Africa Is In A Mess: What Went Wrong And What Should Be Done

Rating:
Summary: Work of scholarship and statesmanship
Review:

This is a work of scholarship. It is also a work of statesmanship as opposed to the kind produced by politicians and others to score political kudos or advance a particular agenda for personal gain. And that is what sets the author apart, like a few others I know. It is also important to know what type of person he is in order to understand, or at least try to understand, why he wrote this kind of book, and why he says the things he says in his book which has become a subject of hot discussion and spirited debate among many Africans; at least the ones I know and those whom I am around and I'm sure many others.

Before I go any further, let me first say that I know the author both as a colleague and as a mentor. When we first met more than 30 years ago, I came to know him as a man of principle and stubborn convictions who rarely conceded defeat, if at all. And he became one of my mentors, and not just a colleague, because of his unwavering commitment to principle in spite of the fact that he was younger than I am. We are roughly the same age, but I am about three years older than he is.

Of all my fellow African students I went to school with in Africa and in the United States, Godfrey Mwakikagile is one of the very few, in fact extremely few, whom I know to have remained true to their convictions, their core beliefs, without sacrificing principle for the sake of political expediency or in pursuit of personal interests at the expense of public interest. Most talk about commitment, but few live that way. He is one of those few among us.

I remember him well. He was a very serious committed Pan-Africanist more than 30 years ago when he was a mere youth in his early twenties in college in the United States. He firmly believed that Africa is one, and Africans are one people, including those in the diaspora. And he still is a very serious committed Pan-Africanist today, more than 30 years later, as shown by his scholarly works (found in university libraries in many countries) addressing serious economic and political issues and problems across Africa from a Pan-African perspective. His book "Africa is in A Mess" is one of his best in terms of analysis, honesty, commitment, and candor. It may also be his most controversial.

Whereas many of us are afraid to tell the truth because we don't want to ruffle the feathers of our leaders in Africa or make Africa look bad before the rest of the world especially among those who despise us and make fun of us as a backward and ignorant people, Mwakikagile is one of those Africans who sincerely believe that nothing is going to change in Africa for the better if we don't tell the truth about our condition; and if we don't explain why our leaders are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Anyone who reads his book, "Africa is in A Mess," as well as his other books about Africa, can easily see why all our talk of African solutions to African problems means absolutely nothing if we continue to have the kind of leadership we have in Africa today. The people are not the problem, the leaders are.

I remember asking him, I don't know if he remembers this but he probably does since he had excellent memory, but I remember asking him about 30 years ago if he thought that Africa would ever develop like Europe did. He responded quickly and said, no, not in our life time; it is too short a time. Even Europe did not develop that fast. It took hundreds of years for Europe to develop, he said. I agreed with him on that. But he also brought up the Soviet Union and said it was able to industrialize (in heavy industry) within 40 years since the Russian Revolution because of central planning, although he emphasized that the foundation of modern Russia was laid before then by Peter the Great, an achievement that helped facilitate progress at a faster pace years later, especially in education and heavy industry, after the Bolsheviks seized power and started implementing their strategy of central planning.

Mwakikagile also strongly believed back then, during our student days, that even with all their weaknesses, African governments had a major role to play in economic development because it was they, and not the people, who had large amounts of capital at their disposal; it was they who had control over national resources; and it was they who had access to foreign capital. Our people did not have that. And he was a firm believer in regional integration as the way of the future for Africa. Without it, the continent will never develop, he said. Years later, regional integration did, indeed, become a reality in Africa, with formation of regional economic blocs in West Africa, East Africa, and southern Africa. Many of us of his generation did not foresee that, the way he, and may be a few others amongst us, did.

He was also a strong admirer of leaders such as Nkrumah and Nyerere who also adopted central planning as a strategy for rapid economic development and because of their Pan-African commitment. He saw them as true Pan-Africanists unlike most African leaders. He also greatly admired Sekou Toure for that, as a true Pan-Africanist and great African leader. I strongly disagreed with him on that and said Sekou Toure had jailed and killed many people in Guinea. He agreed but countered by saying Sekou Toure still had African interests at heart, and was a true African leader in spite of his faults, unlike Senghor who was more French than African. I also remember that Sekou Toure was a very close personal friend and ideological compatriot of Nyerere and Nkrumah, both of whom were Mwakikagile's Pan-African ideological mentors.

I vividly recall that Mwakikagile had no respect for Senghor and Houphoutet-Boigny and the rest of the leaders in Francophone Africa anymore than he did for Mobutu. None whatsoever! Absolutely none, as leaders. He saw them as French puppets, and their countries still French colonies, except Guinea under Sekou Toure. By the way, I come from West Africa and remember the rivalry between Nkrumah and Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast. Mwakikagile also knew about this rivalry and defended Nkrumah when the Ghanaian leader said we will see who will develop faster, Ghana or the Ivory Coast.

