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.
No human face is exactly the same in its lines on each side, no leaf perfect in its lobes, no branch in its symmetry. All admit irregularity as they imply change; and to banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality. All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be Effort, and the law of human judgment, Mercy.
Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.
All essential knowledge relates to existence, or only such knowledge as has an essential relationship to existence is essential knowledge.
It is our very search, our lust for the miraculous and magical, that hides from us the truth that simply to be, simply to know I am, is already the miracle that we seek. Everything, as it is, is perfect, but you must stop seeing it as if in a mirror, as if in a dream.
I think if you're against cruelty and you look at what happens to animals in slaughterhouses and on factory farms, you have to be completely against eating meat.
Peace is a very complicated concept. When the lion gobbles up the lamb and wipes his lips, then there's peace. Well, I ain't for that peace at all.
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