Africa needs strong institutions, respect

Editor, REFERENCE IS made to Joseph Rwagatare’s article, “US and Europe still rule in Africa” (The New Times, May 20). There is a saying that “if you live in a glass house you avoid throwing stones”. Now you can get an answer from that as to what is happening to our beloved Africa. We need to build strong institutions in Africa. Let us re-examine ourselves and learn to call a spade a spade in order to lift ourselves from the doldrums. Nowhere has development been sustained without strong institutions. Development goes beyond one’s lifespan and as such has to be built on strong and sustainable pillars. It is sad that we have tended to reduce development to mere numbers like GDP growth. No wonder Western leaders indeed “summon” African leaders. Can we emulate the likes of our forefathers like Rwabugiri, Shaka the Zulu, Kabarega etc and not only sing development songs, but also liberate our minds. For, if we build strong institutions, will we be able to develop. Manzi, Kigali ************************ MR RWAGATARE is spot on. However, the issue of Africans being treated like kids by the West is largely due to the fact that we Africans do not believe in ourselves. Most of us hardly believe that we have the capacity within us to fix the challenges that we face. Until we start to believe in ourselves, the rest of the world will not respect us. Muhanga, Geneva ************************ YOU MIGHT also have noted that Africans throwing themselves into the arms of Westerners pleading for help is akin to a victim turning to the arsonist for assistance to put out the fire engulfing his home! Africans, especially many of our leaders, are co-responsible for our conflicts and societal distress, but our (erstwhile) colonisers and neocolonial masters are past masters at identifying the smallest cracks within our societies, widening and deepening them almost beyond repair and then waiting for us to do the rest to destroy ourselves. And we seemingly never learn from each succeeding episode of this never-ending serial in which we are played for dolts. Mwene Kalinda, Rwanda

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Africa needs strong institutions, respect