Is Africa the Problem? or the Problem Africans?

[t.D.A.]

My intention is not to be provocateur napoleon.

I have a problem with the discussion surrounding, "Our portrayals in the West," and these debates we tend to have over how we are portrayed in the Western media and ways to improve our PR.

My personal thoughts on the matter are that we should focus on what will actually bring about the result, namely the substance and getting involved with making our continent magnificent rather than worrying about how many poor starving children we see on television and how few the adulations are.

When one observes the media it becomes clear that negativity will always sell more copy, ads etc and so we should let the media do what they do which is sell advertising and newspapers and focus our energies entirely on informing ourselves and doing what we can to improve our continent regardless of what that does to our image.

[Msoto]

Originally Posted by t.D.A.

My intention is not to be provocateur napoleon.

I have a problem with the discussion surrounding, "Our portrayals in the West," and these debates we tend to have over how we are portrayed in the Western media and ways to improve our PR.

My personal thoughts on the matter are that we should focus on what will actually bring about the result, namely the substance and getting involved with making our continent magnificent rather than worrying about how many poor starving children we see on television and how few the adulations are.

When one observes the media it becomes clear that negativity will always sell more copy, ads etc and so we should let the media do what they do which is sell advertising and newspapers and focus our energies entirely on informing ourselves and doing what we can to improve our continent regardless of what that does to our image.

I hope you continue sharing your perspectives on various issues.

[t.D.A.]

Originally Posted by Msoto

I hope you continue sharing your perspectives on various issues.

Thank you, I genuinely appreciate that

[HUH?]

love your blog man!! keep doin' watcha' doin'


hey have you watched the documentary, "life and debt"?

[t.D.A.]

Thank you for the warm words
No I haven't, where would I be able to access "Life and Debt"? Is there somewhere I can get it free online or buy it online?

[Type R]

I cannot speak for africa but i have a view of kenya.

Imagine, a local company tries to start manufacturing (not assembling) cars. Haya, the chief production engineer is a, say, kikuyu. The chief design engineer is, say, a mkamba. (by now, all kenyans know where i am going with this. That is the sad thing.) the general manager - technical operations is, say, a maasai but his father was actually a kikuyu who was "adopted" in narok and married a real maasai woman. Both the cde and the cpe report to the gm-to. The procurement manager is a luo who has grown up in ukambani and speaks fluent kikamba.

Mind you, we have not yet come to the most difficult part, the design and production of a marketable car. Yet our hands are full of problems!!!

all the above staff are highly trained, some have even worked at the mercedes factory in stuttgart, other engineers have been for training in japan with toyota, honda, etc. So training and experience are not in short supply. Objective: produce a mini-car to rival the starlet, vitz, yaris, etc.

Many "contacts" have already talked to the procurement manager trying to secure supply contracts for various sub-components. Pm will base his decision of what supplies to procure based on kitu kidogo, vested interests (e.g. He will use a nephew to form a company and import what the pm has already pre-decided he will order). Chief design engineer, cde - let's say he's the one honest fellow, makes a perfectly workable car prototype. He hands over to production. Cpe has problems with the design, and fights it. Kumbe, the design is ok but it is that the parts that the pm had pre-ordered differed slightly from the cde's final design of the car. Cpe and cde go to war against the cde, asking him to draw a better design, and even give him spare parts (my!) to use as his basis. "how can i base a design on components?!!!" cpe mobilises and incites the lower-level engineers. Cpe fights but seeing that he will lose (the gm-to's kyuk blood becomes an issue, cpe is a kyuk and the cde's kao exposure which he banked on is useless), he resigns.

Pm is transferred and becomes the cde (crazier things happen), a new pm is appointed (cpe's rela, kyuk). Now the company is in harmony but the resultant car is not.

The purchasing manager has designed a car based on components that his shady supply system has availed. The former cde is blamed for "consistent delays that evaporated when he left." the car is a total mess. Even after alignment, it cannot drive straight. Exhaust system heat warms the back seat. If you exceed 100 kph on a turn, god bless your children.

Meanwhile, the former cde is busy in stuttgart learning german for his new job in a major deutschland manufacturer, which will be shipping the new generation model to kenya in less than a year. So much energy wasted and not one joule focussed on ensuring that a car with integrity is produced.

don't ask me where the md was in all this mess. He is the key to all this mess. He is "the buck stops here." the md is what is wrong with africa if he allows the above scenario to unfold unabated. That is what is wrong with africa: leadership, the lack thereof. Lack of focus, sidetracked by tribal/personal sideshows.

[t.D.A.]