Yet, in spite of our disagreements on a number of issues, and in spite of the arguments we had on African subjects on several occasions, I must admit that Mwakikagile was more far-sighted than many of us even back then in the seventies when he was just a young man in his early twenties. In fact he was, in spite of his youth, even elected president of the African students union at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, against much older, more "mature," African students because of what people saw in him as a natural leader of the pack. Many people used to say he was very wise and acted far more mature than his age; in fact way beyond his age. Even just the way he looked at you, you felt as if you were in the presence of an elder. Yet he was nothing but a youth, in his early twenties.

He had a serious look, was basically quiet, and very humble in spite of his great intelligence and knowledge, and did not talk much. But when he talked, people listened. He radiated confidence and was very popular. Yet he was also an enigmatic character and could be extremely difficult to decipher; a combination of sharp wit, remarkably high intelligence, humility and simplicity making it even more difficult to understand his personality. But it was all for a purpose and provided him ample room to think; the product of which is what you see today: the books he has written on a wide range of subjects.

He was thinking all the time, a subject brought up now and then especially by one Nigerian student who knew him well. He was so simple, and so humble, that you could easily underestimate him, but only at your own risk. And, for whatever reason, he liked to be underestimated, and to be considered as just a simple African among hundreds of millions, no better than the poorest peasant in some remote part of Africa. This also explains why he wrote this book, "Africa is in A Mess." It is about the well-being of the toiling masses across Africa more than anybody else. And that is why, in order to help improve the condition of the masses, and probably out of desperation, he proposes the following in his book (p.144):

"African countries should also liberalize their immigration laws to attract highly skilled farmers from the former colonial powers and elsewhere and enable them to lease land or become citizens. Africa is an agricultural continent, and it can greatly benefit from them. They have much-needed skills they can impart to local peasants and farmers to boost production. And because they have large capital, they will also be able to invest in the economy and provide much-needed employment....South African white farmers who are also leaving their country because of conflict over land and the polarized racial situation down there should be encouraged to settle in other African countries."

He goes on to say (p. 145): "If we want foreigners - no matter where they come from - with skills and money to invest in our economies and help develop our countries, we should welcome them with open arms. We are going to have investors or no investors. We don't have enough local investors with enough capital to fuel our economies. Therefore we need foreign investors. And we need highly skilled people to work and even settle in our countries. All this will have multiplier effect and help to develop our economies and create jobs our governments have failed to create for our our people. But local people, and the government, must have a controlling share in all investment ventures in our countries. Otherwise our countries are going to be owned by foreigners."

Although some of us may have trouble with some of that, and I do because we don't need foreigners to help us or teach us how to work on our land or develop our agricultural economies, what he says shows the depth of his commitment to the well-being of our people, the poorest of the poor in our continent and indeed of the entire Africa in general. May be he says this out of desperation as I said earlier, as a last resort, to see how we can help our people since nothing else seems to be working and our governments are doing nothing to seriously address the problem. I have not seen or talked to him in years to find out what he really thinks about all this. But his book raises a lot of important questions.

Many of his critics do, of course, probably wonder why he decided to live outside Africa for many years if he thought he had some solutions to some of our problems. But I think it is easy to understand why. I don't believe that he had any political ambitions to be a leader in Africa after finishing his university studies, although he had the potential to be one within the limited context of his home country Tanzania, even if not necessarily as a leader of continental stature. If he did have such an ambition, he would not have chosen to live abroad.

His decision to live outside Africa for whatever reasons, and even if he has returned to the continent now and then through the years, was obviously a well-calculated move (knowing him) as the best way for him to help Africa. As a writer, he has far more opportunities to get his books published if he lives abroad than anywhere in Africa. If he did not, and stayed in Africa to write, he probably would not have written the books he has, including this one, "Africa is in A Mess."

Besides the hostile political climate in African countries which discourages many of our people to write anything let alone books, we hardly have any publishers in our continent. And Mwakikagile is by no means the only African writer and scholar who has lived abroad for many years. Far better known and more influential African writers and scholars such as Professor Ali Mazrui, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thion'go, Dennis Brutus, Lewis Nkosi, Ezekiel Mphalele (who is now back in South Africa) and many others have also lived abroad for years even if for different reasons. Yet they are no less committed and no less patriotic than their fellow countrymen who still live in Africa. And Mwakikagile fits this category.

Of course, quite a few of us back then in the seventies when we were in college together thought that Mwakikagile was destined for high office and would end up in public life, as a public figure in a high government position when he returned to Tanzania. But he ended up as somebody else instead, as a writer, a public figure nonetheless, speaking for the underdog, and guided by his foresight and gifted intellect.

