George Ayittey
George Ayittey
George Ayitteyis a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC. He is a professor at American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He has championed the argument that "Africa is poor because she is not free", that the primary cause of African poverty is less a result of the oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers, but rather a result of modern oppressive native autocrats. He also goes beyond criticism...
NationalityGhanaian
ProfessionEconomist
CountryGhana
Western-style multi-party democracy is possible but not suitable for Africa.
Hippos kill more people in Africa annually than any other wild animal.
Look at the history of peace accords in Africa. They have a terrible record. They are shredded even before the ink on them is dry.
Africa is poor because she is not free.
The 'Cheetah Generation' refers to the new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals, who look at African issues and problems from a totally different and unique perspective.
Across Africa there is what I call a colonialist mentality or orthodoxy. Orthodoxy in the sense that a lot of things have gone wrong in Africa in the post-colonial period. And time and time again, any time something went wrong, the leadership claims that it was never their fault.
The only good dictator is a dead one.
To be sure, dictators are crafty, evil geniuses with awesome firepower at their disposal. They are also brutally efficient at intimidation, terrorism, and mass slaughter. However, a force is able to dominate because the counterforce is either nonexistent or weak.
Back in the 1960s Africa not only fed itself, it also exported food. Not anymore.
You have to separate the humanitarian impulse from the record of aid itself. We all want to help. Many people would say that it's the moral impulse of the rich to help the poor, but the record of aid has been terrible.
In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably.
Radio is the death and life of Africa.
There was free trade in Africa. There was free enterprise in Africa before the colonialists came.
If NATO goes in and solves the crisis in Darfur, when the next one comes along Africa's leaders will just sit back.