a
country whose economy has contracted by more than a third
in the past five
years.
Corruption also causes serious concern in a continent that
regularly
contributes leading contenders for the Transparency
International
Corruption Index.
Two-thirds of South Africans and
four out of five Zimbabweans think
their countries are more corrupt than a
year ago. Only a sixth of
Zimbabweans and Nigerians believe they can get
access to honest
government. Kenyans, however, think their new government
is making
things better: 84% think there is less corruption.
The
survey was conducted in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya,
Nigeria,
Ghana, Ivory Coast and Egypt, although the Egyptian
government does not
allow questions on corruption or democracy.
More than 90% of those
surveyed see Aids and the spread of diseases
as serious problems for them
and their families. The message on Aids
seems to be getting through. Men
and women, rich and poor, well-
educated or not, everyone agrees that it is
a serious problem.
When asked to prioritise their problems Zimbabweans
and Tanzanians
put Aids at the top. But in west Africa where the disease
is
spreading but has not yet killed substantial numbers of people, it is
given a far lower priority. West Africans are more worried about jobs
and poverty.
In Egypt they worry about the cost of living, most of
all and in
South Africa, where more than 2.5m crimes were committed last
year,
the crime rate is seen as more important than Aids.
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