Most of us during those days were excited about our newly won independence, just like he was, of course. Remember, in the early and even in the mid-seventies, most African countries had been independent for only about 10 years or so or less. Yet, Mwakikagile was one of the few among us who were able to look beyond all that excitement and see that one of the biggest problems we already had even back then and would have in the future was our leaders, not just Western or Eastern imperialism. And he did emphasize that, yes, there was also Eastern imperialism, Russian and Chinese, and not just Western.

Those were also the days of the liberation struggle in southern Africa, especially in the seventies, and almost all of us paid close attention to what was going on down there, perhaps ignoring what our leaders were doing to us. Godfrey Mwakikagile and a few others did not ignore that, in spite of the fact that his country Tanzania was in the thick of the struggle especially as the headquarters of all the African liberation movements and guerrilla camps, training freedom fighters to wage war against the white minority racist regimes in southern Africa and Portuguese Guinea in West Africa.

The point of all this is that, had we looked at the weaknesses of most of our leaders as an incompetent lot, mired in corruption and motivated by greed for power at whatever cost more than anything else, we probably would have begun sooner to demand fundamental change way back then in the seventies, and even in the sixties. And we would not be in the kind of situation we are in now as destitute nations surviving on international relief.

And that brings up another question Mwakikagile has also addressed in his book, "Africa is in A Mess." Although he was optimistic about the future back in the seventies, he was mature enough to realize that Africa's problems were not entirely our fault or that of our leaders only. He did not, for one moment, believe that industrialized nations will ever listen to us at the conference table if we demanded fair treatment and tried to protect our interests. And the reason was simple, he said. We were weak. Without power, you are nothing in this world, he used to say. Power respects power. Morality does not count. If it did, Africa would not be ignored or exploited by powerful nations. And I agreed with him on all that. He said the international system, created and dominated by powerful countries especially after the end of World War II, had built-in biases against us and the rest of the Third World. It is an issue he also talks about in his book "Africa is in A Mess" and in his other works.

His book is a must read. But I hope that he will write another one on how we are going to escape from the grip of the powerful nations who dominate the world, stipulating terms of international trade and controlling everything else that affects us in the global arena and even in Africa itself. For example, as he states in his book citing declassified documents, the United States even had contingency plans to invade Nigeria in the mid-seventies, especially when the fiercely independent Murtala Mohammed was the military head of state, had the country cut off oil supplies to the West in case of another oil embargo by the OPEC nations or as a unilateral move in pursuit of national and Pan-African interests. He also points out that the American government had plans to neutralize the Nigerian military because it was becoming very powerful and Nigeria was playing a major role in the liberation struggle in southern Africa.

Do we Africans have solutions to such domination of our continent by Western countries and other powerful nations? Much as I admire Mwakikagile and his works, and much as I respect him as a scholar and as a thinker, I don't think he or anyone of us has fully addressed the issue. That is one of the weaknesses of his book, "Africa is in A Mess," if not its major weakness. If it wasn't for that, and may be a few other things he says in this controversial work, I would have given him five stars. But I give him four, instead. There's nothing wrong with being a four-star general!

Continue to marshal facts, Godfrey. Remember, you were even nicknamed "professor" back then when you were still a young university student barely out of your teens! And I'm sure you will also remember me, who I am, after you read this review. Thank you for "Africa is in A Mess" and your other books. Keep up the good work, fellow compatriot in Africa's redemption.

Rating:
Summary: Bitter pill to swallow
Review:
The works of Godfrey Mwakikagile as a serious writer first came to my attention when I read reviews of his books in some African newspapers and magazines.

Two of his books were reviewed by WEST AFRICA, a prestigious and highly influential magazine. Both were reviewed by one of the editors of the magazine.

His book, "Africa and the West," a political and philosophical work which has been praised by many people including scholars, was reviewed in the January 2002 edition of WEST AFRICA; the same book was reviewed by a Sierra Leonean newspaper, EXPO TIMES, and by THE MIRROR, a Zimbabwean newspaper and other publications. And his other book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," another highly praised work and probably his most influential, was also reviewed by WEST AFRICA in November 2002.

In all the years I have read WEST AFRICA magazine, I have never seen more than one book, by the same author, reviewed within the same year by this highly respected publication as happened in the case of Mwakikagile when two of his books were reviewed in 2002. That really caught my attention. I wanted to know who this man was. I had never even heard of him before, as a writer, may be because of the nature of his books as academic works.

So, that is how I got to know about his books. And that is what brought me to this book, "Africa is in A Mess," one of several he has written in only a few years.

I have read the book well. It is not a question of factual presentation or analysis, I have no objection to that. He knows what he's talking about. It is the hostile tone and harsh prose that is so disturbing about this book. And I must emphasize this: I am not saying it is offensive but disturbing, although some people may also find it to be demeaning to us as Africans.

