Let's End the Year With Music!

Let's end the year with music, to capture the African spirit of hope and joy. The music below is from Nigeria and it is sung in Pidgin English. The musicians are called P' Square and they are the craze of many young people in Africa today. The words capture our time.Once again, happy New Year!

Happy New Year To FlourishingAfrica Readers!

We at FlourishingAfrica wish a happy New Year to our readers all over the world. Since the beginning of this blog two years ago, our readership has spanned India and China, Russia, the United States, Europe, Australia, and countries all over Africa. In short, we are being read all over the world. Our goal has been to monitor developments on the continent of Africa and around the world, pointing out whether these developments have positive or negative effects on the lives of Africans. Like many regions around the world, this year has brought successes and setbacks to Africans around the world. While HIV and AIDS infections continue to fall, increasing attention is being paid to the development of science and technology. While the politics in many parts of the continent, from Cape to Cairo, have been encouraging, there are a few countries that continue to know violent unrest - Libya, Mali, Somalia, the Congo, CAR, Nigeria. Even though violent conflicts have reduced on the continent, they continue to be a disturbing trend on the continent. In all this, however, Africans around the world continue to maintain a very optimistic spirit. May this optimism spur us to continue to care for our own and others so that Africa may continue to flourish. May this coming year bring increasing peace and prosperity.

Controversy Over Smartphone And Tablet In Africa

There is currently an apparent controversy over the production of a smartphone and tablet in Africa. This is apparently due to the fact that Africans have begun to develop a liking for products made in the continent rather than elsewhere. Thus, it appears that companies are scrambling to claim that their products are made in Africa in order to gain authenticity. It is for this reason that a smartphone and tablet apparently "designed and engineered" in the Congo but "manufactured in China" is being pushed as an authentic African product that responds to the needs of Africans. The entrepreneur responsible for the development of the product even insisted that "Only Africans can know what Africa needs."
The story of the development of these products is just a technological version of a cultural story which Africans have been told for much of the recent history of the continent. This is clear when the company responsible for the development of the products responded to challenges to its African authenticity by saying that those who are mounting such challenges could be Afro-pessimists who hold that nothing good could come out of Africa. All of this begs the question of what an authentic African product should be or whether we can even talk of an authentically African product?
First, is there such a thing as an authentically African product? If there is to be such a thing, it should simply be a product that is invented and made in its entirety by Africans and in Africa, period. While the intrepeneur responsible for the development of the smartphone and tablet in the Congo must be greatly praised for his efforts, going by the definition of African authenticity above, his product is not authentically African. In fact, it is not clear to me why the product should specifically be associated with Africa apart from the fact that part of it was done in Africa. Whenever we say that a product is an African product, we should clearly define what we mean.
Second, should we talk of an African product? Well, like the language of cultural authenticity, the language of African product is motivated by the politics of cultural difference and marketing. The distinctiveness of the African is often seen as a plus in African cultural politics. This distinctiveness, taken to its extreme, has led the developer of this smartphone and tablet to make the erroneous claim that only Africans know what Africans need. This is a baffling claim because the smartphone and the tablet were not made for Africans. In fact, many of the products which Africans now use were not made specifically for Africans. The telephone itself is a good example. It is therefore possible that non-Africans can know what Africans need, especially given the fact that Africans are now falling in a big way for the smartphone and the tablet.
Still, the question remains -  should we talk of an African product? It is not clear to me whether we should or not. I can only say that Africans should not be making only African products - whatever that means. The technology developed in Africa should be universally valid technology. This means that African technology should not only respond to the needs of Africans. Any technology that is designed to respond to the needs of Africans should also be able to respond to the needs of people in other places around the world. Africans are not special - they are not better or worse than any other people around the world. Even though a particular technology may be invented and manufactured in Africa and for Africans, it should also have universal appeal. The product should be marketed around the world as simply a good product rather than as an African product. Samsung products, for example, are not sold around the world as Japanese products; they are simply sold as good products that people need. That is the direction African inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs should be taking. We should stop fighting over African authenticity; that is a politics that limits our imagination. Let's just make good products rather than "African" products.

Aid Industry Cannot Fix Africa's Negative Image

Even though many countries in Africa have seen significant improvement in their politics and standards of living, the negative image of the continent seared in the minds of many around the world by the media and the aid industry has persisted. For many, the whole continent is painted in one broad stroke of despair, even though this is not the reality on the ground. The story of poverty, malnutrition, war, HIV and AIDS, and others, have been the mainstay of an aid industry that cares more about its survival than the interests of the people on the continent. And now, Oxfam seems to be having the epiphany that the story of Africa is not only one of despair but also one of remarkable prosperity. The call that Africa should be seen as characterized by both hope and despair, like any other place around the world, has largely fallen on deaf ears as many still continue (perhaps out of ignorance or malice or both) to paint the continent only in negative images. In every single African country, like in all countries around the world, there are those who are poor and those who are rich; there are those who exploit and those who are exploited; the are those who go hungry and those who are well fed; there are those who are homeless and those who live in mansions; there are those who live to ripe old age and those who die young. However, the patronizing attitude which the media and the aid industry maintains towards the continent continues to paint the continent as only one thing. The point is not to deny the challenges of the continent but rather to insist that the complexity of the continent must be at the forefront of how people view the continent.
There is significant poverty and malnutrition in China and India, for example, but that is not what is being talked about today. In the case of China, for example, the government does not welcome aid groups because it knows that aid groups do not build the image of a people. However, because aid groups are allowed to have their way with Africa, they drive the image of the continent which they want and that image persists around the world even in the midst of a remarkably diverse continent.
Without actually traveling to places like east Texas, Lousiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, one would hardly know that there are many people in the United states who do not have indoor plumbing but rather rely on pit latrines. These places are simply hidden from the view of the media but accentuated in the case of Africa. It is hardly popularized that millions of children go to bed hungry every day in America, however, that is often the story that emerges from Africa. Stories that are hidden elsewhere in the world are usually the stories that are accentuated in the case of Africa. This is a despicable state of affairs that simply needs to stop. However, as long as the aid industry is allowed to define how Africa is seen around the world, this negative image will persist because that is how the aid industry makes its living. Africans must constantly challenge this image wherever and whenever it raises its ugly head.

