America is Not What it Looks Like on TV

A prizewinning play.

Religion and Health in Africa

While some religious groups have played a remarkably significant role in improving the health of Africans, others are actually hurting the people's health.

Cleaning Dirty Images in Africa and Around the World

An important article on "reputation laundering" by rogue regimes. One of these is Rwanda and you may see why here.

What is Poverty?

The United Nations adopts a new definition. Called the "Multidimensional Poverty Index" (MPI), it shows that these countries, all of them from Africa, are among the poorest in the world.

Obama Meets "Young Leaders" From Africa

Young leaders from 45 African countries are meeting with President Obama at the White House from August 3-5 to discuss issues relevant to the future well-being of the continent. This is probably a good thing but for the fact that it is not clear who these young African leaders are and how they were selected for this meeting. If the young African leaders are those who have been hand-picked by the old African leaders or by America, then we are in for more of the same. And it is an aberration for young African leaders to come and discuss the future of Africa with an American president. Same old dependencies. I wonder how many Americans discuss the future of America with African leaders.

The most interesting this about this video is probably that President Obama interacts with Africans in a way that many of their leaders back in Africa would see as beneath them.

For another take on the event see this NYT article.

What Could Have Been . . .

An interesting reflection on Mobutu and Mandela, South Africa and DRC. What difference could Lumumba have made? We just can't know all of that now, can we? But read on.

On Not Knowing When To Quit: The Parable of Song

Rigobert Song is the name of an illustrious Cameroonian football player who contributed significantly in bringing glory to Cameroon football but who, alas, did not know when to quit. One of the problems with celebrities such as athletes and politicians is that they do not know when to quit, that is, they regularly fail to notice when they have outlived their productive period. Song hung on to the Cameroon national football team even when it was remarkably clear to anyone who cares about football that he was no good anymore. He created disastrous circumstances for the team in the last four years or so and everyone cried that he should quit. Just like African politicians he stayed on until his name was dragged in the mud before he retired. Song's career is a perfect parable of the career of most of the African ruling elite.