We need books written by fellow Africans about Africa, but the kind which encourage us, not those which discourage us. We have enough problems in Africa, and I'm sure Mwakikagile will agree with that.

I believe the author is sincere. He is also bitter, and disgusted with our appalling condition as a people. But he could have delivered his message in a gentler tone.

I'm sure many people will be inspired by this book. And some already have, as I can tell from the reviews I have read here. Oh, they just love it, don't they! And as he says somewhere in the book, shame can be therapeutic and inspire us to do better. That obviously includes foreigners who laugh at us because of our backwardness, not just because we ourselves are fully aware of that and are ashamed of our condition. So, I hope foreigners will continue to make fun of us so that we can do better!

And there are those among us who will not be inspired by this book and may even sink deeper into despair, believing that there is no hope for Africa, although the author says there is hope for us.

As the saying goes, truth is a bitter pill to swallow. And the author has administered quite a dose.

So, the book has its positive aspects and its negative aspects, but probably more negative than positive the way I see it. The author has really come down hard on us, and on himself of course, even if for good reason. He's an African himself.

But, it is a good book, anyway. And I have rated it accordingly.

Rating:
Summary: Straight talk: Money Talks!
Review: About 5 million African professionals and entrepreneurs live and work outside Africa. Fact or fiction? Fact. A documented fact. But why? Just read on, to understand why Africa is in such a mess.

Professor Raphael Munavu, vice-chancellor of Moi University in Kenya and professor of chemistry at the University of Nairobi was a schoolmate of Godfrey Mwakikagle at Wayne State University in the United States in the seventies and knows the author well. I also happen to know both, in fact very well. And both agree, as I do, on why Africa is losing so many of her highly educated people, not just every year, but every month.

Professor Munavu told Voice of America (VOA) last month (December 2004) that the main reason why African professionals and other highly educated people leave the continent was low pay. He spoke from Nairobi, Kenya, where he attended a four-day "Africa's Brain Gain Conference" organized by the celebrated Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui. As Munavu explained: "If you look at the salaries of some of our, for example, Ph.D. holders in this country, and what they would be earning outside, it is about 40 percent. In other words, anybody who goes out would be able to earn about three times what they would be earning here." But there are other reasons. He went on to say that bad governance, limited opportunities and high crime rates also played a big role in this massive brain drain.

Difficult to understand? No, it is not. And we should not pretend that it is.

As a Kenyan, I know what loss we have suffered. And we continue to suffer. According to Munavu, up to 35 percent of the 7,000 Kenyan students who study abroad each year do not return to Kenya, especially those who have studied science and engineering, the very fields in which we sorely lack high-level manpower.

Now, you see why more than 5 million highly skilled Africans (a figure cited by the participants at the Nairobi conference) have left Africa and live and work in other countries, especially in Western European countries. The United States has the largest number of them. Had they stayed in Africa, or I should say had our leaders created conditions which would have encouraged them to stay and work in Africa, we wouldn't be in such a mess; at least not the kind we are in today because we don't have enough highly trained people needed to help develop our continent.

No wonder Mwakikagile said, "it was a painful book to write." We all feel the pain caused by this massive loss. And tragically, our loss is their gain; hence the reluctance of Western countries to help us stop it.

Rating:
Summary: Reversing Africa's Brain Drain
Review: Africa continues to lose tens of thousands of her highly educated people to Western countries and other parts of the world every year, a subject well-addressed by Godfrey Mwakikagile in his book "Africa is in A Mess." Others have addressed the same subject, although not with forceful literary expression the way he has, except for some like Ghanaian Professor George Ayittey who teaches in the United States.

And just in the week before last, a symposium was held in Nairobi, Kenya, to address this problem. It was organized by Professor Ali Mazrui, a Kenyan who also lives and teaches in the United States, and one of Africa's most brilliant sons, not just ours in Kenya. Many Kenyans living abroad participated in the symposium. Kenya's Vice-President Moody Awori opened the conference which was also attended by a number of high-ranking government officials.

The government's recognition of out talent abroad was probably best demonstrated when President Mwai Kibaki sometime ago chose Professor Mazrui to be Chancellor of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, in spite of the fact that he does not even live in Kenya and has not lived in the country during the past 30 years or so besides his frequent visits to his homeland he loves so much, as all those who know him will readily admit.

As the distinguished scholar pointed out, Kenya is one of the three hardest-hit African countries, losing very large numbers of educated people to the West every year. The other two are Nigeria and Ghana. All African countries have suffered a terrible loss, and they continue to do so every year, but none the way Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have, probably for no other reason than that they have some of the highest numbers of educated people on the African continent and abroad. For example, about 47,000 Kenyan professionals live in the United States. And as Professor Mazrui emphasized, "More than twice as many are in other developed countries."

