Africa is Not Poor Because of Colonization

As a Nigerian our politicians are are destroying the country, the corruption and corrupt politicians in Nigeria is beyond belief, a country so blessed with natural resources and human capital and yet so poor.

I am from Ethiopia. Ethiopia was never colonized. what make us poor is 20 years of communism then 30 years of tribal politics.

Singapore, when it began, was a pirate port, and it accepted everybody, as long as the ships came in to trade. This is economic freedom. Singapore is one of the most prosperous, developed nations in the world.

I'm from South Sudan. We've never been at peace since 1956 when our fight for independence began. Economic freedom was actually one of the top priorities we wanted independence for. 2011 came and we got the independence. We started off well for about 2 years and these self-centered leaders with no vision but to just occupy political seats fucked the country up. I don't see any sign of hope in sight for the nearby future. Major problems with these so-called leaders are lack of vision, corruption, external influence, a lot of tribal politics, nepotism, illiteracy (yes, more than 70% of our leaders have less than a high school diploma. They are carryovers from battlefields. All they know is to fight.) An average high schooler here is more intelligent, more articulate, more informed and a better critical thinker than the president and the cabinet. We're eternally fucked. They recently gave China unregulated control of our oil up to 2027 for reasons no one has an idea about.

It's so refreshing to hear someone speaking up for their people in a way that doesn't paint their entire group as victims. We need more of this.

One of the major ways Singapore achieved success was through the elimination of corruption. Status or wealth didn't matter when it came to punishing the corrupt and that is what kills most african economies. Our leaders know they can abuse finances and get away with it without facing any consequences.

If Africa was a continent full of people like this person, they would be wealthy.

She is wonderful. The world needs so many more people like her.

As an African I'm happy to have an African with this school of thought. We've been fed nonsense that has had us lost, lazy, corrupt and depressed.. Thank you for your voice

Why isn’t this extremely bright, insightful woman being heard all over Africa? What she says is SO, SO obvious!

As a Ugandan here, I can tell you that most of the reason we backslide is because of corruption, from the president down to the village level officials. When money gets sent down for things like roads and health care, it barely reaches but we changed the curriculum 2 years ago which I'm happy about and put an emphasis on entrepreneurship, individual thinking and raising a better future generation! Hopefully this will help us develop faster

Amen!!! May all of Africa hear you

I'm in Japan. I worked for a non-profit where we donated cancer treatment equipment worth millions to Africa. We later found out they were sold for profit throughout the country and abroad. All due to greedy politicians. It's been going on forever and probably won't change unless something severe happens. I was born Kisii Kenya and well aware of the issues in Africa. Once again JBP is on the money!

As a Black South African, 🇿🇦🇿🇦 What JP and this lady are saying is exactly what I've been saying for years but I have been attacked by many blacks and guilty whites. South Africa has been free from white oppression for 30 years and our idiot politicians still use Apartheid as an excuse for their incompetance and corruption. If South Africa really focused on economic reform, I believe our GDP would have been $1t or more (currently $350b). The current government has done very little interms of improvement, in fact most of the infrastructure we are using today was built by our colonizers and Apartheid government. The current government can't even maintain the infrastructure and institutions that were built by the Apartheid government. Every rational and sane person knows that Apartheid was evil and atrocious but to blame a system that's been dead for almost 30 years now is just fvkng stupid. Our next elections are in 2024 and for the first time since 1994 we think the current ruling party (ANC) will be removed by a coalition between the main opposition party (DA) and other smaller parties. God bless South Africa, the land of my birth 🇿🇦🇿🇦🙌🏿

I totally agree. Why do we keep blaming colonization & see ourselves as victims. Stop playing the victim card & let's do something about our own development. So refreshing to hear her speak truthfully.

Its refreshing to see someone is not blaming others for their current situation.

My father was a mining and geological engineer who spent years in Africa. He told me that the continent has an unimaginable wealth of resources. He said the people were wonderful, but the governments were corrupt.

Lived in east Africa for 10 years. The corruption runs deep, and it’s ruining an entire continent, one country at a time.

It's always uplifting to listen to genuinely intelligent commentary and analysis. Wonderful stuff....!

About 15 years ago I had a very long conversation with a Maasai man who was a professor of economics at a university in Nairobi. He shocked me with the admission, invoking the movie Braveheart, by saying “The problem with Africa is that it’s full of Africans”. He was making the point that African culture of corruption and government theft is one of the primary reasons for economic failures in Africa.