Sidi,
Many thanks for bringing this to our attention. Needless to say, that Wade is
the most exemplary Africa leader on the continent. Not only does Wade belief
in the people he leads, but Wade - unlike his forerunners like Nkrumah and
Nyerere - has grasped a fundamental moral truth about saving the African
continent and Africans: only a polity sanctified on the secular liberal credo
of political pluralism, the rule of the law and civic liberalism bolstered by
economic liberalism can save Africa. Nkrumah's antiquated call for a
liberated Africa to seek for first "the political kingdom" [which in its time
was a very popular slogan], was sloppily misconstrued. It suggests that the
polity and the economy as independent and seperate spheres. This [as
exemplified in the works of political economists like Hayek, Smith, Ricardo,
Mill and even Marx] is a misjudgement on Nkrumah's part as it suggested his
first shortcoming as a leader: his lack of appreciation of the polity and the
economy as a seamless web.
To his credit, Wade has and continues to show he has grasped how the
management of this seamless web of political economy determines society. By
his political reforms and re-writing of the economic rules in Senegal, Wade
is setting the stage for a new Africa - an Africa that embraces both
political pluralism and economic liberalism as ends and means. More than
ever, Africa needs the "creative destruction" [to pinch an overworked phrase
from Schumpeter], grubby fingers, benign brutality and generous efficiency of
capitalism anchored by political and civic liberalism to wake up from her
slumber and lethargy.
Also i like the way Wade hasn't obsessed himself with the Big Idea. For as
John Kay once wrote, the only Big Idea around is that there are no Big Ideas.
Africans mustn't obesses themselves with a non self-contradictory
continent-wide public philosophy: none exists to incorporate the diversity
that is Africa. The only consolation we have is working towards the Open
Society as predicated on Popper's thought and anchored on the secular liberal
credo of political pluralism.
Sidi, i will pause here till another time. Perhaps on the first anniversary
of Wade's ascension to power, when i shall pen a more fitting and glowing to
this great son of Africa who will no doubt take his place alongside the likes
of Mandela. Once again, i thank you for flagging this piece for us.


Hamjatta - Kanteh
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