It’s almost 60 years since Ghana became independent from Britain. The world celebrated as the sun began to set on the age of European imperialism. ‘African Nationalism’, in the form of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, entered the stage and all cheered the breaking of a golden dawn as the colonial shackles were broken and ‘liberation’ belatedly arrived.
Since then, some 200 coups or attempted coups have taken place, 25 heads of state have been assassinated and roughly 50 wars have been fought in Africa. Despite multiple interventions, Africa remains the most crooked continent with illicit transfers out far exceeding the total value of all foreign aid to the continent (currently estimated at over $50bn a year). The majority of the population is the poorest it has ever been, despite over a trillion dollars being pumped into the most resource-rich continent on the planet. Surely there is no precedent in history for so much being spent and so little to show for it? The situation was well summed up by Liberia’s President Johnson-Sirleaf, who said ‘Africa is not poor, it is poorly managed’.
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