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First came Madonna . ..Then the Chinese. .
Dr.
George Ayittey, reacting to the news that Paris Hilton is
off to save Africa!
Ghanadot,
Oct. 17, 2007
Folks, We can't save ourselves.
Our LEADERS have been a monumental failure -- totally
useless. Since1960, we have had 204 heads of state. Try and
see if you can name just10 "good leaders." Just ten. Even if
you could name 20, what would thattell you about the rest --
the overwhelming 90+ percent?
Failures. There are only 3 things our leaders know how to do
efficiently:
1. Perpetuate themselves in office -- 10, 20 or more years:
Campaore (Burkina Faso), Biya (Cameroon), Ghaddafi (Libya),
Mubarak (Egypt), Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Museveni (Uganda),
dos Santos (Angola). Need more?
2. Squelch all dissent and opposition to their misrule.
3. Pillage and loot their treasury.
* According to one UN estimate, "$200 billion or 90 percent
of thesub-Saharan part of the continent's gross domestic
product (much of it illicitly earned), was shipped to
foreign banks in 1991 alone" (The New York Times (Feb 4,
1996; p.A4).
* According to former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo,
thatcorrupt African leaders have stolen at least $140
billion from theirpeople in the decades since independence
(London Independent, June 14,2002. Web posted at www.
independent.co.uk).
* Foreign aid has not been spared, either. Says The
Economist (Jan 17,2004): "For every dollar that foolish
northerners lent Africa between1970 and 1996, 80 cents
flowed out as capital flight in the same year, typically
into Swiss bank accounts or to buy mansions on the
Coted’Azur” (Survey; p.12).
At the Commonwealth Summit in Abuja, Nigeria on December 3,
2003, former British secretary of state for international
development, Rt. Hon Lynda Chalker, revealed that 40 per
cent of wealth created in Africa is invested outside the
continent. Chalker said African economies would have fared
better if the wealth created on the continent were retained
within.
"If you can get your kith and kin tobring the funds back and
have it invested in infrastructure, the economies of African
countries would be much better than what there are today,
she said (This Day [Lagos], Dec 4, 2003).
* In August 2004, an African Union report claimed that
Africa loses an estimated $148 billion annually to corrupt
practices, a figure which represents 25 percent of the
continent's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).“Mr. Babatunde
Olugboji, Chairman, Independent Advocacy Project, made this
revelation in Lagos while addressing the press on the survey
scheduled to be embarked upon by the body to determine the
level of corruption in the country even though Transparency
International has rated Nigeria as the second most corrupt
nation in the world” (Vanguard,Lagos, Aug 6, 2004. Web
posted at www.allafrica.com).
* Between 1970 and 2004, more than $450 billion in oil
revenue flowed into Nigerian government coffers. But
according to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu,the chairman of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, set up three years ago,
£220 billion ($412 billion) was "squandered" between
independence from Britain in 1960 and the return of civilian
rule in1999. "We cannot be accurate down to the last figure
but that is our projection," Osita Nwajah, a commission
spokesman (Telegraph, June 25,2005).
NOTE:
A. Foreign
aid to Africa from ALL sources amounts to $25 billion year.
B. OUR POLITICIANS are more interested in passing
legislation to increase their salaries and perks (shiny
models of Mercedes Benzes) than attending to the needs of
the people.
C. OUR OPPOSITION FORCES are hopeless -- fragmented and
given to incessant squabbling and stabbling each other in
the back. Worse, some of the opposition leaders are
themselves "closet dictators," exhibiting the same
autocratic tendencies they loudly condemn in the leaders
theyhope to replace.
D. OUR INTELLECTUALS OR THE "EDUCATED" -- the "gu-nu-gu"
crowd.{"Gu-nu-gu" is a Sierra Leonian term for "human
buzzards." We all have the "pull-him-down" (Ph.D.) DNA
embedded in our genes. We rip each other to pieces.
So now everybody wants to save us in Africa. First came
Madonna . ..Then the Chinese. . . Now it is Paris Hilton.
See this link:
Ms. Hilton.
Rich Girl, Party Animal
Lord save us.
George
Ayittey, Ph.D. Washington, DC, October 17, 2007 |
