Pls disregard, just testing..
Quoting Ndey Jobarteh <[log in to unmask]>:
> <html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
> <P>Karamba,</P>
> <P>Thanks for sending in this information, it really wakes me
> up. </P>
> <P>Arnold Beichman's conclusion that" The tragedy of Africa, primarily
> south of the Sahara, has been its inability to produce democratic
> leadership in the last half-century since the decolonization
> movement exploded." Sums it all. Even though i may disagree with
> him in some of the analysis he made but the fact of the matter is that
> Leadership, i mean good leadership is a problem in Africa.</P>
> <P>And this brings me to the conclusion that rather than view
> African rulers as buffoons, we should see them and their actions from
> the perspective of the interests they serve. The failure of democracy
> and economic development in Africa are due to a large part to the
> scramble for wealth by predator elites who have dominated African
> politics. They see the state as a source of personal wealth
> accumulation. There is high premium on the control of the state, which
> is the biggest and most easily accessible source of wealth accumulation.
> The people in power and those who seek power use all means to attain
> their goal. This includes fostering ethnic sectarianism and political
> repression. Competition for control of the state, whether between the
> military and civilian classes or between civilian political parties, is
> invariably ferocious and generates instability. Gambia is a
> classic case here, we don't even need to go far. </P>
> <P>Franz Fanon in his book 'The Wretched of the Earth' published in 1961
> eloquently described the character of the class that inherited power
> from the colonialists. It is "a sort of little greedy caste, avid and
> voracious, with the mind of a huckster, only too glad to accept the
> dividends that the former colonial powers hands out. This get-rich-quick
> middle class shows itself incapable of great ideas or of inventiveness.
> It remembers what it has read in European textbooks and imperceptibly it
> becomes not even the replica of Europe, but its caricature." This class,
> said Fanon prophetically, is not capable of building industries "it is
> completely canalised into activities of the intermediary type. Its
> innermost vocation seems to be to keep in the running and to be part of
> the racket. The psychology of the national bourgeoisie is that of a
> businessman, not that of a captain of industry." The description remains
> accurate for today's elite who have grown through civilian politics,
> military governments, business and the civil service. </P>
> <P>As long as African political rulers and administrators are drawn from
> this class of predators, no amount of preaching the virtues of good
> governance or tuition on public administration will fundamentally alter
> the quality of governance. This is not to say that constitutional
> reforms and increasing civil society infrastructure are not important.
> They are. But they are not the key to solving the problem of bad
> governance. </P>
> <P>Good governance is the effective exercise of power and authority by
> government in a manner that serves to improve the quality of life of the
> people. This includes using state power to create a society in which the
> full development of individuals and of their capacity to control their
> lives is possible. A ruling class that sees the state solely as a means
> of expropriating the nation's limited resources is simply incapable of
> good governance. More specifically, such a class will by its character
> and mission abuse power. </P>
> <P>An underlying cause of many of the manifestations of bad governance,
> including political repression, corruption and ethnic sectarianism, is
> the endeavour by the ruling classes to be and remain part of the global
> elite despite their nation's poverty. The competition for national
> resources leads to conflict and repression. It is difficult to see how
> there can be good governance when the orientation of the elite is to
> stay in the running and be part of the fifth of the world's population
> that forms the international consumer class. </P>
> <P>Bad governance is not a mainly problem of ignorance or lack of
> infrastructural capacity or even of individual dictators. States in
> Africa are incapacitated as instruments of development because ruling
> classes, including people in and outside government, are motivated by
> objectives that have little to do with the common good. When i look at
> my son i try to figure out the questions he will asked me when he grow
> up. I said to myself will i have all the answers for him? Can i
> even answer those questions? </P>
> <P> </P>
> <P>The Struggle Continues!!!</P>
> <P>Ndey Jobarteh</P>
> <P><BR><BR></P></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> <DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> <[log in to unmask]>
> <DIV></DIV>>To: [log in to unmask]
> <DIV></DIV>>Subject: [www.washtimes.com] The Failures in Africa
> <DIV></DIV>>Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 02:38:38 +0000
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>[log in to unmask] has sent you an article from The
> Washington
> <DIV></DIV>>Times.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>This was in tuesday's Washingtontimes
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>-----------------------------------------------------------
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>THE FAILURES IN AFRICA
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>Arnold Beichman
> <DIV></DIV>>Hoover Institution
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>-----------------------------------------------------------
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>The tragedy of Africa, primarily south of the Sahara,
> has
> <DIV></DIV>>been its inability to produce democratic leadership in
> the
> <DIV></DIV>>last half-century since the decolonization movement
> <DIV></DIV>>exploded.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> One can argue that Europe itself hasn't exactly been a
> <DIV></DIV>>model in producing democratic leadership — V.I. Lenin,
> Josef
> <DIV></DIV>>Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Francisco
> Franco,
> <DIV></DIV>>Antonio Salazar — but Europe has learned its lessons.