Arguments Against Santa With All Kinds Of Implications

I was scavenging the net today when I found this interesting opinion piece from Dante Chinni at Washington Post. Its arguments against Santa, I think, are just a thinly disguised argument against much of religion. It is interesting how one apparently limited argument could have wider implications. We may think that the belief about Santa is a child's play; however, it is rooted in our deeper religious imagination. I think it is important to ponder some of the questions raised in this piece especially from the social justice perspective.

Ben Ali's Wealth II: An African President's Thievery

See below the shiny objects of the former president of Tunisia, Ben Ali.

This Man Is Wanted In Nigeria!!!

Do you this man? Have you seen him anywhere? He is a former governor currently wanted by the Nigerian government. The Nigerian government would love to have him in custody for embezzlement.

All Russians Should Be Ashamed Of Zenit Fans' Racism

Considering that some of the best soccer players in world are black, one would think that fans would want their team to procure talent rather than race. In Russia, however, some fans of one of the leading teams in the country have opted for race rather than talent. This is only the latest manifestation of the rabid racism which is eating at the heart of Russia, in spite of the increasing proximity of racial and cultural diversity around the world. All Russians must denounce soccer fans who manifested what the coach of the team concerned described as "stupidity".

Virulent Chinese Racism No Different From Western Racism

Foreign Policy is running a piece that questions whether Chinese racism against Africans would hamper China-Africa relations. While this is a distinct possibility, Chinese racism should not be depicted as somehow different from Western racism. Powerful countries that deal with Africa have often done so not because they cherish their relationship with the continent but rather because the continent has certain things they would like to exploit. That was the case with Western incursion into Africa and it is currently the case with Chinese rampaging of the continent. These powerful countries generally hold Africa and Africans in contempt. Chinese contempt for Africans is just as deep as Western contempt for the continent. If Western racism did not diminish Western exploitation of the continent neither will Chinese racism diminish their exploitation  of the continent. In fact, the continent can only be rabidly exploited if it is held in contempt at the same time. Racism is the very reason why the continent is exploited. If China is to exploit Africa, China needs to be racist. The kind of exploitation which is visited on Africa by these imperialist powers cannot be done unless the African people are debased. Why would anyone exploit other people who are seen as equals?
Now that China is establishing a newspaper in an African country is there any similar African newspaper established in China? A relationship among equals can only exist if an African country can also establish its own newspaper in China to promote understanding among Africans and Chinese. African elites may want us to believe that China respects Africans but that is not true. These elites are now selling the African peoples to Chinese interests just as they sold us to Western interests. It is a shame.

Is Lionel Messi Highest Goal Scorer? Not So Fast!

With his magical dexterity at dribbling and goal scoring, Fifa seems poised to crown Lionel Messi of Barcelona as the highest goal scorer in a single season, ever. Messi apparently has 88 goals to his credit this season. However, soccer fans in Brazil and Zambia are saying that soccer stars in their respective countries scored more than that - 89 in Brazil and 107 in Zambia. If these claims are correct, then Messi still has ways to go! At the time of globalization, people can easily check the records so that new discoveries, inventions, and records are not falsely made.

Why Is Chevron Using African Women To Sell Gas In America?

Why is the commercial below running in America rather than in Africa? Does Chevron not contribute to fighting AIDS in America? Why are only African women used in the ad even though AIDS affects men also? With this ad Chevron continues the portrayal of Africans as helpless, a picture that sells well in America. If it is true that AIDS affects us all, as the ad claims, why are people all over the world not used in it? This ad is so insensitive that Chevron should be ashamed of itself and pull it off the air.

How Mohammed Mursi Became A Dictator

The above caption will be the title of the book detailing the tenure of the current president of Egypt, Mohammed Mursi, when his tenure is done. The story will include the deception of the Muslim Brotherhood, his political party, indicating how they promised not to field a candidate for the presidency and ended up reneging on that promise. It will include the power grab which the man is now orchestrating and how he is sending out tanks against his own people. It will be concluded that Mohammed Mursi never became different from Hosni Mubarak whom the people overthrew. It will be shown that Egypt deserved better.

Is Atheism A Crime?

Apparently so in many Islamic countries, including some in Africa. Some people who become atheists even flee their country and seek asylum in foreign lands while others are jailed for apparently aiding and abetting atheistic tendencies. It should not be so.

A Cameroonian Veteran Who Fought For Britain In The Second World War

Here is a moving story of Pa Bah, a 96-year old Cameroonian veteran, who fought for Britain in Burma during the Second World War.

Muhammed Mursi Is Becoming An African Dictator

Egypt's new democratically elected president, Muhammed Mursi, is becoming an African dictator. African dictators, like dictators everywhere, begin usurping power piecemeal and before anyone knows it, the dictator has all the power. This is the same thing Hosni Mubarak did. Under cover of wanting peace for the country Mubarak instituted a state of emergency that lasted throughout his long dictatorship. Egyptians should not allow Mohammed Mursi to tranform himself in that way, as he has already begun to do.

