Jabou, others:
Thanks for insights.
Africa will begin to turn the corner, when, and only
when, our leaders understand the seamless nature of
development. While the building of prosaic
infrastructural sinews such as roads, schools and
hospitals are commendable, they, however, don't mean
anything without the other elements: an independent
judiciary, a weaker executive, an unfettered press,
and respect for basic human liberties. Lack of the
latter, retards innovation and productivity. A people
who are afraid to say and act upon their God-given
instincts will develop a sense of malaise and a
reluctant acceptance of their lots in life. This fact
breeds stagnation, and such is Africa and Gambia's
plight today.
While African landscape seems dour today, there are
success stories such as Botswana. That southern
African nation has made excellent use of its
resources(diamonds) through a mixture of sound
economic policy and reasoned leadership. Botswana is
the singular African nation without any foreign debt!
Zero! Zilch! So, there are examples of good governance
on the continent, but no one wants to learn from them.
Because of some odd reason, reasonable and enlightened
leadership are considered inimical to our values.
Africa is unfortunately going to continue pulling the
rear among the underdevelopment crowd, until certain
truisms are addressed: Development doesn't occur in a
vacuum; it takes the marriage of various elements to
achieve the multiplier-effect of a productive and
prosperous nation.
Abdou
--- Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In a message dated 6/30/2002 10:23:42 AM Central
> Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
> >
> > While I feel a bit disappointed about the lack
> lustre treatment of the
> > abject poverty of Africans, I cannot but put the
> blame squarely at the feet
> > of our leaders and so-called intellectuals. It is
> only in very few
> > countries
> > that you find a straight leader and an honest
> following. In most cases,
> > people are just downright greedy and corrupt; not
> caring for anybody else
> > but themselves.
> >
>
> Gassa,
>
> This is a refreshing statement coming from you, and
> I put it to you that that
> same corruption and lack of caring on the part of
> our leaders is also very
> alive and well in our own country, The Gambia, and
> it is what is of concern
> to those of us to are constantly belabouring this
> very fact. The UNDP report
> that was just posted to the L being another
> disgraceful piece of evidence.
> Our very own President Yaya Jammeh is a millionaire
> today, and could he
> really have amassed millions from his salary? To
> make millions, one has ot
> have capital to invest, and so the question is which
> capital was used and did
> the returns go to benefit those to whom the invested
> capital rightfully
> belongs?
>
> Today in The Gambia, despite the gloss being
> presented for our consumption,
> mothers are pretending to be cooking until their
> hungry children go to sleep
> on empty stomachs accordign to this UNDP report, and
> our President is a
> millionaire. The same picture is repeatedly seen on
> the African continent,
> but this same leadership unashamedly hightails it to
> these international
> begging sessions to beg for Africa, and the World
> infact is also wise to the
> fact that what is given hardly goes to those it is
> intended for.
>
> The big question here indeed is not what will others
> do for Africa, but what,
> for the love of God Almighty will Africans do for
> themselves for a change,
> instead of relegating ourselves to a collection of
> beggar nations that occupy
> some of the most natural resource rich continent on
> earth? If only Africa's
> leaders will cease seeing power as a stepping stone
> to riches at the expense
> of the people, and cooperation among African
> countries as a threat to their
> "monarchy cum democracy that they see leadership as
> being, and start a
> dialogue towards economic cooperation , we will be
> running to big brother to
> solve our problems forever, and without any results,
> and rightly so.
>
> Also, another point is that most of what Africa
> consumes comes from the very
> nations we are constantly begging for assistance
> like incompetent and
> helpless little children, and to assume that these
> same nations will cut off
> their own very lucrative buiness of supplying
> everything to Africa is at
> worse naive. Are we to believe that we in Africa are
> incapable of producing
> what we consume, from food to other goods? I think
> it is also a case of some
> very effective indoctrination that has left us
> believing this, coupled with
> corruption in our leadership who is ever willing to
> cooperate with those who
> stand only to exploit Africa's natural resources
> which is made easy by the
> present chaos, confusion, poverty and lack of
> dedication to truely
> representing the people on the part of our
> leadership. Capital to enable the
> average African to start a business is something
> that only a select few can
> ever hope for, so how is a person to survive in such
> a hopeless situation?
>
> Therefore, going to these same sources to alleviate
> our problems is a waste
> of time and certainly does not earn us any respect.
> These same nations we run
> to for help like little boys and girls have long
> fanned the fires of
> discord, helped prop up corrupt leaders or looked
> the other way because a
> confused and helpless Africa rife with corrupt
> leaders who care only for
> themselves makes the job of using Africa as a
> hunting ground for those who
> have no qualms to exploit their fellow man an ideal
> situation
> Poverty, deprivation, diseases and other terrible
> burdens on the human
> condition in Africa will eventually make Africans
> extinct if things continue
> as they are now, and then those who scramble for
> Africa, and who we
> constantly go to for help will have a field day.
> Maybe then they can divide
> up the loot with the corrupt leaders and live
> happily ever after.
> Unless and until African countries start to talk to
> each other and formulate
> a way to produce what we consume and trade with each
> other as well as protect
> each others' interest, which in turn will make us a
> force to reckon with, we
> will be forever beggars.
> Unless we do this, we will never be in a position to
> put systems into place
> that will protect the interest of the average
> African.
>
> However, that has to start from a base of caring for
> the welfare of the human
> condition in Africa, and we have leaders who simply
> care only for themselves,
> and much of the general populace spends much of
> their time too busy
> undermining each other to think about organizing
> anything that will benefit
> all of us. Instead, we consider any attempts by
> those of us who care as
> really a passport for that person to gain something,
> and we better stop them
> before that happens. It is an amazing phenomenon
> that we have to address, but
> perhaps because our experience has been of
> leadership that cares only for
> themselves has left it's mark.
>
> I always say that the best thing that happened to
> China was that they closed
> up their doors and were thus able to not only
> preserve their culture, but
> also to work and develop industries without being
> dependent on anyone.
>
> On the other hand, in Africa, not only did we let
> our culture be overrun, but
> we have come to the point where other people's
> culture is seen to be far more
> superior and much more desirable than ours. The
> leadership we have does not
> work to utilize the meager resources we have to help
> implement programs to
> alleviate poverty, create jobs and foster an
> atmosphere that will encourage
> the sons and daughters of Africa who are wondering
> around the World to come
> home and embark in ventures to further enhance the
> economy. Instead the ysee
> most of these people as threats because they are
> likely to vocalize what
> these corrupt leaders are doing wrong
>
> The tragedy of the lack of cooperation between
> African leaders is made even
> more so by the fact that all of our leaders are
> fortune hunters who are
> afraid that if they cooperate with the next African
> leader, this may perhaps
> jeopadise their quest for a life long hold on power
> in their own "banana
> republic". They rather like the idea of anyone who
> may challenge them being
> as far away as possible, while they set up a
> mafia-like system of government
> to exploit those who are helpless and being rendered
> even more so on a daily
> basis.
>
> The prospects for Africa's people is indeed grim,
> and the blame as you said,
> rests squarely on the shoulders of our leaders. We
> have
=== message truncated ===
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