Far from being hopeless, Africa is full of hope and potential, maybe more so than any other continent. The challenge is to ensure that its potential is utilised.
Mo IbrahimRead
Africa is rich, and why are we poor then if our continent is rich. It is not right.
Interpretation
The quote questions the disparity between Africa's resources and the poverty of its people.
Mo Ibrahim's quote highlights the irony of Africa's immense wealth in natural resources juxtaposed with the widespread poverty experienced by many of its citizens. It provocatively asks why, despite the continent's richness, the economic conditions are so dire, urging a reflection on the socio-economic and political systems in place that contribute to this paradox.
In practice
In a speech discussing economic development in Africa, this quote can highlight the need for systemic change.
Far from being hopeless, Africa is full of hope and potential, maybe more so than any other continent. The challenge is to ensure that its potential is utilised.
In the final analysis, finding a way to do clean business and not to pay bribes actually improves your bottom line.
A narrative that branded Africa as little more than an economic, political and social basket case was not likely to provide the investment needed to drive development.
Experience shows that when political governance and economic management diverge, overall development becomes unsustainable.
There is a crisis of leadership and governance in Africa, and we must face it.
If economic progress is not translated into better quality of life and respect for citizens' rights, we will witness more Tahrir Squares in Africa.
And Alex understood that Scotty Hausmann did not exist. He was a word casing in human form: a shell whose essence has vanished.
When I was very young, I took no interest in party politics. My line of interest was how can you be part of an influence to the society that you live in.
There is no governor anywhere. You are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped. If anybody could go into dhyana at will, nobody could be controlled - by fear of prison, by fear of whips or electroshock, by fear of death, even. All existing society is based on keeping those fears alive, to control the masses. Ten people who know would be more dangerous than a million armed anarchists.
In the philosophic sense, observation shows and experiment teaches.
So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.
Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions.
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