The World's Poorest President: Not In Africa!

One would have thought that, because Africa has some of the poorest countries in the world, the world's poorest president would be in Africa. However, that is not the case. In fact, some of the presidents of poor African countries are among the richest presidents in the world. In order to see the world's poorest president, one would have to go to Uruguay, a country that is richer than many African countries. And Uruguay's president is poor not because the country is poor but because he chooses to be poor. Read his inspirational story here.

Mozambique's Unequal Growth

Cameroon's Dictator, Paul Biya, Marks 30 Years In Power Today

Thirty years ago, France forced the then president of Cameroon, Amadou Ahidjo, to resign and had over power to Paul Biya, who was then the Prime Minister of the country. Since then, Paul Biya has transformed himself into a dictator, ruling through the army while paying his primary loyalty to France. He has orchestrated one fraudulent election after another even as he drags down the economy of the country. He is hiding from public view on this day in order not to alert the world that he is one of the last remaining dictators in Africa. He seems to be ashamed of his own legacy - he should be.

Habemus Papam! (We Have A Pope!) - In Egypt

Here is the new Pope of the Coptic Church.

Ghana's Presidential Debates: Another Good Example For Africa

On The Salaries Of Ministers And Presidents In Africa

There is currently an outcry in Ghana because the salaries of ministers and the president have been increased and backdated to 2009. As the BBC reports, the salary of the president "has gone up from about $4,240 (£2,640) to $6,357, which is tax free." The salary of ministers has also gone up $4,770. While there is outcry in Ghana about the amount I would like to see what is going on there from the perspective of a glass half full rather than a glass half empty. This position is that the Ghanaians at least know how much their president and ministers are being paid. This, I should say, is a great improvement and speaks to the faltering transparency that is beginning to be part of Ghana's democracy. Ghanaians would not even have the opportunity to raise such an outcry if they lived in dictatorships such as Cameroon or Equatorial Guinea where the salaries of presidents and ministers are not known. This position by no means sanctions the increase in salaries in Ghana but it gives a different perspective from which to see what is going on there. Ghana is still a good example for other African countries to emulate, this outcry notwithstanding. Those in power must constantly be held accountable.

How the Coptic Church Picks A Pope: Less Politics And Campaigning

Upon the passing of the Pope of the Coptic Church, as recently happened, a new Pope is selected. See the process in this BBC article.

Cameroon's Cardinal Says Paul Biya Should Resign

Cameroon's Cardinal Christian Tumi has urged the thirty-year dictator of the country, Paul Biya, to resign. Read more about the story here.

Mogadishu Rising?

Richest Person Ever Is An African King

A recent evaluation has indicated that the richest persone who ever lived was the famous king of Mali, Mansa Musa. He is reputed to have made gold worthless on his pilgrimage to Mecca during the Middle Ages.

Women And Inheritance Rights In Africa

In many African societies, women are not allowed to inherit the property of their deceased husbands. Such property, together with the women, is often passed on to the brother or relative of the deceased husband. Such an attitude is however beginning to change, as countries such as Botwsana and Ghana have passed laws granting women the right of inheritance. Other African countries that limit the ability of women to inherit their husband's properties should follow the examples of Botswana and Ghana.

Rwanda - Africa's Success Story or Authoritarian State?

Deep Read: Rwanda - African success story or authoritarian state?

11 Oct 2012 16:07 - Guardian Reporter

Tony Blair and Bill Clinton heap praise on Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, but his halo is beginning to slip and citizens are starting to notice.