Nowadays Kenya, among all African countries, also has the highest number of people studying in the United States, just ahead of Nigeria which had been in the lead for years and whose population is four times bigger than Kenya's. And most of these people do not return to Kenya after they finish their studies, just like most of their compatriots from other African countries don't.

Yet, there is a strange irony to all this. While we admit the loss in terms of high-level manpower, we should also acknoweldge the gain in terms of monetary value even if it's not worth it; a point underscored by some participants at the symposium in Nairobi in mid-December. As Mazrui said at the conference, uncoordinated remittance of income from Africans working abroad surpasses the amount of aid African countries get from the West. He went on to say: "Based on this fact, we feel that with more concerted efforts, Kenya can gain from the many people working abroad through direct and indirect repatriation of incomes and technology."

The sad part is that it's not going to happen in a coordinated way because of the unwillingness of African governments to support such an ambitious scheme. So what is the alternative? Capital investment from abroad. That is one of the reasons why Mwakikagile contends in his book that African countries should open up their borders and liberalize their immigration policies to allow large numbers of foreigners to become citizens so that they can invest in our economies.

I'm sure he will be chewed up for this by short-sighted ultra-nationalists who say African leaders have already sold our countries to foreigners in this age of globalization, allowing them to buy national assets at the expense of our people. Even President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, where Mwakikagile comes from, has been highly criticized for this, with his critics saying he has sold the country to the South Africans, mostly white South Africans who have invested heavily in Tanzania since the end of apartheid. Among the toughest critics is Professor Issa Shivji who teaches law at the University of Dar es Salaam and who says "our land" has been sold to foreigners.

But it happens that South Africa is the best investor we have in Africa. As the late Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere said at a conference at the University of Dar es Salaam in December 1997, if Western countries are going to invest abroad, they are going to invest first in Asia, next in Latin America, and last in Africa if at all. On South African investors, he said let them invest. "So what if they are white?" he asked.

So, let us open up our countries. We don't have jobs without investment. And we don't have enough on own to invest in our economies to create jobs. This is one way of getting out the mess we are in. Even if we ended corruption today, we are not going to develop without large amounts of direct foreign investment (DFI); at least not now, until we have enough capital of our own to drive our economies. But we are not there yet.

We also don't adequately, if at all, use the capital and expertise of our people who live abroad. They don't have to live in Africa to be able to help, although it would be much better if they did. But they can still do something to help even if they don't live in Africa. There must be ways to minimize the devastating impact of the brain drain Africa has suffered through the years and which continues to drain our best best brains. I found the figures on the brain drain to be disheratening when I read this book. But I also found them to be encouraging in one way: We have the people who can help to develop Africa. They just happen to live outside Africa. As Professor Mazrui stated at the conference in Nairobi:

"The most realistic approach at this time is for all of us to participate meaningfully in the revival of the economy by providing jobs through investment at home. Those of us who may not be endowed with financial ability can assist in empowering Kenyans through technology transfer. I am personally touched that President Mwai Kibaki bestowed on me the honour to head the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology while am still working abroad. If such recognition of our gifted people working overseas existed in the past, this country would be further ahead than it is today."

And as another Kenyan, Professor Dharan Ghai, a highly respected economist who is an international development strategy consultant based in Geneva and who is also the elder brother of the renowned Professor Yash Ghai who chaired the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, said at the symposium in Nairobi:

"Most Kenyan professionals living abroad usually turn to business upon retiring. We are encouraging them to return and invest in the country because there are more opportunities here than in the West. The global technology is at its peak and most of this country's best brains are in the developed countries. We are working round the clock to encourage professionals to work as consultants in local public institutions during their annual leaves as a way of enhancing technological advancement. We are appealing to Kenyans engaged in research projects outside the country to work with local young brains. This can help in imparting meaningful knowledge to our people.

Many Kenyans are involved in successful businesses out there and would help their country a great deal if they entered into partnerships with local traders. It is a pity that few Kenyan traders living abroad have shown any interest in buying the State corporations. We are tracking people across the globe with a view to getting individual professional profiles and financial ability so that we can allocate each one or a group of them duties according to their capabilities."

Those are some of the things we can do, not only in Kenya but also in other African countries, to get out of the mess we are in and which Godfrey Mwakikagile has eloquently addressed in his book, "Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done."

In fact, we are in such a mess that even our universities are an embarrassment and a disgrace to us. As Professor Mazrui said at the symposium, many respected Kenyan scientists live abroad, yet local public universities were yet to attain global recognition as centres of scientific excellence. He went to say: "Europeans and Americans only come to our universities for African studies. None of them has a science degree from any African university."

I don't blame them.

Rating:
Summary: Africa - what a mess! What a shame!
Review: First, thanks, a lot of thanks, to Chinua Achebe for what he said about Nigeria on the BBC a few days ago.

