World Bank Document - Africa Infrastructure Knowledge Program

dominated and fractured the political processes of many countries,
including Ghana, Nigeria, and, saddest of all, Rwanda.
The independence process itself had significant effects on the political
shape of Africa. After France’s initial expulsion from Guinea, to which
it reacted by withdrawing all resources and support, France shifted to
a policy of restructuring before liberating its African colonies. Both
French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa were split into multiple
independent countries with the intent of maintaining French interest
and influence on the continent. Given the historical association of
the colonies with metropolitan France, and given the experience that a
number of African politicians had obtained in French government, this
strategy did in fact perpetuate strong French influence in a number of
countries, such as Côte d’Ivoire.
The initial stages of each country’s independence were critical. The
most significant consequence of the new order was the emergence in
many countries of a one-party system. While this system was initially
defended as appropriate for nation building in states with multiple ethnic
communities, many of the liberators became dictators.
Many new national leaders adopted the theories of Marx and Lenin,
though not all interpreted socialism the same way. In Ghana, President
Kwame Nkrumah saw the path of development in terms of rapid industrialization;
in Tanzania, President Julius Nyerere saw it in terms of agricultural
self-sufficiency. Most new leaders, however, shared the belief that
the state should direct economic activity, implying strict government control,
if not full ownership, of most productive sectors.
A Consequence of History: A Distorted Transport Sector
The Legacy of History 3
This political history has had profound economic consequences for the
transport sector, bequeathing a legacy of structural and institutional
distortions from which it has still not completely escaped. Several
component elements of distortion can be identified.
Networks were incomplete. Colonialism was about the exploitation of
natural resources. Colonial government administration was typically settled
in a capital city, often a port, and had little concern for inland passenger
transport. The infrastructure it developed was usually limited to
whatever was deemed necessary for the export of minerals or agricultural
products. Only the links between the port and the material source (which
might be in one of the neighboring landlocked countries) were of prime
interest. The result was that transport networks were extensive in linking