A hi-tech fingerprint scanner unlocks the entrance to Jean Gatabazi's offices at the hospital in the Rwandan town of Nyamata. Gatabazi says the past five years have brought a tarmac road, street lighting and thriving businesses to the site of one of the worst massacres of the 1994 genocide. And he knows whom he credits for the transformation. "Paul Kagame is an excellent man," he says proudly. "Hero is the right word."
President Kagame has similarly mesmerised Tony Blair (who called him a "visionary leader"), Bill Clinton ("one of the greatest leaders of our time"), Clare Short ("such a sweetie") and Howard Schultz, chief executive of Starbucks, who was persuaded to invest here. Such idolatry raises the question, what spell does this flinty statesman with bookish, even nerdy looks, with no obvious charisma, cast over western leaders – and why is it now wearing thin?
Everything in Rwanda must be seen through the prism of the genocide, a hundred apocalyptic days that wiped out 800 000 men, women, children and babies and left no family unscarred. As a guerrilla commander who marched from the bush to the capital, Kigali, it was Kagame who ended the nightmare and, his champions say, tilted the scales more towards reconciliation than revenge. "I'm not sure Rwanda would exist if not for him right now," one expat businessman said.
At first glance, it is not hard to see why visitors are seduced by Kagame's Rwanda. Whatever post-traumatic disorders have been buried in the collective unconscious over 18 years, on the surface, life is orderly, pavements are clean and roads are free from the potholes that curse much of Africa. Kigali is nurturing a reputation as the safest city on the continent. American aid workers, entrepreneurs and tourists have poured in to a version of Africa that is both user-friendly and authentic.
In the past decade, primary school attendance has trebled, child mortality has halved and Parliament has achieved the highest proportion of female members in the world. Last week saw the opening of the country's first public library, its generous windows looking out directly on the US embassy. Kagame's wife, Jeannette, took a tour of the airy $3.5-million building and heard from articulate 12-year-olds enjoying the fastest growing One Laptop Per Child project in Africa.
It is no wonder that Rwanda is held up as a prime example of how donor support can work, proving a handy riposte to the aid sceptics who would slash the department for international development's budget. Kagame (54) has been seen as a visionary, the face of a new, self-confident, economically vibrant African narrative that buries the passivity and victimhood of the past.
In addition, some say, this might go some way to paying off western guilt over failing to intervene during the genocide. "Clinton and Blair may be looking back to their time in the 90s and thinking, 'What could we have done differently, how can we put it right?'" one observer remarked.
But in recent years, there has been a slow, sickening realisation that the west's favourite African leader comes with a sinister edge. Kagame's Rwanda, say critics, is an authoritarian state where democracy and human rights are trampled upon and dissenters are hunted down. When Kagame won the 2010 election with 93% of the vote, for example, three major opposition parties were excluded from the ballot. Two of their leaders were jailed and still languish there today.
The third, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green party, was also arrested briefly then went into exile after his deputy, André Kagwa Rwisereka, was found dead, nearly decapitated. "It broke our hearts," recalled Habineza, who returned home last month after two years in Sweden. "He was a man who came to our house to share a meal and was close to my family. It was a terrible death. I went to the mortuary to dress him for the burial. It was an intimate moment. It shattered us but we have to pull ourselves together."
Habineza, who received death threats after breaking away from Kagame's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), feels frustrated at international donors' failure to push for genuine democracy. "I requested Britain and others to take action regarding political space in Rwanda but what they are doing, I don't understand. If the international community took a stand on political space and democracy, that would be the most helpful to us."
Habineza welcomed the work of Blair's African Governance Initiative in Rwanda, but added: "I ask him to always request President Kagame to look at these issues: democracy and economic development go hand in hand. We are saying Rwanda is ready for democracy. Tony Blair should tell him this. There cannot be democracy in a country where there is no opposition party and no freedom of expression."
In the past few years, several journalists have been arrested or killed, an exiled general survived a shooting in Johannesburg, and Scotland Yard warned two Rwandans living in Britain that "the Rwandan government poses an imminent threat to your life". A report this week by Amnesty International identified a series of unlawful detentions and torture including electric shocks. Coincidence? Kagame's government insists the incidents must be examined one by one. His critics join the dots and find a pattern that includes state-sponsored death squads.
Jean Baptiste Icyitonderwa, general secretary of Social Party Imberakuri, claims its leader has been tortured in jail. "As a person in an opposition party, you can't trust your own security," he said. "Many times you hear some leader of the opposition parties got arrested, killed and some others disappeared, others are persecuted. That means no one who belongs to an opposition party can feel safe."
Boniface Twagirimana, vice-president of the United Democratic Forces party, whose leader is also behind bars, said: "President Kagame is a dictator. He's operating like he's still in the forest as a rebel. He's not a president for the whole country, only RPF members. He doesn't want to open the political space to allow freedom of expression."
Kagame has pledged to step down in 2017, the end of his second term. But Twagirimana is doubtful. "Maybe they will change the constitution so he can continue. I think he would like to rule for 20, 30, 50 years like Robert Mugabe."
Some observers argue that the RPF government is torn between a faction of military hardliners, who regard repression as a small price to pay for post-genocide peace between Hutus and Tutsis, and a more liberal wing sensitive to democratic concerns. Kagame, the military man turned statesman, faces a constant battle to balance the two.
He recently responded to critics of restrictions on free speech by invoking Holocaust denialism. "They are mainly talking about laws related to genocide ideology, which I am more than happy to defend," he told the US Metro newspaper. "Rwandans will not tolerate voices that promote a return to the ethnic divisionism that precipitated the genocide 18 years ago. To that extent, we place limits on freedom of expression in a similar way to how much of Europe has made it a crime to deny the Holocaust. Aside from that, Rwanda is a very open and free country."
Kagame's government claims the west should not impose its own notions of democracy on Africa. His supporters include Gerald Mpyisi, managing director of the Institute of Management and Leadership, who said: "The president is running the country like a CEO of a company who ensures that every director is accountable for their department. That is why, despite the lack of resources, you still find things happening.
"I believe for a country in the third world to develop there has to be a certain element of organising the population. The west tries to use its standards in the developing world and it isn't fair."
If Rwanda had remained a kind of African Singapore, the west might have continued to turn a blind eye. But this year, it seems, the mask has finally slipped. In June, UN monitors accused Kagame of meddling in his mineral-rich neighbour the Democratic Republic of the Congo, supporting a rebellion led by a war crimes suspect and blamed for atrocities including mass rapes. Evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch supports the claim, which Rwanda fiercely denies.
International donors finally had no choice but to rap Kagame on the knuckles. His domestic opponents now want them to go further. Twagirimana said: "The money given by the UK should be stopped. It is being used to run the army and fund the campaign in Congo. In a country without a democratic system, it is not difficult to use the money how you want. That is why the money is being used to kill people in Congo and Britain should stop its support."
Human Rights Watch is a constant thorn in Kagame's side. Its researcher Carina Tertsakian was in effect expelled from Rwanda before the last election. "Paul Kagame is a figure that seems to fascinate people," she said. "He's been very clever and western governments have been very gullible in buying it and ignoring the violations and abuses. But by 2010 even the British government had to acknowledge things were not quite right. We are now seeing the Rwandan PR machine come unstuck." – © Guardian News and Media 2012

Nigeria: Where Oil Companies Disdain The People

In Nigeria, oil companies do not invest in the people. In fact, in some cases they even destroy the lives of people but the Nigerian government pays no attention to this distressful situation. That is why Nigerians have been suing oil companies not in their own country but in foreign lands.