Yes, Nigeria does not work. And we Nigerians know it even if some of us don't want to admit it out of nationalist pride. But pride, empty pride, does not build nations. It does not develop countries when there is no sound basis for such pride. Nigeria, once the pride of Africa for its potential as a great black nation, is now in despair, and may be even beyond repair. A vibrant nation, of a vibrant people, it is an embarrassment to the black race. It is a weak giant, if it is a giant at all.

Last month, in October, Nigeria celebrated 44 years of independence we won in 1960. Yet, we had nothing to celebrate in terms of achievements, in terms of development, and in terms of nationalist pride since the British left almost half a century ago. Isn't that a shame? Things have fallen apart.

And the country itself is falling apart. As Wole Soyinka said a few weeks ago on BBC Africa, there are strong secessionist movements in many parts of Nigeria. Yes, indeed. Things fall apart. The centre cannot hold.

Achebe, Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and other great sons and daughters of Africa, keep up the good work. Don't let those despots and corrupt politicians intimidate you. Keep on telling the truth about our condition. It is a miserable condition. It stinks. It makes me sick. Yes, Africa is in such a mess. What a shame! Potential wasted! It makes me cry.

Lying about our condition is no virtue. Nor is silence, however golden it may be in some situations. Telling the truth is patriotic. The truth shall set you free. Without the truth, we cannot admit our mistakes. Without the truth, we cannot face our problems. And without the truth, we cannot do anything about our condition.

I was introduced to the writings of Godfrey Mwakikagile, one of the illustrous sons of Africa like many others, when I read an excellent review of one of his books, "The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation." The review was written by the managing editor of "Mano Vision," an African publication based in London, UK. I bought the book right away. After I read this excellent book, came another book "Africa is in A Mess", by the same author, written along the same lines. And I knew he was up to something, headed in the right direction with his cogent analysis, the same way I felt when I read his other book.

Yes, we are in a mess. What to do about it is the central theme of this book, "Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done."

Some Africans may not agree with some of his solutions, for example when he says our countries should liberalize immigration laws to attract foreigners and make it easy for those with skills and capital to become citizens and acquire land to develop it and invest in our economies. But whatever you think about what he says, give him credit for confronting African leaders with facts, brutal facts, they don't like. What they don't like, is what we like.

What a mess! What a shame! It makes me angry. It makes me cry. It makes me sick. And it makes me sad, and miserable. And I am not alone. Yes, Africa is in a mess.

Thank you, Godfrey, for this book. And God bless Africa. Divine intervention may be our last hope as shown by the mushrooming of churches all over Africa asking the Lord to intervene to save us from our misery.

Yes, we are in such a mess. Mwakikagile and other writers like him who wield the pen that is mightier than the sword of our tinpot dictators and corrupt politicians also need protection from the Almighty to continue telling the truth our leaders don't want to hear, as things fall apart.

Rating:
Summary: honest, thought-provoking
Review: I come from Papua New Guinea (South Pacific). I have read "Africa is in A Mess." It's excellent, honest, and thought-provoking. It has some relevance for a developing country like Papua New Guinea which is currently on the verge of collapse caused by greedy politicians.

Rating:
Summary: Who should and who should not criticize Africa?
Review: Not long before he died, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, as quoted by the author and others elsewhere, uttered these chilling words: "Africa is in A Mess."

The author, Godfrey Mwakikagile, used those words as the title for his book, "Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done," a devastating indictment of post-colonial Africa and one of the most clear-headed analyses I have ever read about Africa in the last 40 years or so.

Again, it was Nyerere who uttered the following prophetic words in his advice to Robert Mugabe when Rhodesia won independence and became known as Zimbabwe: "You have inherited the jewel of Africa. Keep it that way." We all know what has happened to Zimbabwe under Mugabe, in spite of Nyerere's advice, vindicating Mwakikagile's work, "Africa is in A Mess."

Zimbabwe is not the only African country that has descended into chaos. Kenya, my country, was in such a mess under the leadership of President Daniel arap Moi for more than two decades that it was not until recently after KANU was booted out of office and Mwai Kibaki took over that this once-prosperous country began to recover from this traumatic experience.

Early last week, in the third week of October 2004, world-renowned Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe was criticized by a number of fellow Africans for saying Nigeria does not work. They might as well criticize those who say Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed under Mugabe since the late 1990s in pursuit of his fast-track land reform programme, seizing white-owned farms, that has virtually stopped production in what once was one of Africa's most prosperous and richest countries, surpassed only by South Africa. Today, it's no better off than Chad or Niger or other countries in that category.

Achebe, the author of the classic work "Things Fall Apart," a title taken from W.B. Yeats' poem whose lines include "the centre cannot hold, things fall apart," publicly snubbed Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo when he refused to accept a national honour, saying: "Nigeria is a country that does not work. Schools, universities, roads, hospitals, water, the economy, security, life. (And) the situation is getting worse," he told BBC Newtwork Africa.

