Thanks for stopping by. I have three sisters who all went to Chisipite school. It was always a pleasure visiting Chisi!

Africa Gathering is indeed a great idea. With so many of us Africans in the Diaspora, and the millions of Africans throughout Africa finding their voice, it is good to have forums in which to share ideas and spread the positive elements of our continent.

History has shown that in most African cultures, the chief, wether tribal or ‘national’, was all powerful. The chieftainship was a dynasty it was not chosen by any form of electoral process.

If we progress historically to the mid 1960s we learn that in the British African colonies, the UK government of that time, decided that the colonies were no longer sustainable to meet the avaricious needs of their defunct British Empire, so, on the ‘Winds of Change’ speech, they sent out a new political slogan for Africa which said all colonies must now introduce the system of ‘One person, one vote.’

This fine sounding theory was snatched up by the African political elite, as it was a gift from heaven, an opportunity for them to gain international acceptance to ‘Majority rule’ using an accepted ‘Western democratic process,’ where everyone had the right to vote.

As soon as the majority voted however and the ‘elite’ controlled the political power, the ‘One person one vote’ concept was subtly worn down to a process which has now become ‘One person, one vote, ONCE.’

So the African political system has ‘democratically’ been reversed to a system where the Chief, or now the political controllers, are all powerful again.
Theoretically, this is perhaps not such a bad thing, as this system is what the historical African culture practiced and like you, I believe that the Africans should live within their own culture and not within a system imposed by the West.

However, as we all know, the variables of time have changed things enormously. In our present time zone, historically workable cultures now need to adapt to the present world, like it or not. No progressive culture wants to stand still in time.

Generally speaking, Africa today is governed by a perceived ‘democratically elected’ despotic dinosaur, which leaves the people of Africa without a real voice. Until this essential principal changes, it will never be possible to introduce the most important criterion in your argument, which is accountability.

I agree that it is imperative to know the real people of Africa or as you put it ‘know and understand your market,’
but even after achieving this important criterion they, ‘the market,’ will need to be truly self empowered for any of your excellent suggestions to work.
Whilst there are the all powerful African political controllers or ‘Chiefs,’ manipulating the systems for their own benefits, the people of Africa, or the ‘market’ have little hope of realizing their deserved aspirations.

Yes, it is a global village, absolutely. This is my point. Why must Africa have to become like America or Europe? We are conditioned into believing that in order to participate in a global village we all need to become Westernised. If America, Europe and indeed Asia were to truly accept we lived in a global village they would take better care of the planet. They would respect the world’s limited resources and they would learn to listen to other people and cultures points of view.

If we were to act like one village and have a western village as the benchmark we would need four planets to resource our everyday consumption.

I agree there is a need for accountability and a need to radically alter the political landscape. There is no naivety here when it comes to having an honest appreciation for the corruption and institutional and systematic abuses of Africa’s institutions. The point here is not to say that Africa is perfect. The point is to get people to understand that Africa is not Europe, nor America, or even China. Africa is Africa. We cannot define her people by corrupt politicians or starving mothers and children. Change in Africa will come from Africa making those changes according to who she is. Politicians in Africa thrive on control over her economies. They adopt dive and rule strategies. Their power comes from the misguided aid and development mantra of the West.
There are some very basic and fundamental principles of business. This is not to suggest that Africa do away with these. In fact by adhering to these principles we can see that the approach to investment within Africa from the West is flawed. Understanding your market, your employees and the local business climate is imperative to the success of a business.

Remarkable innovations are coming out of Africa and they will continue to do so. Wrestling control of our economies away from governments will be achieved through empowering Africa’s citizens, not through trying to turn Africa into a compliant model of the West.