50 Years After Independence: What Is Uganda Celebrating?

Unicef Should Pull Offensive Ads!

UNICEF has recently been running offensive ads, like the one below. It continues to paint black children around the world as being on the edge of the precipice. Unicef appears not to be satisfied with the tainted money it has taken from Equatorial Guinea's dictator, Obiang Nguema. The ads show a level of unprecedented desperation that paint black kids around the world in an extremely poor light. Please pull the offensive ads. Unicef appears to be more desperate than those kids.

Dying For Nuban Identity In Sudan

Jalila Khamis Koko, a Nuban trying to preserve Nuban identity, is sentenced to die in Sudan.

300 Days of Protesting Paul Biya's Dictatorship In Cameroon

It has been three hundred days since FlourishingAfrica began protesting the decadent dictatorship of Paul Biya and his minions in Cameroon. The protest began immediately after Paul Biya rigged the last presidential election in Cameroon and successfully forced himself on the people for the thirtieth year. The resignation with which many took this rape of the country has been baffling to us so we made it our mission to constantly remind Cameroonians and the world of the rapacity of this dangerous government in Africa.Paul Biya is one of the longest serving dictators in the continent and recently he has been jailing those he suspects of one day rising up against him, including the ministers who had colluded in his unhappy regime. Paul Biya's is an arrogant and ignominious regime which has no vision for the country. His primary goal is to hang onto power even as the country suffers massive decline. He has killed the private sector by driving away investors. He has removed the ordinary people from the political process by not collecting taxes. This makes him not to rely on the ordinary people for the financial resources of the country but on natural resources and taxes from civil servants. Thus, he has left many regions of the country to rot in the bush. He has snuffed the hopes of many young Cameroonians. He makes his home increasingly in Europe rather than in Cameroon. The man himself has no belief in the country he runs. It is a danger for such a person to continue to run the country of a lively people such as Cameroonians. We will not rest until that day when we have a visionary as the humble leader of Cameroon.

My Day With Cardinal Peter Turkson

I had the distinct honor of participating in a conference celebrating fifty years of Vatican II in Africa held at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even though I presented a paper that was well received at the conference, one of the highlights for me was the time I spent with Cardinal Turkson, who is currently the President of the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Coast, Ghana. He graced the occasion with a presentation on what the Roman Catholic Church is doing concerning issues of peace and justice around the world, with particular emphasis on Africa.
My interest here is not so much in the paper he presented as in his demeanor. He was very jovial and interacted with all of us with extreme humility and simplicity. I stayed in the same house and rode to the airport in the same car as the Cardinal. While we were leaving the house for the car to head for the airport, one of the priests carried the Cardinal's bag and the Cardinal had only his file in his left hand. I had two bags. When the Cardinal saw that I was carrying two bags, he offered to help me carry one of my bags. I thanked him but said no. Then, when it came time for us to enter the car, the Cardinal asked me whether I preferred to sit in the front or the back of the car. I told him that he should make the choice. He sat in the front. When we arrived at the airport, the Cardinal wanted the priest who had taken us to the airport to just drop us off in front of the departure terminal so as not to suffer the incovenience of having to find a parking spot. But the priest said no. He looked for a place to park and then helped us into where we were supposed to check in. The Cardinal went first class and I went coach. During the time I spent with him I saw an amazing form of simplicity that I hardly see with Africa's big men. He gave me hope that the church may be a sight for the transformation of our continent. He embodied one of the points he made in his presentation: that the church is focusing on raising transformative leaders for the continent. I saw the possibility of such transformation in his own person. Perhaps he would be different if he were a government minister rather than a minister of the church. That, I do not know.

Yours truly is on the left of the picture. The Cardinal is second to my left

Do Nigerian Women Need Male Escorts To Attend The Hajj?

Some Nigerian women hajj pilgrims have been detained in very humiliating condition in Saudi Arabia because the Saudi government thought that the women had to be accompanied by male male escorts.

Rethinking Assumptions About Africa

From Harvard Business Review Blog:

