Quote Of The Day

"Over half a century after many African governments gained independence, they failed to identify causes of wealth, that is, people’s ingenuity and productivity. They were lulled by short-term visible goals that aid often offers. The good news however is that the new global political dispensation offers models that the African can emulate. China has been able to wake up from its communist label to threaten the capitalist West by focusing on their population as a resource rather than a curse. Africa, being aid driven, has been made to believe that people are a curse because the donor says that he cannot feed many people. One key reason why Africa fails to stand on its feet is that it started fighting its own resource. Small traders are harassed out of business all over Africa; farmers have been neglected all over the continent; the government does more business than the people.

The government, thanks to aid, is richer than its people; hence everybody wants to join politics: very few want to become successful business people. Africa has been unable to rise up due to African leaders’ neglect to reform the colonial rules that were against African business ventures. Africa has a serious leadership crisis. To develop, Africa must re-think the whole aid philosophy and concentrate on opening its boarders so that the 800 million plus can freely generate wealth for themselves."

— James Shikwati, Kenyan libertarian economist and founder of The African Executive