George Ayittey

thumb|George Ayittey George B. N. Ayittey (13 October, 1945 – 28 January, 2022) was a Ghanaian economist and author. He was president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington, D.C., a professor at American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Quotes Dictators are allergic to reform, and they are cunning survivors. They will do whatever it takes to preserve their power and wealth, no matter how much blood ends up on their hands. They are master deceivers and talented manipulators who cannot be trusted to change. Dictators cause the world's worst problems: all the collapsed states, and all the devastated economies. All the vapid cases of corruption, grand theft, and naked plunder of the treasury are caused by dictators, leaving in their wake trails of wanton destruction, horrendous carnage and human debris. The 'Cheetah Generation' refers to the new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals, who look at African issues and problems from a totally different and unique perspective. Just because a group does not take its decisions by voting does not mean they have no understanding of the essence of democracy. The solutions to Africa's problems lie in Africa, not in Live Aid concerts. The reason why Botswana has done very well is because it's the only black African country which went back to its roots and built upon its own indigenous institutions. There's a belief that since Africa got a raw deal from the colonial West, then the Chinese must be Africa's best friend. But the evidence doesn't show that, and the main criticism is that they are building infrastructure in exchange for Africa's resources in deals that are structured to favor China. Across Africa there is what I call a colonialist mentality or orthodoxy. Orthodoxy in the sense that a lot of things have gone wrong in Africa in the post-colonial period. And time and time again, any time something went wrong, the leadership claims that it was never their fault. In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably. In the West, the basic economic and social unit is the individual; in Africa, it is the extended family or the collective. African history is filled with experiences of people shooting their way to power and then splintering into factions, like in Somalia and Liberia. There was free trade in Africa. There was free enterprise in Africa before the colonialists came. Unlike their Western counterparts, Africans take elections very seriously - rising up early to queue patiently in line for hours under the hot sun and cast their ballots. Any misguided attempt to nullify or steal their votes will evoke a strong reaction from them. Personally, I regard myself as an intellectual 'rebel,' kicking against the 'old colonialism-imperialism paradigm' which has landed Africa in a conundrum. Africa's salvation doesn't lie in begging and begging for more aid, and as an African, I find it very, very humiliating. What you and I understand as a government doesn't exist in many African countries. In fact, what we call our governments are vampire states. Vampires because they suck the economic vitality out of their people. Government is the problem in Africa. Virtually all of Africa's civil wars were started by politically marginalized or excluded groups. What Africa needs to do is to grow, to grow out of debt. Western-style multi-party democracy is possible but not suitable for Africa. Africa has more dictators per capita than any other continent. Traditionally, Africans hate governments. They hate tyranny. Getting rid of the dictator is only a first step in establishing a free society. The dictatorship must also be disassembled. Mugabe's become a disgrace to Africa. And I must say this because I am an African and a lot of us looked up to him back in the 1980s when he was the liberation hero. But he's now turned himself into a murderous despot. The richest persons in Africa are heads of state, governors and ministers. So every 'educated' African who wants to be rich - and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich - heads straight into government or politics Radio is the death and life of Africa. The election of Senator Barack Obama brought jubilation across Africa, where millions celebrated him as 'one of their own.' Hippos kill more people in Africa annually than any other wild animal. Look at the history of peace accords in Africa. They have a terrible record. They are shredded even before the ink on them is dry. It is also true that when a people, long kept in a boiling cauldron of oppression, suddenly find the lid removed, they spend their remaining energy battling chimerical enemies. Between 1957 and 1990, there were more than 150 African heads of state and only six relinquished power voluntarily. Furthermore, one does not fight an enemy on the turf on which he is strongest, but where he is weakest. I want to make Africans rich. If you make Africans rich, they’ll be less poor. That’s my development strategy. There are three types of foreign aid: humanitarian relief aid, given to victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones and floods; military aid; and economic development assistance. Few have qualms with humanitarian aid and I am sure most would agree that military aid to tyrannical regimes in Africa is the least desirable. Much misconception, however, surrounds the third, also known as Official Development Assistance, or ODA. Contrary to popular misconceptions, ODA is not “free.” It is essentially a "soft loan," or loan granted on extremely generous or "concessionary" terms. In an interview The global financial crisis has hit Africa severely, and I believe that rich countries should help Africa, but not by pushing more aid through the same dysfunctional channels, as Professor Jeffrey Sachs wants to. Business as usual is no longer an option, which is what both Dambisa Moyo [author of Dead Aid] and I are against. Moyo wants all aid stopped in five years. This won’t happen because there are too many vested interests. In an interview External links Category:Economists from Ghana Category:Non-fiction authors from Ghana Category:1945 births Category:2022 deaths