What Is Wrong With Us: Africa cannot blame its way to economic freedom
A remarkable talent has quietly flourished across our continent, and it is the ability to explain almost any problem with breathtaking precision. We know who caused it, which administration inherited it, which one worsened it, which international institution contributed to it and which foreign power ought to apologise for it. We can debate yesterday's mistakes for hours, form committees to investigate them, and, when those committees report, form fresh committees to discover why the first recommendations were never implemented. Meanwhile the drain remains blocked, the factory stays shut, the graduate is still unemployed, the farmer still cannot reach the market, and an African child is still waiting for a future promised before her parents were born. There is, however, a profound difference between understanding responsibility and becoming comfortably addicted to blame. NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom) draws the line gently: "blame may explain how we arrived at the crossroads, but only responsibility decides whether we remain standing there."