Editor,

I would like to react to the article; Capital markets can liberate Africa from aid – Kagame which was published in The New Times of February 13, 2015.

By definition we can never be independent while we remain dependent on the charity of others, even if what we receive is a very small fraction of what the ‘generous’ givers have taken from us.

President Paul Kagame has made this point so often that all Rwandans should by now have internalized it.

Dependence does not only deprive its subject of self-esteem, it also exposes one to having to obey the dictates of the ‘benefactor’ even when you know those dictates to be contrary to your fundamental interests.

Mwene Kalinda

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President Kagame is spot on here. Human nature is riddled with a subtle guise to be better than the next man.

This breeds competition. Personal gains are underpinned by incentives which seek out economic opportunity.

Markets beget economic competition, which begets profit seeking, which in turn begets efficient productivity, which begets wealth creation - and the virtuous cycle becomes a positive feedback loop.

So yes, Africa will positively surprise the world once the markets and competition zeitgeist becomes rooted into our psyche.

Gwanga