Nimetumiwa hii na rafiki yangu na kwa kweli nimeipenda japo ukweli unauma. Sasa tumlaumu nani na tufanye nini ili tujinasue?
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I found your cover story, Carving up Africa (NA Feb), interesting and thought provoking. While its a shame that several African countries will be celebrating their golden jubilees this year with not much to show for it, a lot of issues need to be put into perspective to understand the continents problems.
Its unfortunate that we choose to find scapegoats and blame our colonial masters for our current predicament. How many other people were colonised besides Africans, the Koreans, Chinese, and Indians just to name a few? So how come other people have successfully managed to shake off the yoke of their colonial masters? Would you blame your mother for your poverty at age 50? What went wrong in Africa?
In your article you said the sizes and small populations of some of our fragmented countries were a problem. I dont think so. Nigeria, for instance, has the right factors required by a country to be an economic powerhouse a large population, plenty of natural resources yet the reality is different.
Singapore on the other hand is smaller than most of the tiniest African countries with a population of less than five million people and no natural resources to boast of. Yet today it is listed as the fifth wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita. What did the Asians do that Africans have failed or refused to do?
At the time of independence, many African governments inherited working systems from constitutions to physical infrastructure. How many countries today can boast of having invested and improved their existing infrastructure?
The often-touted idea of a borderless Africa will continue to be a pipe dream unless Africans deliberately decide to free themselves from the burden of colonialisation.
How many Africans would be proud of wearing shoes made in Africa as opposed to some famous Italian brand made in China? As long as this consumption pattern continues, we will never break free. Perhaps we should take a cue from the Indians and South Koreans.
The South Koreans were colonised but because of their hatred of the Japanese and anything associated with them, they created their own products. That is how the Samsungs, LGs, Daewoos and Hundais were born, and they are proud of their own. If we love bread then we must learn to grow wheat. Until we start consuming our own products, we will just provide a mass market and cheap source of raw materials for others.
African unity can only be achieved through trade. The current arrangement where, for example, Sudan is exporting its oil to China and the neighbouring East African countries are importing their oil from the Middle East, is ridiculous.
But every country must strive to produce something, that is the only way they could sit at a table and negotiate an equitable trade arrangement with others and among themselves. Without this, we will just be creating loopholes for smuggling and the dumping of goods imported from elsewhere.
We can complain and apportion blame but we cant change history; however our destiny is in our own hands. There is never going to be another colonialisation to correct all the wrongs done. We should pick up the pieces and move on.
by Moses O. Oremo. Dakar, Senegal
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I found your cover story, Carving up Africa (NA Feb), interesting and thought provoking. While its a shame that several African countries will be celebrating their golden jubilees this year with not much to show for it, a lot of issues need to be put into perspective to understand the continents problems.
Its unfortunate that we choose to find scapegoats and blame our colonial masters for our current predicament. How many other people were colonised besides Africans, the Koreans, Chinese, and Indians just to name a few? So how come other people have successfully managed to shake off the yoke of their colonial masters? Would you blame your mother for your poverty at age 50? What went wrong in Africa?
In your article you said the sizes and small populations of some of our fragmented countries were a problem. I dont think so. Nigeria, for instance, has the right factors required by a country to be an economic powerhouse a large population, plenty of natural resources yet the reality is different.
Singapore on the other hand is smaller than most of the tiniest African countries with a population of less than five million people and no natural resources to boast of. Yet today it is listed as the fifth wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita. What did the Asians do that Africans have failed or refused to do?
At the time of independence, many African governments inherited working systems from constitutions to physical infrastructure. How many countries today can boast of having invested and improved their existing infrastructure?
The often-touted idea of a borderless Africa will continue to be a pipe dream unless Africans deliberately decide to free themselves from the burden of colonialisation.
How many Africans would be proud of wearing shoes made in Africa as opposed to some famous Italian brand made in China? As long as this consumption pattern continues, we will never break free. Perhaps we should take a cue from the Indians and South Koreans.
The South Koreans were colonised but because of their hatred of the Japanese and anything associated with them, they created their own products. That is how the Samsungs, LGs, Daewoos and Hundais were born, and they are proud of their own. If we love bread then we must learn to grow wheat. Until we start consuming our own products, we will just provide a mass market and cheap source of raw materials for others.
African unity can only be achieved through trade. The current arrangement where, for example, Sudan is exporting its oil to China and the neighbouring East African countries are importing their oil from the Middle East, is ridiculous.
But every country must strive to produce something, that is the only way they could sit at a table and negotiate an equitable trade arrangement with others and among themselves. Without this, we will just be creating loopholes for smuggling and the dumping of goods imported from elsewhere.
We can complain and apportion blame but we cant change history; however our destiny is in our own hands. There is never going to be another colonialisation to correct all the wrongs done. We should pick up the pieces and move on.
by Moses O. Oremo. Dakar, Senegal