A Tale of Two Guineas

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea — This city won’t soon find itself on a postcard or illuminating the pages of an exotic travel guide. In fact, for the capital of an oil-rich nation, Malabo’s lack of even the most basic development is startling.

Living here in the same conditions as the average citizen has been a struggle to say the least—with only a few hours of functioning electricity and questionable water flowing each day. Though it is true that, like many other central African nations, Equatorial Guinea is struggling with infrastructure development, this country’s government has a wealth of oil-based profits flowing into its coffers that other such nations do not.

Contrasted with the very visible modern structures of President Teodoro Obiang’s government and family, the deplorable slums of Malabo are a visual hypocrisy staring everyone in the face. Tackling government corruption and greed in a developing context is admittedly a challenging task, but that is perhaps not even the real issue. Obiang could easily invest in bringing Malabo and the rest of the country’s infrastructure into the 21st (20th?) century and still have plenty of money left over to squander.

As I walk down these muddy streets filled with garbage, tangled power lines, and the roar of gasoline-powered generators, I wonder if Obiang himself has ever taken the same stroll and seen the same things. To keep these citizens living in conditions like this for perhaps no other reason than laziness or gross contempt is hardly indicative of a growing democracy.

Last month the Human Rights Watch issued a report condemning the Equatorial Guinean government’s lack of transparency with respect to oil revenue. This was an important step towards keeping the average citizen’s struggles in the international eye, but as long as American oil companies remain the largest contributors to Equatorial Guinea’s income, it remains to be seen if any parties involved (especially the U.S.) can move beyond words and agreements towards concrete actions.

And though oil revenue seems to be the key issue to address in Equatorial Guinea, it is really only a corollary to the true problem of weak democratic institutions. If the people of this country truly had the power of a voice through their votes, it would be much easier indeed for them to dictate how oil money should be spent. As such, there should be a strong push on both fronts—oil revenue transparency and building a real democracy—to bring the resources these citizens truly need to them as quickly as possible.


James A. McFadden ’10, a Crimson editorial writer, is a government concentrator in Kirkland House.