By the way the arguments on western imperialism are a
little bit tired.
Amat
I couldn't put it better! All along the onslaught was on the very concept of democracy as opposed to "imperialism" and indeed, the veiled contempt the lady has for the very idea that Africans are capable representative gov't whose mandates emanates from the expressed will of the people. Freedom as represented by democracy is inextricably hooked with development. As Amartya Sen never ceases to remind us, famines have never been recorded in societies where the expressed will of the people forms the basis of gov't or the polity. Whatever we call the expressed will of the people in determining their fate, it is not a matter of exaggeration or pedantry to claim that if people want development, then they will have to simply accept the universal wisdom that: Democracy/Freedom/Individual Liberty=Development. In short, democracy is INSEPERABLE  from development. Search your history and it shall show.

Hamjatta Kanteh