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How Health and Education Pay the Price for Self- Dealing in Equatorial Guinea. Summary. The president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, once described the discovery of oil in the 1.

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“Manna From Heaven”? How Health and Education Pay the Price for Self-Dealing in Equatorial Guinea. The latest news articles from Billboard Magazine, including reviews, business, pop, hip-hop, rock, dance, country and more. © AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Terms of Use Preferences Contact Us.

Central African nation as “manna from heaven,” the Biblical life- saving bread that God sent Israelites as they wandered in the desert. Ravaged by almost six centuries of colonialism followed by an eleven- year brutal dictatorship, the country was one of the world’s poorest and most poorly governed in 1.

Obiang deposed his uncle and took power. Watch October Gale Online Facebook. The discovery of oil in 1. Equatorial Guinea, and it did, in many ways. Before the discovery of oil the country’s total income was US$1.

Within the next decade per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rose significantly, comparable to that of many industrialized nations—peaking in 2. However, oil production has been in decline since 2. Equatorial Guinea’s mismanagement of its oil wealth has contributed to chronic underfunding of its public health and education systems in violation of its human rights obligations. Suddenly the small country of about one million people occupying 2. Obiang raised expectations, repeatedly saying he would prioritize health services and education, but budgetary allocations to health and education have in fact been dismal: in 2.

International Monetary Fund (IMF). Forty- five other countries in Equatorial Guinea’s per capita GDP range spent at least four times as much on health and education during the same period. Watch Contrition Online (2017). Instead the country invested heavily in large- scale infrastructure projects, which comprised 8. IMF and World Bank have repeatedly criticized. Equatorial Guinea is one the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of around 1 million and a total landmass of just over 2. Obiang, the world’s longest- serving president, justifies the huge investment in infrastructure as part of a strategy to lay the groundwork for a modern economy.

Undoubtedly this investment has improved the country’s transportation infrastructure, which includes a network of more than 2,0. But, according to the IMF, such an approach “contribut[es] to low provisions for health and education service delivery.” It also found that “costs and wastage have been high” for infrastructure projects, “because of limitations in oversight and pressure for prestige projects.”This report shows how the government of Equatorial Guinea has for two decades paved the way for this reality, squandering the promise afforded by its discovery of oil by grossly underspending on social welfare and overspending on wasteful and corruption- riddled infrastructure projects. In the process, it has not fulfilled its human rights obligations to progressively realize the right to affordable and decent health care and education for its people. The report describes how, though upper middle- income on paper, Equatorial Guinea faces severe challenges that commonly affect low- income countries, especially in health and education. It documents how companies, fully or partially owned by the president, members of his family, or senior government officials, have been awarded large public contracts. In some cases, businesspeople allege that they were encouraged by government officials to submit inflated contracts so that the officials could collect considerable kickbacks.

In addition, this research adds to a significant body of work on corruption in Equatorial Guinea, including numerous international investigations that have uncovered evidence of high- level corruption. A 2. 00. 4 United States Senate investigation into Riggs Bank, a Washington, DC- based commercial bank, for example, revealed direct transfers of millions of dollars from accounts holding the country’s oil wealth into accounts believed to be controlled by the president. Money- laundering investigations into the president’s eldest son, who was appointed vice president in June 2. United States and €1. US$1. 89 million at current exchange rate) in France. The French prosecutor alleged that €1. Equatorial Guinea’s public treasury to Teodorin’s personal accounts, part of which funded his French spending spree.

There is an ongoing trial in Spain based on evidence that senior government officials purchased mansions in the country with funds transferred from the Riggs Bank oil account. In Italy, the financial police, when investigating one of the largest construction companies operating in the country, found millions of dollars linked to a network of international bank accounts owned by the president and his son. All of this contributes to the government’s woeful underinvestment in health and education, at great human cost. Neglecting the Right to Health. With the discovery of oil, Equatorial Guinea had a great opportunity to improve healthcare by investing in the provision of potable water, adequate sanitation, infection control, and other key determinants of health, as well as in the strengthening of its public healthcare system. For two decades it has largely failed to seize this chance due to underinvestment in the social sector, when compared to other countries in its income bracket, and misspending on capital projects, such as the sophisticated new La Paz hospitals in Malabo and Bata that appear to be almost exclusively for the benefit of elites—rather than on primary healthcare that benefits most citizens. While a lack of data makes it hard to fully assess Equatorial Guinea’s performance on key health indicators, available data suggest that despite having far superior resources compared to other countries in the region, there has been little progress.

For example: Equatorial Guinea ranks 1. United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index, a measure of social and economic development. Its score is similar to those of Ghana and Zambia, despite boasting a per capita income that is more than five times as high. Trust Full Movie In English more. More than half of Equatorial Guinea’s population lacks access to safe drinking water in the vicinity, a rate that has not changed since 1.

Vaccination rates for children have fallen dramatically since the late 1. For example, the reported rate for tuberculosis vaccination for newborns and infants was 9. Additionally, a 2. The World Bank estimates that 6. Maternal mortality is one health indicator on which Equatorial Guinea has apparently made progress at a greater rate than most other countries in the region, with such deaths down from 1,0.