"It has been noted with irony that the principal “industry” of many underdeveloped countries is administration. Not long ago, 60 per cent of the internal revenue of Dahomey went into paying salaries of civil servants and government leaders. The salaries given to the elected politicians are higher than those given to a British Member of Parliament, and the number of parliamentarians in the underdeveloped African countries is also relatively high. In , there is one parliamentary representative for every six thousand inhabitants, compared to one French parliamentary representative for every hundred thousand Frenchmen. Many more figures of that sort indicate that in describing a typical underdeveloped economy it is essential to point out the high disproportion of the locally distributed wealth that goes into the pockets of a privileged few."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 19
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Rodney
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Walter Rodney
Walter Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian, political activist and preeminent scholar, who was assassinated in Guyana in 1980.
175 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Walter Rodney →
Related Quotes
"Members of the privileged groups inside Africa always defend themselves by saying that they pay the taxes which keep …"
"By paying attention to the wealth created by human labor out of nature, one can immediately appreciate that very few …"
"We were told that violence in itself is evil, and that, whatever the cause, it is unjustified morally. By what standa…"
"Development in human society is a many-sided process. At the level of the individual, it implies increased skill and …"
"Development cannot be seen purely as an economic affair, but rather as an overall social process which is dependent u…"
"However, the peasants and workers of Europe (and eventually the inhabitants of the whole world) paid a huge price so …"
"Capitalism has proved incapable of transcending fundamental weaknesses such as underutilization of productive capacit…"
"All of the countries named as “underdeveloped” in the world are exploited by others; and the underdevelopment with wh…"
"In some quarters it has often been thought wise to substitute the term "developing" for "underdeveloped". One of the …"
"In a way, underdevelopment is a paradox. Many parts of the world that are naturally rich are actually poor and parts …"