The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
10 December 2007
editorial
Making life better isn't apparently hard just in Tanzania but is true of people all over Africa.
And as in Tanzania, one of its more difficult aspects is rapid urban population growth.
There are complicated dynamics of people in rural areas being more dependent on urban kinsfolk for remittances, while urban areas increasingly fail to reasonably provide for needs and expectations of its spilling populations.
Leading presenters in the fifth conference on population issues research in Africa, which Isles President Amani Karume opened yesterday, made this observation. From HIV/Aids spread, child and maternal mortality rates to emigration of professionals, the population story is one of sadness.
Nor is the pointed remark that rates of birth or population growth as such need to come down of any relief.Historical experience shows that poorer populations tend to have more children, while more affluent societies have low birth rates.
So the way out for Africa is to get economic issues right, not to lay hopes on fewer birth rates as it won't come of its own.
Africa will reduce its population growth, make urban areas livable, when it gets its economic act right; let us hope embarking on EPA arrangements will help it.
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