Africa-Press – Cape verde. Researcher Fernando Jorge Cardoso believes that most former Portuguese colonies in Africa, with the exception of Cape Verde, are “slow to take decisive steps forward” due to poor governance.
The visiting professor at the Autonomous University of Lisbon and expert on African affairs highlights Cape Verde as “the only former colony that presents a positive balance.”
“I would say these countries are young, but they have already reached middle age. And, in fact, they are slow to take decisive steps forward because the quality of governance is not good,” he says.
According to the researcher, Cape Verde is an exception, “because it has economic growth and a multi-party system that has already proven itself through several changes of power.”
“With economic growth, Cape Verde faces the typical difficulties of a small economy with few resources, but it does not have problems related to respect for human rights,” he adds.
The country, he continues, “has demonstrated that it has capable elites and a political regime that adapts to its objectives,” which contrasts with the reality of other former colonies.
For Fernando Jorge Cardoso, São Tomé and Príncipe is the country that comes closest to Cape Verde in terms of its positive balance.
“São Tomé and Príncipe is a peculiar case. It is a country without resources, with the constant promise of oil deposits, but whose economy is unable to fully exploit its potential, particularly its natural beauty and services,” he observes.
Although there are no “significant human rights or democracy problems,” the researcher believes that the country’s main challenge is “the inability to transform its potential into economic growth and improved living standards.”
Regarding Guinea-Bissau, Fernando Jorge Cardoso emphasizes that, despite the existence of a multi-party system, elections, and alternation of power, serious political problems persist.
“These problems have already given rise to several coups d’état and led to a regime currently captured by a group led by President Umaro Sissoco Embaló,” he states, pointing to suspicions “based on evidence reported by the press and the police” linking the head of state to drug trafficking.
“This means that Guinea-Bissau is undergoing a process of regeneration, and this change is up to the Guineans themselves. There can be no external intervention or setbacks, but the current regime owes much in terms of human rights and political decency,” he emphasizes.
In the case of Angola, the researcher points out that there has not yet been a change of power, with “only a formal democracy” prevailing.
“We have had the same party in power since independence, a civil war that has marked the country, and an economy that is slow to diversify. Although elections are held, the regime has not yet proven itself to be truly democratic,” he argues.
Regarding the idea that natural resources can be a blessing or a curse, Fernando Jorge Cardoso rejects this dichotomy.
“Having resources is never a curse, it’s a blessing. The problem lies with the leaders, not the resources. If we speak of a ‘curse,’ it’s the leaders,” he argues.
According to the researcher, Angola faces “hunger, violent demonstrations, and open repression,” living in “a robust democracy.”
Regarding Mozambique, the country where he was born and graduated in Economics in 1976, Fernando Jorge Cardoso considers it “a complicated case,” dominated by “a regime that refuses to relinquish power.”
In his view, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), the party in power since independence, “has been captured by vested interests.”
“Some of these interests were created internally, others came from outside and captured the people within. The result is a Frelimo controlled by groups with little interest in the country’s development and much more committed to maintaining power for personal and partisan gains,” he concludes.
Of the five former Portuguese colonies in Africa, Guinea-Bissau is the only one that has already completed 51 years of independence, unilaterally proclaimed on September 24, 1973. Mozambique (June 25), Cape Verde (July 5), São Tomé and Príncipe (July 12) and Angola (November 11) celebrate half a century of independence this year.
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