Published on May 1, 1990
The End of African Socialism?
By George B.N. Ayittey
In most places in Africa, telephones don’t work; they bite back. What are called “roads” are cartways truncated with crevasses large enough to swallow a truck. Vehicles move in a crab-like fashion: pointing sideways but moving perfe c tly straight. These, in shor4 are a few of the manifestations of the deepening crisis gripping Africa.
Once a region with bountiful stores of optimism and hope, the African continent now teeters perilously on the brink of economic disintegration, politica l chaos, and institutional and social decay. The decline in income per capita has been calamitous for many African countries. Agricultural growth has been dismal, with output growing at less than 1.5 percent since 1970. Industrial output across Africa has a lso been declining, with some regions experienc- ing de-industrialization. Export volumes for many African countries have faltered, leading to a fall in Africa’s share of world markets by almost hal To maintain income and investment, African governments borrowed heavily in the 1970s. Total African foreign debt has risen nineteen-fold since 1970 to a staggering $230 billion, equal to its Gross National Product (GNP), making the region the most heavily indebted of all (Latin America’s debt amounts to around 6 0 percent of GNP). Debt service obligations absorbed 47 percent of export revenue in 1988, but only half were actually paid. The arrears are constantly being rescheduled. With scarce foreign exchange increasingly being devoted to service debt obligations, less became available for imports of spare parts, drugs, textbooks, and other essential supplies. Infrastructure began to crumble for lack of maintenance. Roads started to deteriorate and telephones refused to work. Even hospitals in many African countries had no running water.
At the Akomfo Anokye Hospital in Ghana, patients were asked to bring their own bandages, blankets, and food. “Harvard” in Ruins. Educational facilities soon began to disintegrate. Makerere Univer- sity in Uganda, once called “The Ha r vard of Africa,” is now in total ruins. The University of Ghana at Legon, once a world-class institution, has not seen a single coat of fresh paint since the colonialists left in the fifties. In sub-Saharan Africa (or black Africa), the economic deteriora t ion has been so severe that this region now has the dubious distinction of being home to 24 of the world’s 36 poorest nations. Economic performance of this region, measured crudely by the rate of growth of income per capita, has been pathetic, as the foll owing table indicates:
G eorge B.N Ayittey, a native of Ghana, is a Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation. He spoke at The Heritage Foundation on January 24, 1990. ISSN 0272-1155. 01990 by The Heritage Foundation.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Lecture/The-End-of-African-Socialism
CROSS POSTED FOR THE RECORD:
Much of what follows revolves around the fact that Malcom X took the manifesto of the Black Panther Party (that became the Black Liberation Army) and the plight of the repressed African American male in need of vast reparations abroad. Malcolm X accomplished this by completing THREE extensive (multiple months long) tours of the more powerful African nations during which he met with the nations’ PRESIDENTS and other power elites.
Malcom X met with Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta on a trip he took to AFRICA in 1964 on which he visited Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. These three AFRICAN countries happen to be nations in which the AFRICAN OBAMA/ODINGA Luo tribe has its greatest representation
Malcom X’s visit to Kenya in 1964 occurred when Obama’s Uncle (on his mother’s side) Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga was Vice President of Kenya (1964-1966) and Obama’s father Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was a top economist for Kenya’s Finance Ministry (1965-1966).
The President of Kenya at the time was Jomo Kenyatta who today is attributed with running the most corrupt administration in Kenyan history. Kenyatta and Odinga took orders from and their administration was directly financed by the Soviet Communist government. Odinga and Obama Sr. were Cummunist Kenyan government officials when Malcolm X shared his message wth the leaders of Africa.
The story is better fleshed out in the posting cited below:
“Obama, the Black Panther Party (BPP), Black Liberation Army (BLA), Weather Underground (WU), global Muslim Brotherhood (MB) network, Al Qaeda, and Kenyan and American Politics are All Interconnected”
Detail on Malcolm X’s Travels to Africa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X#Early_years
Malcolm X visited Africa on three separate occasions, once in 1959 and twice in 1964. During his visits, he met officials, gave interviews to newspapers, and spoke on television and radio in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, and Morocco. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria invited Malcolm X to serve in their governments.
In 1959, Malcolm X traveled to Egypt (then known as the United Arab Republic), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana to arrange a tour for Elijah Muhammad.The first of the two trips Malcolm X made to Africa in 1964 lasted from April 13 until May 21, before and after his Hajj. On May 8, following his speech at the University of Ibadan, Malcolm X was made an honorary member of the Nigerian Muslim Students’ Association. During this reception the students bestowed upon him the name “Omowale”, which means “the son who has come home” in the Yoruba language.Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography that he “had never received a more treasured honor.”
On July 9, 1964, Malcolm X returned to Africa. On July 17, he was welcomed to the second meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Cairo, Egypt (OAU Summit 17–21 July 1964) as a representative of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. By the time he returned to the United States on November 24, 1964, Malcolm had met with every prominent African leader and established an international connection between Africans on the continent and those in the diaspora.
In the 45 years that have passed since Malcom X’s assasination (Feb. 21, 1965), the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the nation of Islam, and the Black Muslim Brotherhood have continued to spread Malcolm X’s message abroad.
4 posted on Saturday, February 20, 2010 6:05:00 PM by BIOCHEMKY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2455476/posts?page=4#4