Africa Must Probe the Invented Wheel

"Ndugu, Kizungu mingi haitasaidia Afrika!" loosely translated to mean "Too much English will not save Africa!" That was 2007. I had made my presentation at a TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Arusha when a Tanzanian "Wiseman" walked to me and uttered those coded words. At first, I thought he was not impressed with my English, but after a few months of reflection, it occurred to me he was not referring to my presentation but to what Africa has for over two centuries taken for granted - the invented wheel!

Common sense dictates that one need not reinvent the wheel. However, a number of wheels rolling in Africa raise questions that require probing. An example is the AID wheel - that a continent rich in resources and witnesses hyena-type rivalry between Europe, U.S.A, China and other emerging economies should be treated as one that must be helped to develop. In the arena of measurements - that external indices that are insensitive to Africa's causal link to the past be used to determine success. A case in point is Botswana that is paraded as the most well governed and economically free country with its one party and mining monopoly. In aspects of discovery - that knowledge already held for decades but strategically hidden from Africans be treated as discovery; a case in point is oil "discovery" in the Sudan (whose existence was known as early as the 50s) and who knows about "discoveries" in Uganda and Zanzibar?

In the definition of terms and concepts such as development, prosperity and governance, the African is left disempowered as all are skewed towards seeking approval from Western regimes. Think about English; watch our leaders, parliamentarians, journalists, and citizens struggle to exchange ideas. We all end up saying what we "can" say in English but not what we "want" to say. In the process, a lot of information is lost and wrong decisions made. Is it a surprise then that many Kenyans find a number of ACTS of parliament doing the exact opposite of what they expected? For example, think about the mandates given to anticorruption (do they investigate and arrest?), truth, justice and reconciliation commissions (debate on its composition and leadership) and even the powers vested in the presidency, parliament and judiciary. Are they people's representatives?

A redefinition of development to put Africans at the center of determining what they need (and not what they have been taught to need) is crucial. In an East African Community forum in Arusha recently, delegates sought to know how the "One Laptop Per Child" initiative leads to development. One delegate quipped: "Why not one tractor per farmer?" Psychologists remind us that when every other moment it is someone else fixing us, we cannot mature. A laptop if not well utilized may lead to opposite results. For example, if the content is not African driven, it will be an efficient brainwashing machine unlike its sister the cell phone whose content is driven by the user.

Measurement indices that are used to determine development and governance need to be put under scrutiny. Who developed them and why? I have argued here before that Millennium Development Goals were designed to make Africa fail so as to justify intervention. As much as it may appear good to be "helped" after qualifying as a "failure," what is the impact on Africans in the long run?

Africa must urgently probe the invented wheel! By so doing, we will set our own continental agenda and consciously craft global agenda to fit into our own created core values.

By James Shikwati
James Shikwati [email protected] is Director, Inter Region Economic Network.