Category: World
Service
Date: 28.06.2005
Printable version
In a new five part series of the 91Èȱ¬ World Service's Analysis,
from Monday 4 July, Nigerian writer Biyi Bandele -
now based in London - examines the extent of colonialism's impact on
Africa's modern-day problems.
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Biyi says: "You can't overestimate the impact of colonialism
and how much it damaged the continent, but is it now being used as an
excuse by some voices in Africa?
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"Can African leaders really go on blaming the past
for the challenges and problems which now confront them?"
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Ugandan radio journalist, Andrew Mwenda,
gives his thoughts on aid for Africa on Tuesday 5 July. Andrew takes
a hard line on debt relief, something he often discusses on his controversial
nightly radio show on Monitor FM.
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Andrew says: "Aid relief is undermining the ability
of Africans to stand on their own feet - and, more importantly, breaks
the link between Governments and their people.
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"Because Uganda's Government has always been able
to rely on donors for aid (even the chairs in the Parliament building
are donated by Denmark), it hasn't bothered to establish a decent tax
collection service, so accountability between government and governed
is compromised.
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"Aid and debt relief are fostering a culture of
irresponsibility by encouraging bad economic behaviour".
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On Wednesday 6 July, former South African mercenary
Cobus Claasens, now living in Freetown, Sierra Leone, discusses
conflict on the continent.
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Cobus spent 13 years in the South African defence forces
under Apartheid, fighting in Angola and Namibia.
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He then became a mercenary for the now-defunct mercenary
firm, Executive Outcomes, and went to Sierra Leone. He reflects on what
he saw and did there, and examines the reasons why Africa seems ridden
with conflict.
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He celebrates the success of his own country in coming
back from the brink, but mourns the fact that few other African nations
seem able to follow South Africa's example.
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Rafael Marques, a political activist
in Angola with the George Soros Foundation, examines good governance
in Africa on Thursday 7 July. He is also a tribal leader, but has no
confidence in the tribal leadership system.
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Rafael feels that it has become corrupted, like many
other forms of Government in Africa.
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He says: "The indigenous traditions are not promoting
good governance - that will only be found by importing and imposing
an 'alien' model Western democracy".
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On Friday 8 July, writer Veronique Tadjo
from the Ivory Coast, now based in South Africa, examines whether Africa's
problems can be solved by Africans themselves or if outside help is
needed.
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Veronique talks about Africa's role models and discovers
what influence they have over the continent's problems.
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She says: "Is what divides Africa more important than
what unites it? Where are the visionaries, the Jean Monets of Africa,
who'll build the political infrastructures that will help the continent
follow Europe in putting bloodshed and conflict behind them?"
