"The world, as Thomas Friedman has noted, is flat. Africa's young professional middle class have left their governments to wallow in their own mire by going to work abroad. They know the depredations of their governments better. They also know that governments on the continent are saved from suffering the consequences of their thieving ways by the international humanitarian lobbyists through foreign aid.

They have decided to express their political rejection of this alliance (between corrupt, nepotistic African regimes and international donors) by choosing the exit option -- they go to countries where their skills are best appreciated and rewarded. The world is flat, and highly skilled labor has limited barriers to travel and work elsewhere.

Africa's brain drain is therefore a form of political protest by the continent's most skilled professional against the folly of their governments. Now you begin to see why the middle class in Africa does not turn to protest -- like has happened in many regions of this world in the past. There are other options because of the way the world has changed. Governments in Africa recruit people on the basis of tribe, religion or political loyalty.

That is why they are incompetent. But the moment the West stops subsidizing this incompetence with foreign aid, governments in Africa will discover the importance of rewarding professional merit, of offering long term career rewards to their most skilled citizens and begin to devise ways to attract their most talented human resource back home."

– Andrew Mwenda, Ugandan libertarian radio and print journalist, on how the African continent can progress