Rethink Your Assumptions About Opportunity in Africa

by Jonathan Berman  |   7:00 AM September 14, 2012

"There are children starving in Africa. Eat your peas."
Surely I am not the only person whose first impressions of Africa were shaped along these lines. Whether it was your mother excoriating you about wasting food or an advertisement for Oxfam showing malnourished babies, the earliest impression of Africa many of us have received is of deprivation.
While that's still a reality, it is by no means the whole reality. More importantly, it is not the reality that will have the greatest impact on Africa's future, and yours.
The more forward-looking reality is that Africa is a dawning success, a globally-important locus of innovation and sustained growth. In the decade just past, Africa's economy grew at 5.7% annually. The IMF's most recent projection (in which it downgraded global growth estimates by one basis point) is that Africa's economy will continue to grow this year by 5.4%, more than twice the anticipated growth rate of Brazil. For those who wonder if that is growth off a tiny base, it is not. Africa's formal economy is $1.9 trillion, slightly larger than India's, and about as big as Russia's. And, after two slow decades, it is now growing at over 5%.
So, what is Africa? The turnaround story of the new century, and a business opportunity of titanic proportions. Consultancies including McKinsey, BCG, PWC and KPMG have ably documented it. Quality journals like the Financial Times and The Economist (which fully and honorably recanted its unfortunate May 2000 description of Africa as "the hopeless continent") now report on African growth regularly. Terrific blogs like The Africa Chronicles and How We Made It in Africa take it as a given.
Nonetheless, in my experience the vast majority of businesspeople and policy makers are either unaware of the change underway in Africa or underestimate the associated opportunity. Not long ago, I led a team interviewing thirty of the top global US investors, financial intermediaries and trade experts about Africa. We asked them how many African companies they thought had more than $100 million in annual revenue. The typical response was between 40 and 50. The correct answer is over 500 and over 150 African companies have annual revenue of $1 billion or more, according to the indispensable Africa Report.
For those wishing to see the story clearly, it may be helpful to call out some of the lenses that distort our vision of Africa today and then propose one corrective lens. Let's start with the distortive lenses. While there are many, this is my informed, if subjective, priority of the top three.
First there's the preconception of Africa as the embodiment of need. Our mothers, their peas and all the other major influences of childhood have a remarkably persistent impact on our adult, and even professional, perception of Africa. Those perceptions are reinforced by a news media (the above exceptions notwithstanding) that is quick to cover famines, slow to cover successes. By successes I do not mean the occasional ox farmer or microenterprise doing well, which is critical to reducing poverty but of limited interest to a business audience. I mean African business successes at scale, like the mobile banking innovator Safaricom or the world-beating new media company Naspers.
Second, the entertainment sector has built a fortune depicting Africa as a place of happy animals and miserable people. In global entertainment, the only empowered Africans are the Lion King and Idi Amin. Nelson Mandela is doing OK, but only after 27 years in jail. Africans who are not animals, despots or Nelson Mandela are portrayed as suffering under the heel of poverty, war and disease. Think of the last two movies you saw with Africans in them and you'll see what I mean.
Finally, even when there is reporting on African success, it doesn't stick because we are rarely exposed to the people leading that success. The data is out there, but fails to penetrate or provide real insight. For that, you need to begin to understand the people succeeding in Africa and their perspective on what it means to win.
I happen to have spoken to two of those people this week. They are quite different, but their perspectives are remarkably similar.
Sam Jonah is the CEO of Jonah Capital, the former CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, and described by Forbes as among the 20 most powerful businessmen in Africa. Born in Ghana, not far from the company's mines, Sam led Ashanti in its successful bid to become the first African company to list on the NYSE, and today he serves on multiple boards across many of Africa's growth sectors. I asked Sam what US companies could do better to capture the opportunities in African growth. "Be bold." he said without hesitation. "You need the full commitment that US companies showed in Europe after WWII, in Mexico with NAFTA, and in China in the current decade. I talk to a lot of US companies 'looking' at Africa, testing it on the margins. That will not work. The companies that succeed here take bold, assertive action."
Perry Cantarutti's background could not be more different from Sam's, but his experience bears out Sam's counsel. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Perry went to business school in Chicago, and joined the aviation industry to "see the world and bridge peoples and cultures." Today he leads Delta Air Line's business in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Delta began direct flights from the US to Africa with two routes in 2006. Today it is flying direct to five cities, the largest presence of any US airline. "We are committed to Africa for the long term," Perry told me recently. As an example, he recalled his company's initial flights into Liberia, a formerly war-torn country now enjoying the growth born of peace and democratic governance. "I was a passenger on our first plane the day we landed in Monrovia (Liberia's capital). Touching down at that airport was as safe and secure as landing in any airport in our network. To get to that day takes a different investment than we make at home — we were full partners with government in building out that airport, its infrastructure and systems. In many ways it's the role we played in the earliest days of aviation in the US."
Sam's comments and Perry's reminded me of a lens through which I sometimes see Africa today: A continent at the dawn of its emergence, a bit like America at the dawn of the last century. The promise is as vast as any I've encountered in twenty years in frontier markets. So are the challenges, and the personalities of the men and women rising to meet them.

More blog posts by Jonathan Berman

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Jonathan Berman

Jonathan Berman is an author and advisor to Fortune 500 companies and investors operating in frontier markets. His views on frontier markets have appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal's CFO ledger. His first book, Success in Africa, will be published in 2013 and you can follow him on Twitter at @Jonathan_Berman.

14-Year Old Orphan Enters University in Zimbabwe

This is an inspirational story of a forteen-year old Zimbabwean orphan, Maud Chifamba, who has defied the odds against her to enroll into an Accounting program at the University of Zimbabwe.

Lapiro de Mbanga Escapes Paul Biya's Dictatorship

It is being reported that Lapiro de Mbanga, a firebrand musician and political activist who has suffered years of imprisonment under the dictatorship of Paul Biya, has been granted asylum in the United States.

Chantal Biya Resurfaces In France

Chantal Biya, the wife of Cameroon's dictator, Paul Biya, has apparently resurfaced in France with medical treatment as alibi. The sickness she is suffering from is not known and the duration she is supposed to be there is also not known. In spite of persistent rumors that the dictator's wife has run away and the fact that she has now apparently turned up in a medical center in France, the dictator still thinks it is none of the business of the Cameroon people to inquire about the absence of his wife. So he is staying mute.
It is reported that Chantal Biya is in a presidential palace in France. It is however not clear whose presidential palace that is: is it the French presidential palace or does Cameroon have another presidential palace in France? If it is the French presidential palace, then we will need to here from the French president about the matter. If Cameroon has another presidential palace in France, we would like to know who runs the palace and how long it has been in existence.
Another issue this raises is why the wife of the president could not obtain medical treatment in Cameroon. Under Paul Biya's watch, the medical system in the country is so dilapidated that good medical care can hardly be obtained in the country. Because he sits on the cash of the country, he can afford to send his wife to France (if we believe that story) while others die at home. The wife of the president deserves good medical treatment while the wives of peasants do not. It is a sickening situation that Paul Biya is creating in Cameroon.
In a related story, it is reported that the wife of Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's President, has been receiving medial treatment in a hospital in Germany. Just another example of how Africa's leaders fail to develop decent medical facilities in their own countries.