He said his refusal to accept the Commander of the Federal Republic, Nigeria's second highest honour, would serve as "a wake-up call." He also wrote a two-page letter about rejecting the honour, published in Nigerian newspapers.

Around the same time, Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade said NEPAD, the plan for Africa's economic development, is not working. The Senegalese leader together with the presidents of Nigeria, South Africa and Algeria, spearheaded this continental initiative when NEPAD - the New Partnership for Africa's Development - was launched in October 2001. As President Wade put it only a few days ago: "I am disappointed. I have great difficulties explaining what we have achieved when people at home and elsewhere ask me that question," whether or not NEPAD has been a success.

Now, into the picture, comes Godfrey Mwakikagile, author of "Africa is in A Mess" and other Africans like him who argue along the same lines that Africa is indeed a failure in many ways even if not all.

Achebe was criticized by some people for his bitter criticism of Nigeria because he lives in the United States. He has lived in the States for more than 10 years obviously because Nigeria does not work. His critics, most of them African, said he has no right to criticize because he does not live in Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa and therefore does not know what's going on back home. They posted their views on the internet on "BBC Africa." In fact, some of them live outside Africa just like he does.

Add to the list another internationally acclaimed African writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who also lives in the United States where he is a professor at the University of California-Irvine. He left Kenya, his home country, more than 22 years ago because of repression and persecution after spending a year in prison for his outspoken views, and returned to his homeland for only a few days about three months ago; then flew out after he was attacked and his wife raped. He returned to the United States.


In spite of the criticism Achebe endured, he was not isolated. Most of the people who submitted their views to BBC Africa supported him. Nigeria, indeed most of Africa, does not work.

The same applies to Mwakikagile who also has not lived in Africa for many years, even if he has travelled back and forth as many Africans who live abroad do.

The main point is not whether or not these African compatriots of ours who live abroad have the right to criticize what's going on in Africa when they don't live there; the relevant question is whether or not they are telling the truth. And that is where our national leaders, across Africa, have failed. They refuse to listen to our intellectuals and other Africans whether they live in Africa or not. In fact, that is why many of them have left and continue to leave Africa and live abroad.

Inviting them back is not enough. Create conditions that will encourage them to return. And this means allowing all our people to freely express their views so that they can contribute to national development. It also means creating conditions that will encourage foreigners and citizens to invest in our countries in order to rejuvenate our dying economies and create jobs for our people. It also means allowing academics and researchers to pursue their activities without intimidation or interference.

Unless we do that, Africa will continue to wallow in the mess our leaders have created and which they seem to have no intention to bring to an end. They should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A continent in despair
Review: Post-colonial Africa is in such a mess because its leaders adopted socialist policies and centralized the economy. They also instituted tyranny and institutionalized it under one-party dictatorship, silencing their opponents who had better ideas on how to run the government and plan economic development. And they depended heavily on external aid, and guidance, to develop their countries.

The most prominent among them in pursuit of socialist policies and one-party "democracy" were Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Sekou Toure, Modibo Keita, and Kenneth Kaunda. Ironically, they are among the most revered leaders, especially Nkrumah and Nyerere, although they ruined their countries.

Africa does, indeed, face enormous problems. And they need to be adressed with the help of the industrialized countries. But here is the irony: the countries that the author says exploit Africa are the very same ones he says can help the continent to develop. They have the capital to invest, the technology and the expertise and, most important of all, they dominate the international system and dictate terms of trade on a global scale, ignoring African interests.

The president of his country, Nyerere, whom the author greatly admires and about whom he has written extensively, tried to break away from this stranglehold in order to pursue an independent course when he adopted and implemented socialist policies consistently and longer than any other African leader. Yet socialism proved to be a disastrous failure.

So, what next? I don't know. And I doubt the author or anybody else knows, either. Africa is the only continent that has become poorer, and poorer, than any other part of the world during the past 25 years. And I agree with the author. The fault lies within and without. How to tackle this is the biggest task Africa faces in the 21st century.

Godfrey Mwakikagile has written a very good book that is a wake-up call for Africans to think of other ways to develop their continent. I am also thinking. I am an African myself.

But beware! Globalization may be the new imperialism, an obervation the author astutely makes in his book while walking a very fine line between dependence and independence for African countries after the triumph of capitalism over communism and socialism.

Rating:
Summary: The bitter truth about Africa
Review: The author has told the bitter truth about Africa. He may have stepped on some toes, but that's the way it has to be. The rest of the world knows what kind of mess Africa is in today. So there's no need to try to hide it.

And it's more than just civil wars and famine. It is bad, rotten, leadership, although not in all cases. There are some leaders who care about their people, but it's only a few. Most of them don't. And that's where the problem lies.