> Today
> <DIV></DIV>>with the dissolution of the Soviet empire, Europe is a
> <DIV></DIV>>collection of more-or-less peace-loving democracies.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> Not so in Africa. Except for Nelson Mandela and the
> <DIV></DIV>>recently deceased Leopold Senghor of Senegal, what
> <DIV></DIV>>more-or-less democratic leaders has Africa produced? And
> now
> <DIV></DIV>>we see another African super-tyrant on the move —
> Robert
> <DIV></DIV>>Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is ready to exterminate his
> <DIV></DIV>>opposition rather than surrender his despotic power.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> It will not do any longer to blame the European powers
> <DIV></DIV>>for Africa's problems. Britain (except for Kenya and the
> Mau
> <DIV></DIV>>Mau), France (except for Algeria), Portugal (except for
> <DIV></DIV>>Mozambique and its West African holdings) gave up their
> <DIV></DIV>>colonial empires without too much struggle and
> bloodshed.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> What have we seen since the scramble out of Africa
> <DIV></DIV>>began in the 1950s? Ethnic dictatorships, serfdom,
> <DIV></DIV>>kleptocracy, soaring infant mortality rates, tens of
> <DIV></DIV>>millions dying of AIDS and tens of millions already dead,
> no
> <DIV></DIV>>access to clean drinking water by 70 percent of
> Africans,
> <DIV></DIV>>child slavery, genocidal attacks on neighbors by Sierra
> <DIV></DIV>>Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and an 18-year civil war
> in
> <DIV></DIV>>Sudan which has taken 2 million lives. Remember Idi
> Amin,
> <DIV></DIV>>Emperor Boukassa, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, Sekou
> Toure,
> <DIV></DIV>>Kwame Nkrumah? And now we have Mr. Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
> The
> <DIV></DIV>>list seems endless.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> Much blame for the African disaster is supposedly due
> <DIV></DIV>>to the West, particularly America's "bungling," its
> refusal,
> <DIV></DIV>>regardless of what party is in the White House, to get
> <DIV></DIV>>involved and help a helpless Africa get to its feet. But
> is
> <DIV></DIV>>that a valid accusation? It is not.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> Despite alliances with France and England, the U.S.
> <DIV></DIV>>supported — sometimes covertly through the CIA,
> sometimes
> <DIV></DIV>>openly — anti-colonial movements in Algeria, Tunisia,
> <DIV></DIV>>Morocco, Kenya, Cyprus among others. No post-colonial
> area
> <DIV></DIV>>got as much U.S. attention as sub-Saharan Africa going
> back
> <DIV></DIV>>to the days of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. White
> <DIV></DIV>>House state dinners, presidential and vice-presidential
> <DIV></DIV>>visits to Africa, support for AFL-CIO union activity in
> <DIV></DIV>>Africa, vocational training schemes, scholarships, and
> <DIV></DIV>>money, money, money. It's no secret where all the money
> <DIV></DIV>>went: either into Swiss bank accounts or phony
> socialist
> <DIV></DIV>>schemes, like "Ujamaa," in Julius Nyerere's Tanzania.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> Here, almost a half-century since Africa's liberation
> <DIV></DIV>>began, and we have a new tyrant, Robert Mugabe. Having
> ruled
> <DIV></DIV>>Zimbabwe for 22 years and fearing defeat in
> presidential
> <DIV></DIV>>balloting next March, he has done everything to prevent
> a
> <DIV></DIV>>free and fair election. Laws passed by Zimbabwe's, or
> rather
> <DIV></DIV>>Mr. Mugabe's, parliament ban independent election
> monitors,
> <DIV></DIV>>restrict voting rights and make it a crime to criticize
> the
> <DIV></DIV>>president. Opposition supporters have been beaten,
> killed,
> <DIV></DIV>>imprisoned.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> What are other African leaders doing about this crime
> <DIV></DIV>>against democracy? What can they do or say when, as the
> New
> <DIV></DIV>>York Times has pointed out, Angola condones maltreatment
> of
> <DIV></DIV>>journalists, Zambia refused to grant the opposition time
> on
> <DIV></DIV>>government radio during the country's own election last
> <DIV></DIV>>month? The Times quotes the International Crisis Group
> (ICG)
> <DIV></DIV>>as saying: "Many [African] governments are hesitant to
> <DIV></DIV>>penalize Mugabe this week for something for which they
> may
> <DIV></DIV>>be accused next week." In a special report (obtainable
> on
> <DIV></DIV>>the Web), the ICG states:
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> "The economic and political turmoil in South Africa's
> <DIV></DIV>>northern neighbor threatens the credibility of the
> embryonic
> <DIV></DIV>>New Partnership for African Development [NEPAD], an
> agenda
> <DIV></DIV>>for renewal crafted by [South Africa's President Thabo]
> <DIV></DIV>>Mbeki, Nigeria's President Obasanjo, Algeria's
> President
> <DIV></DIV>>Bouteflika, and Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade,
> among
> <DIV></DIV>>others as a vehicle for a new relationship between
> Africa
> <DIV></DIV>>and the world.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> "While NEPAD seeks to promote Africa's full
> integration
> <DIV></DIV>>into the world economy, the Zimbabwe crisis is further
> <DIV></DIV>>marginalizing the continent, producing a decline in
> <DIV></DIV>>investment, confidence in local currencies, and tourism.
> The
> <DIV></DIV>>regional southern African economy is threatened further
> by
> <DIV></DIV>>an influx of refugees from Zimbabwe."
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> And all this comes at a time when Sub-Saharan Africa's
> <DIV></DIV>>gross domestic product is about the same as that of
> Belgium,
> <DIV></DIV>>a country with one-forty-fifth the population of Africa
> as a
> <DIV></DIV>>whole, according to the World Bank. Africa's population
> has
> <DIV></DIV>>doubled since 1965 which, because of stagnant
> economies,
> <DIV></DIV>>means constantly rising unemployment and
> underemployment.
> <DIV></DIV>>Some 100 million people, more than a quarter of the
> <DIV></DIV>>continent's population, suffer from chronic food
> shortages.
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>> Is there a solution to this ever-mounting human
> <DIV></DIV>>tragedy?
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>-----------------------------------------------------------
> <DIV></DIV>>This article was mailed from The Washington Times
> <DIV></DIV>>(http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020122-26525803.htm)
> <DIV></DIV>>For more great articles, visit us at
> <DIV></DIV>>http://www.washtimes.com
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>>Copyright (c) 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All
> <DIV></DIV>>rights reserved.
> <DIV></DIV>>
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