Dear Archbishop Rowan Williams . . . African President For Anglican Communion

Dear Archbishop Rowan Williams:

It is being reported that the Anglican Church is looking for a president to oversee the global Anglican Communion so as to give the Archbishop of Canterbury more time to deal with the Anglican Church in England. This change seems to be a recognition that most Anglicans are today outside England. More especially, there are more Anglicans in Nigeria than in England. It would also appear that there are more Anglicans in Africa than in other places around the world. We write this letter to draw your attention to this important point and to request that the person to be chosen for this role should be an African. Much has been made of the fact that Christianity is shifting to the global South and especially to Africa. Appointing an African as president of the Anglican Communion would serve to acknowledge the important place which Africa has in contemporary Christianity. More especially, appointing an African to this important position will be pleasing to God because it will be a sign that the Anglican Communion is just.

Yours Truly,

FlourishingAfrica

The Kora

Listen to the master play the kora.

The Woman Who Wants Africans To Work For Two Dollars A Day

A stupendously rich woman in Australia, Gina Rinehart, who makes a million dollars an hour, has threatened to take her business to Africa where people are willing to work for two dollars a day. She has come under fire in Australia not because she is proposing a dismal pay scale for Africans but because she dares to compare mighty Australians with Africans. This is a manifestation of racism and the greed of capitalism all wrapped in one debacle. Africans are the people who are willing to live with less! This explains the Australian treatment of the aborignal people of that country. It is sickening.

High Life in Ghana

P-Square And The Rise Of Nigerian Music Industry

Has Chantal Biya, The Wife Of Paul Biya, Run Away?

Chantal Biya
It is rumored in Cameroon and in Cameroonian communities abroad that Chantal Biya, the wife of Cameroon's dictator, Paul Biya, has run away from her husband under very suspicious circumstances. Since in Cameroon people often get their news through rumors and since, as we say in Cameroon, there is no smoke without fire, we thought it is necessary to put the rumor out there so that Paul Biya may confirm or deny it. We checked her Facebook page and the last time something was written on it was in November 2011.

Sex Strike In Togo Politics

Women in Togo have been called upon to withhold sex from their significant others for one week, beginning today, Monday, August 27, 2012, in order to press for political reform in the country. This tactic was practiced with success in Liberia. More power to the women!

Yahya Jammeh Must Be Crazy!!!

Not since the infamous Idi Amin of Uganda has an African president talked about killing people as if human beings were nothing. Yahya Jammeh, president of the tiny West African country called the Gambia, has waded into such murky waters by promising to kill all people on death row in his country next month. This man is simply insane.

What Killed Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia?

The death of Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has been reported. He was only 57 years old. He is the second African leader to die in two months. Last month it was Ghana's President, John Atta Mills. At this rate African leaders would all be gone in 54 months! Meles Zenawi did not die in his country; he died a European country, Belgium. This says volumes about the state of Ethiopian hospitals and medical system under his watch. As always the cause of death is not known. See this report from Time.

Death Of A Patriarch

The death of the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Chuch, Patriarch Abune Paulos, has been reported.

De Beers Moves From London To Botswana

See this report from BBC and the other clip below:

Funeral Of A Leader - John Atta Mills

The good ones die first; the rogues remain. A terrible providence.

Mitt Romney Would Make A Great President - In An African Country

The American presidential elections has been heating up and various issues have been raised for or against both the Democratic Party candidate, President Barack Obama, and the Republican Party candidate, Mr. Mitt Romney. One of the questions that have seemed very interesting is that of Mr. Romney's finances. People have been asking many questions about his taxes and the bank accounts he had outside America. Mr. Romney, however, has refused to come clean about these questions and has sternly pointed out that Americans are going to see only two years of taxes from him - the one for 2010 and the one for 2011, period. He has not yet shown them the one for 2011.
As I pondered about the question of Mr. Romney's finances, I noticed that the questions about his finances are questions that would not even be raised if he were running for president in most African countries, especially francophone African countries. Since Mr. Romney appears to have so far felt very uncomfortable talking about his finances, it seems that he would be more comfortable as president of an African country. In fact, in some of these countries, any journalist who raises the issue of the finances of a president is simply be placed in jail. Many of the presidents in African countries keep their money in foreign bank accounts because they do not trust their own banking institutions. The nature of the finances of many African presidents is hardly known to their people. It is not even known if some of these presidents pay taxes - how could they, when they own the country? Mr. Romney would therefore be very comfortable as president of, lets say, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, the Gambia. He could even be president of Ethiopia, Chad or Central African Republic. In these countries, no one would ask about his finances, he could put as much money as he likes in foreign bank accounts and even build mansions there and no one would ask him any question.
One additional thing that would work well for Mr. Romney as an African president is that the party he belongs to, the Republican Party, does not seem excited about elections. The party appears not to want people to vote. This is the very sentiment exhibited by the parties of many African presidents. For them, elections are simply cooked to give their candidate 90% of the vote or a less suspicious 60%. Since Mr. Romney has the experience of moving from one place to run for political office in another - like he did when he moved from Utah to Massachusetts - he might think of the possibility of moving to one of the African countries named above and run for president. Running for president in America seems to be demanding too much of him - American journalists would not stop asking questions about his money. If he were in an African country, he might simply throw them in jail and get on with the important matter of winning elections and governing the people like a patron.