Godfrey Mwakikagile does not mince words. Enemies of Africans, especially racists, may even use that - "See? I told you so!" - and dismiss Africa as an entirely hopeless continent. But that's not the point the author is trying to make. In spite of all the problems, he's optimistic. And he makes that clear. He also has some very strong words for racists and imperialists who have exploited and continue to exploit Africa.

Things can, and will get, better provided there's fundamental change in leadership. Africa needs dedicated, selfless leaders who care about their people. And the people themselves can help to bring about that change.

This is probably the most painful book about Africa that I have ever read. It is also one of the best. The author is so honest in his portrayal of Africa that some of his compatriots may be offended by his candor. But it would be intellectual treason if he tried to hide the truth that must be told if Africa is to be rescued from its misery. And that's the worst crime anyone can commit against his own people.

Read this book. But be prepared to cry if you care about Africa, still knowing that things will get better in this continent which is also the cradle of mankind. There are better days ahead, Africa, so don't give up. Keep on moving.

And to the rest of the world, please, do the best you can to help Africa help herself. We are all one family, united by our common humanity.

Rating:
Summary: Africa's Brain Drain: Our Leaders' Fault
Review: There are plenty of very disturbing statistics in this book.

More than 30,000 Nigerian doctors live and work in the United States alone. That's without even counting the other Nigerian professionals living and working in the United States. And other Nigerian doctors and highly educated professionals in different fields living and working elsewhere - outside Nigeria and Africa! And without counting other highly educated Africans - of all ethnic origins including Pakistani and East Indian from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - living and working in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

As Godfrey Mwakikagile goes on to show in his book, between 1985 and 1990, Africa lost 60,000 scientists, doctors, engineers and other highly skilled professionals who emigrated mostly to Europe, the United States and Canada. More than 30,000 Africans with PhD's live and work outside Africa. Even South Africa, the continent's most developed country and model of functional democracy, has been losing about 40,000 people, mostly highly educated, every year since the end of apartheid.

The list goes on and on. On and on.

Chinua Achebe, the Eagle on the Iroko as he is affectionately known, and Africa's most well-known writer, is one of them. Another luminary, one of Africa's best known professors, probably the best known and also the most well-known around the world especially in Western countries, Ali Mazrui from Kenya, also lives and teaches in the United States. He has lived in the United States for more than 30 years. And he has been blunt about all this, like many other Africans, as Mwakikagile explains in his book.

In June 1999, Professor Mazrui was involved in a heated exchange and shouting match with Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings during a conference in Switzerland when Rawlings bitterly complained that many doctors and other highly educated people trained in Ghana and other African countries at great expense left Africa as soon as they completed their studies. They left for good. For greener pastures. For bread and butter. Where is commitment? Where is patriotism?

Rawlings went on to say that it was not enough for the trained Africans to repay their student loans because it took, for example, at least 7 years, seven long years, to train another doctor in Ghana, leaving thousands of patients without medical care.

Mazrui shot back, saying it was politicians like Jerry Rawlings who were to blame for the brain drain.

Professor Mazrui, who taught at the highly renowned Makerere University in Uganda since 1963, left for the United States in the early 1970s and could not even get a job in his home country, Kenya, unless he could be "a good boy," he was told, half-jokingly, by the vice-chancellor of the University of Nairobi during lunch with him: "It's not been possible to get a job in my country. I couldn't work in Uganda because of Idi Amin," he explains.

Few learned from what Amin did. He not only ruined his country, he also destroyed Makerere University, the most prestigious institution of higher learning in tropical Africa founded in 1922. Yet, many applauded him, except very few leaders especially President Julius Nyerere who kicked him out of Uganda, for good.

Other African leaders may not be Idi Amins or even remotely close to Amin. But they have destroyed our countries, in their own way, forcing many of our people to flee to other countries, especially to the industrialized West.

Things are so bad in most African countries that some of our people want our former colonial masters to come back and rule us again. They have had such public rallies in Sierra Leone, Gabon, and similar calls in other countries. Even many of those who don't go that far say at least colonial rule was better. They include prominent figures such as Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.

Moeletsi Mbeki, who is head of the South African Institute of International Affairs, said at a meeting of the institute towards the end of September this year that the average African is worse off now than during the colonial era. He accused African leaders and the elite of stealing money and keeping it abroad, while colonial rulers planted crops, built roads, cities, schools and hospitals. He went on to say that while China had lifted more than 400,000 people out of poverty in the past 20 years, Nigeria had pushed 71 million of its people, about two-thirds of the entire population, below the poverty line.

It's not just those who are desperately poor who say colonial rule was better. Some of the elite say the same thing. Even some African diplomats in Switzerland, as quoted in this book, wish our colonial masters had never left. Never. And that they should come back.

Just think about it.