femi kuti, calls upcoming live 8 "waste of time", doubts it will have much effect on fighting poverty in africa.
"I would rather save the money for a ticket to Live 8 and invest it in medical care or school fees for my son. This will benefit me more in the end than going to a concert that will never meet my needs," Femi told The East African."
He said the time has come for Africans to unite and fight corruption and poverty, which he blamed on "old leaders who have refused to leave, so that they can loot till they die."
of late a lot of bytes have been devoted to africa's debt burden and how eradicating it and other measures (the right kind of aid) will help end poverty on the continent. but femi kuti's point hits at the heart of the matter. africa needs to solve its own problems. tony blair, bono, bob geldorf, jeffrey sachs are all eloquently and passionately advocating the case for africa. but it all rings a bit hollow to me. while wortwhile, they are advocating solutions that treat the symptoms, not the underlying problems. i too believe that until solutions can be crafted based on what africans need and aspire to, we will still be talking about eradicating poverty on the continent in 2015, 2020, 2025.
walk around any large city in africa, and you will see african entrepreneurship, african ingenuity, african innovation at work DESPITE all the problems that plague our continent. the solution: let every individual figure how best to provide for his family, her community. war, corruption, outdated definitions of what constitutes economic activity, byzantine bureaucracy (try starting a business in any developing country), and frankly certain aspects of culture all conspire to prevent individual africans from doing that. the real work to be done is in removing those obstacles, freeing individuals to use their creativity to make their own lives. all public policy should flow from this basic premise/promise.
this is a very libertarian notion, on which that great country america is founded (although they seem to forget it). it is what is fueling revolution in ukraine and other eastern bloc countries. that is the war we should be waging as africans.
Posted by kamau at June 29, 2005 03:34 PM