Bonn Appeal
For a different development policy!

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Fri, 24 Apr 2009 - 02:05

James Shikwati, Nairobi, Kenia
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"Why Africa is Losing its Dignity" is a thought provoking piece from Kurt Gerhardt, and I do agree with his sentiments on aid and Africa's underdevelopment. I however loose him somewhere (most probably because he knows the type of audience he is targeting) when he engages in what I may call "blaming the victim” syndrome. I doubt that belief in spirits, family-clan networks are to blame when it comes to matters of development. In my view, if the global economic system was as un-planned as we have been made to believe by the World Bank/IMF and their attendant agencies, Africans would have great opportunities to be significant players at the market place. On this particular aspect where I think his article blames the victim, I would argue that what we need at least for Africa is a push towards an un-planned global economic order; because the planned one, supervised by donor agencies among others relegates Africans to a state of indignity.
See some of my developing thoughts on this:
http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=4…

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