From: shemlon@occlusal.rutgers.edu (Shiyghan Shemlon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: AFRICA'S BLEAK FUTURE
Keywords: Africa's future
Date: 20 Nov 92 11:51:28 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


This article had been posted earlier, but it received little or no
attention perhaps because it was hidden in the IPS news postings. So I
am reposting the article to re-open the discussion.


In article <1992Nov18.054359.24999@gagme.chi.il.us>, barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart) writes:
> Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
> print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.
> 
> Area: Opecna Morning Transmission
> Title: KENYA: MOI USES BANKS TO BUY PUBLIC SUPPORT, OPPOSITION CLAIMS
> 
> 
> an inter press service feature
> 
> by horace awori
> 
> nairobi, nov 10 (ips) -- in the run-up to kenya's first
> multiparty general elections, the central bank here has come
> under criticism for ''buying support'' for the government of
> president daniel arap moi.
> 
> the central bank's lending system, opposition circles say,
> has enabled organisations and individuals associated with the
> ruling kenya african national union (kanu) and government to
> hoard up money for buying out members of parliament and
> opposition figures.
> 
> ''it is common knowledge that vast sums of money have been
> stolen from public institutions all over the country and are
> being used to buy votes'', charged former kenyan vice president
> oginga odinga.
.....
.....
.....
> ''not only is new money being printed, but also the old money
> is not being withdrawn. all kenyans will pay bitterly for this
> in years to come'', he says.
> 
> kenya's inflation rate has soared to 40 percent this year,
> according to the central bureau of statistics here, and shaw
> attributes the situation to increased local currency in
> circulation.
> 
> the kenyan economy has suffered more from corruption and
> mismanagement, with government ministries and public
> corporations overspending their annual budgetary allocations
> without treasury approval. (more/ips)
.......
.......
.......
> describing the office of the president as the most profligate
> spender, the report says the treasury has been unable to impose
> budgetary controls.
.......
.......
.......
> kenya's manufacturing industry posted a negative growth of
> 3.8 percent in value-added in 1990 compared to six percent in
> 1989, according to the latest government annual economic survey.
> 
> in the mean time, the kenyan shilling has depreciated by
> about 30 percent against hard currencies, making imports
> expensive and forcing the manufacturing sector to cut down
> orders for new machinery and transport equipment.
> 
> scarcity of foreign exchange has since 1990 adversely
> affected the growth performance of all economic sectors, with
> investments in industry declining from 4.3 percent to 2.4
> percent last year.
> 
> agricultural output, which accounts for about 27 percent of
> kenya's gross domestic product, in real value slumped from 4.4
> percent in 1988 to a negative 1.1 percent in 1991.
> (end/ips/ha/ar/92)

This is the height of irresponsibility. I think idiotic African
leaders like Moi and their chronies should all be judged and condemned
for TREASON and then sentenced to prison for the rest of their days,
under VERY HARD LABOUR. You find the same thing happening in Zaire,
Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana,.........., in fact any African
country and it is high time we Africans woke up to reality.

As an African who has been thinking hard about our problems for the
past five years with a couple of friends, I think it is high time we
faced reality and accepted that our situation has collapsed. It is
only this acceptance that will spur us into thinking about ways of
raising ourselves up. Our leaders have betrayed us (yes, very often
with the help of westen super powers), but it is high time we woke up.
History is just repeating itself and I feel Africa has stayed in her
dark ages for too long. We have been in this lethargic state since the
fall of our last strong empire, more than 600 years ago. If we keep on
sleeping we shall be RECOLONIZED in the next century. This time not
only politically, but economically and militarily too. Europe, North
America and Asia, repectively will be the political, military and
Economic  super powers of tomorrow, and what do you think we shall be
if we don't shape up?  Well, THEIR "SLAVES" and Africa will become the
world's economic, political and military dumping ground.

I believe most Africans who have access to this news group have enough
education to contribute to the debate I am proposing. It is time to
start thinking about a new African leadership. One that will have the
economic, political, social, and security interests of their countries
in mind. It is time to start thinking strongly about uniting Africa
into a single country because that is the only way we can guarantee
our survival in the world of the 21st century. The tiny little
non-functional countries of today are definitely not the solution.
Nkrumah, Olympio, Lumumba, Cabral, ...... are dead, but their vision
and ideas are still alive. Let's get to work and start discussing in
THIS FORUM, useful ideas for the betterment of Africa's future. We
must do it ourselves.  NO GOD FROM OUTER SPACE AND DEFINITELY NOT THE
EUROPEAN, AMERICAN OR ASIAN FOR THAT MATTER WILL DO IT FOR US.

Topics:

1. The new African Leader
2. The African Confederation(s)
3. African Infrastructure
4. African Medicine and Health
5. African Agriculture
6. Future African Political and Economic Structures and Policies
7. What to do with our present leadership
8. The Education and Training of the next generation of Africans
.........
.........
.........

LET'S GET TO WORK.....................

Shemlon wo wan wan Viban