Originally Posted by type r

i cannot speak for africa but i have a view of kenya....................that is what is wrong with africa: leadership, the lack thereof. Lack of focus, sidetracked by tribal/personal sideshows.[/b]

I agree wholeheartedly that we lack focus. I think in this western world it is far too easy to get distracted and focus on things that don't matter, it is extremely difficult to not only focus on the things that matter but to focus on them consistently and over a long period of time. In regards to leadership, a good friend of mine wrote a paper regarding leadership and i thought i would share it with y'all (apologies for the length) taken from:

1) The Displaced African: what's wrong with africa? is it africans?
2) The african dream group: the poverty of leadership

And i quote:

Africa. That one word has come to be synonymous with social strife, suffering, poverty and myriads other negative connotations. Yet africa has always been and continues to be the richest continent as far as natural resources are concerned. Why then does it continue to lag behind in terms of development? why hasn’t it been able to jump on the bandwagon of industrialization? many excuses have been offered so far in an effort to explain this phenomenon and make sense of africa’s current predicament. Many culprits have been named over the years. Among them are poverty, corruption, insufficient foreign aid among others. Yet these challenges have been overcome by other countries, societies and nations the details of which are beyond the scope of this paper. Very rarely is the underlying issue addressed however, that of poor leadership. And when it is addressed it is never done so in a conclusive manner. “africa has long been saddled with poor, even malevolent, leadership: predatory kleptocrats, military-installed autocrats, economic illiterates, and puffed-up posturers. By far the most egregious examples come from nigeria, the democratic republic of the congo, and zimbabwe -- countries that have been run into the ground despite their abundant natural resources. But these cases are by no means unrepresentative: by some measures, 90 percent of sub-saharan african nations have experienced despotic rule in the last three decades. Such leaders use power as an end in itself, rather than for the public good; they are indifferent to the progress of their citizens (although anxious to receive their adulation); they are unswayed by reason and employ poisonous social or racial ideologies; and they are hypocrites, always shifting blame for their countries' distress. Under the stewardship of these leaders, infrastructure in many african countries has fallen into disrepair, currencies have depreciated, and real prices have inflated dramatically, while job availability, health care, education standards, and life expectancy have declined. Ordinary life has become beleaguered: general security has deteriorated, crime and corruption have increased, much-needed public funds have flowed into hidden bank accounts, and officially sanctioned ethnic discrimination -- sometimes resulting in civil war -- has become prevalent.” robert i. Rotberg could not have put it better. In his article titled “strengthening african leadership”, published in the july/august issue of foreign affairs, rotberg summed up the single most important issue facing africa; leadership…or lack thereof. This failure of leadership is by no means a recent predicament. It dates back .....

Too long to post in it's entirety. However, the point of the paper is pretty much in alignment with your point: Our continent is desperately crying for us to take personal responsibility and remain focussed and consistently work on the few things that are important and will help us all rise above the mess.

[Atabong]

Originally Posted by type r

i cannot speak for africa but i have a view of kenya. ...the md is what is wrong with africa if he allows the above scenario to unfold unabated. That is what is wrong with africa: leadership, the lack thereof. Lack of focus, sidetracked by tribal/personal sideshows.[/b]

this input is clearly a very intelligent analysis of the facts and truly reflects the state of affairs in sub saharan africa and other poor nations. Objectively, one can read from this that tribalism and nepotism is; costing us senseless death, encouraging corruption, poverty and ignorance.

Road traffic accidents are known to be a major cause of death and disability through out the developing world, but nowhere is the problem so acute as sub-saharan africa. Bad roads, aged vehicles and lax regulations are all considered major contributing factors to africa's road fatality and accident numbers, themselves three times as great as the continent's share of motor vehicles. This situation could not have happened if qualified contractors (not family relations or people who can offer the most kickbacks) were given the contracts to construct our roads. Road accidents alone are the third biggest killers in sub saharan Africa.

Just think of this; i wake up in the morning, brush my teeth and wash up, walk to the roadside, get on a bus, it's a 'normal' day. The driver speeds off and before long the bus is right under a trailer, a fatal accident! passersby rush me to the hospital and my left leg and right arm are amputated.No escaping, Ive got to live the rest of my life like this. Who put me in this state?
Mr. President: allowed the wrong roads to be constructed by the wrong people, wrong drivers to drive the wrong cars, allowed money mongering unqualified police officers roam the streets, yes Mr. President doesn’t want to change the status quo or offend his tribesmen who help rig elections for him.

Our leaders are only interested in amassing personal wealth and exploiting the daunting stigma of differences imposed on the face of sub saharan africa.Personally I think african heads of state are the core cause of our present quagmire. All over sub saharan africa, corruption and nepotism should be made a crime against humanity punishable by death on a guillotine.

[Type R]

On the other hand, we must be aware that the media have put an excessively bleak picture of Africa in our mind.

To get a good sense of Africa, you need to travel around a bit. I have been to: Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Johannesburg and Lagos. It is not all terror and heart-wrenching suffering. In fact, even in the worst place (Lagos), I have had some fun. Dar is a peaceful city where you can walk at night. Kampala the same.

Africa does have some fine places. Botswana, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome & Principe are all enjoying double-digit economic growth rates or stable quiet economies. In many countries, Presidents have quietly stepped aside when their time comes or when they lose elections (tell me!).

The continent suffers a major challenge that is rarely acknowledged: size. Africa is geographically massive. I think Western Europe can 'fit' in East Africa? Not that I am offering an excuse but at least we must appreciate the challenge.

[TikTok]

Originally Posted by Type R

The continent suffers a major challenge that is rarely acknowledged: size. Africa is geographically massive. I think Western Europe can 'fit' in East Africa? Not that I am offering an excuse but at least we must appreciate the challenge.

You were doing well until you mentioned the above. Canada and USA combined are roughly the same size as Africa with almost 1/3rd of the population. Canada, and Russia are the least densely populated countries. South America is almost the size of Africa with fewer countries. Size is not an excuse or a reason.