Paul Biya Is The Reason Why Cameroonian Olympians Disappear

Cameroon's participation during the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics was full of fanfare. Many admired the robe they wore. However, it soon turned out the the Olympics is not about bright robes; it is in fact a competition. When the thing became a competition, the Cameroonian delegation did not win a single medal. As if that was not disappointing enough, some members of the Cameroonian delegation have gone missing. According to the English people, these Cameroonian Olympians have absconded. In Cameroon, the move is known as "bush falling."
The desire of Cameroonians to run away from their country has astronomically increased since Paul Biya became the dictator of the country. With the increasing hardship that he has brought on the country, many of the young people look elsewhere for better life. Any decent leader would be ashamed when representatives of the country abscond. But Paul Biya, being a dictator, is incapable of shame.

Are African Countries Reverting To Dictatorship?

Consider the observation of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in Dakar, as described by aljazeera: "Speaking at Dakar's University of Cheikh Anta Diop, she said that coups and power grabs had reduced the count of full electoral democracies on the continent to 19 in 2012 from 24 in 2005." Nineteen (19) democracies in a continent of 54 countries! I would like to have a list of the countries that are currently described as democratic in Africa. Let's see: Nigeria, Liberia, Egypt (?), Tunisia (?), South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania. I count 12. Which are the others. It should be noted that all Francophone African countries are dictatorships. Rwanda is also a dictatorship. For more, see Foreign Policy's "Failed States Index."

Higher Presidential Mortality Rate In Africa Cause For Concern

Since 2008, Africa has lost eight heads of state. There are only 54 states. That's a presidential mortality rate of nearly 15%; slightly higher than the infant mortality rate of Sierra Leone, which is the second highest in the world. In other words, a baby in Sierra Leone has more chance of surviving its first five years than African presidents do of getting through a few terms in office.

Nominating Late President John Atta Mills Of Ghana For the Mo Ibrahim Prize

This post serves to nominate the late Ghanaian president, John Atta Mills, for the lucrative Mo Ibrahim Prize for excellent leadership demonstrated by an African head of state. Such excellence is defined in terms of the promotion of democratic values and the improvement of the standard of living of the people. John Atta Mills is an excellent candidate to receive the prize posthumously.

John Atta Mills Was A Good President

Dr. John Atta Mills, the former president of Ghana, was a good leader. He was not only one of the very few fairly elected leaders in Africa, the economy of Ghana also began to see significant improvement under his leadership. I do not want to make him a saint but he was a good example in an African context where other leaders impose themselves on their people and could care less for the well-being of their people. Dr. Atta Mills should have a dignified place in the story of contemporary African politics.

Dr. John Atta Mills (1944-2012)

What Killed President John Atta Mills Of Ghana?

It is being reported that President John Atta Mills of Ghana is dead. Details of what killed him are not yet known. Contribute if you have more information.

A Scary Clock: World Population Growth

You can see a clock of how world population is growing here. It is just like the clock of how America's debt is growing. It seems scary.

Michaela DePrince: A Ballerina From Sierra Leone

A teenage Sierra Leonean ballerina is making waves. Watch her story below:

Britain and the Mau Mau in Kenya

Lagos Government Should Be More Humane

The government of Lagos, Nigeria, is currently tearing down a slum built on water in which people have been living for over one hundred years now. While clearing slums to make way for more decent accommodation is apposite, the manner in which the government in Lagos seems to be going about the matter is inhumane and cruel. It is not clear that the government is helping the people to find alternative accommodation. The people were simply given 72 hours to vacate the area. Then people were sent to demolish the area. A government that does not want to be portrayed negatively needs to make sure it caters for the well-being of its people, that is, treat people humanely. Right now this is not being seen in the destruction of the slum in Lagos.

The Nigerian Fuel Tanker Tragedy That Keeps On Giving

In the last ten years or so, at least three ghastly accidents involving tankers and petrol have happened in Nigeria. In each of the cases, the tragedy has been augmented by the fact that people have gathered at the accident site, attempting to scoop petrol from the fallen tanker. The first time I heard of this kind of tragedy was in the late 1990s. Perhaps many others had happened before. Now, the first time I heard of the tragedy I thought that one of the lessons that may be taken from it is that people should not go scooping petrol from fallen tankers because the whole thing might ignite. In the first case, over a hundred people died. Not long after that, it happened again, with the same costly price in human life. The latest one was just last week. It would seem that such constant mishap in which so many lives are lost will be taken as a national emergency. Perhaps the Nigerian government may want to sensitize people about the dangers of scooping fuel from a fallen tanker. Perhaps, again, people keep falling for the same mistake because their desperate conditions always make the risk attractive. Consider the many Africans who keep drowning in the Mediterranean Sea as they try to cross to Europe. However, something needs to be done to sensitize and empower people so that they do not expose themselves to such risk. Where people generally have the means to make decent livelihood, they generally do not place themselves in position of such dangerous risk. I will, however, not be surprised if an intelligent preacher in Nigeria is attributing the whole thing to witchcraft. That is how they, too, make their money.

WANTED!!! - TEODORIN OBIANG NGUEMA

A French judge has issued an international arrest warrant for money-laundering against Teodorin Obiang Nguema, son of the current dictator of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema. The charge of grand larceny needs to be included in the warrant. It would have been better if he were arrested and imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea but none of the judges there would dare make such charges against him. The French arrest warrant is the next best thing. Find the portrait of the accused below.