Written by Samuel Ndandala

Two weeks ago I was flipping TV channels in my hotel room in Lausanne, a serene city on the northern shores of lake Geneva. Not too far from there, the Syrians were starting to negotiate an end to a three year old bloodshed that is threatening to wreck the entire Middle-East. Richard Quest was on CNN, interviewing Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkison; the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The Cardinal was sent by Pope Francis to deliver a simple message; Money should serve humans, not rule them. The event covered was the World Economic Forum. This is where those on top of the food chain – Presidents, CEOs, heads of supranational organisations – convene to discuss the state of the world’s affairs.

The theme in Davos this year was ‘The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business.’ Don’t you love it when conferences have so much grandeur in their themes? The kind of theme that almost says everything, and nothing at all? Anyways, I better digress no further, on to my story. On my three hour train ride to Lausanne, I finally managed to read a short book, a recommendation I picked up on Andrea Cordes’s blog. ‘We are heirs of a revolution’ is a collection of speeches of one of Africa’s great sons, Thomas Sankara.

Until his assassination, he was Burkina Faso’s president for a short four years (1983 -1987). I will review Sankara’s book in the context of what I think he would say had he attended this year’s WEF. Of course this is partly my imagination (and knowing what I know about him, he probably would feel out of place in Davos). I would like to relay my thoughts on what impression I got from the read, the make-up of the man if you will. And to do this I feel that a brief introduction of the man is necessary.

Thomas Sankara seized power in what was then Upper Volta in 1983. Immediately, he unleashed sweeping reforms. He cut his salary to USD 45o a month, sold the government’s fleet of Mercedes cars and made the cheapest car at the time (Renault 5) the official service car for ministers. In 1984, he renamed the country ‘Burkina Faso’ (which means the land of upright men). Catapulted by the land reforms he introduced, his country’s wheat production per hectare more than doubled, making it self-sufficient within three years. In a move unseen in Africa, he refused to have his portrait hung in public places, he turned off his office air conditioning which he claimed was the privilege the majority of Burkinabes did not have. A new Burkina Faso was under way. Unfortunately his life was cut short in 1987.

So what would he say? I think I have an idea. First, like Pope Franchis I think he would remind delegates that all institutions on earth should have the sole purpose of serving and advancing the welfare of fellow men, without exception. Any institution that fails to do this – be it private or governmental loses its right to exist. Against that background Thomas Sankara rallied every Burkinabe around that goal. ‘The days of a free-spending army are over’ he declared, ‘from now on, besides handling arms, the army will work in the fields and raise cattle, sheep and poultry. Indeed the army must live and suffer among the people to which it belongs.’ For him, no member of a society got a free ride, all had to work in service of the society.

What would he say about foreign aid to Africa? First of all, regardless of the donor’s good intentions, begging is inherently a degrading thing. Begging for over half a century is even more humiliating, even when you call it ‘development assistance’. Not just because it psychologically makes one feel inferior, but also because, as Sankara rightly put it, ‘he who feeds you controls you’.

I believe he would recall that there was a time when Europe received aid. But that kind of aid was specifically targeted at particular sectors, it was clear how much would be given for a specific amount of time and most importantly, it was FINITE. It was clear that the aid taps would stop running at a certain point in time. Africa is treated as if it will forever be in need of aid. That is wrong, insulting and dangerous. Thomas Sankara would be outraged. ‘Of course we welcome aid that aids us in doing away with aid’ he said as he addressed the UN General Assembly.

Let me digress on aid. Bill and Melinda Gates foundation released its annual letter three weeks ago. It focused on why aid is a great thing and why the rich world should be more altruistic. Bill Gates made a bold statement, ‘By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world’. In other words, 21 years from now, the Bill Gates foundation will become redundant. He clearly advocates for more assistance, of course out of good intentions.

In principle, I have philosophical problems with poverty alleviation strategies being set by NGO’s, philanthropic organisations and the UN. In many ways it is assuming that the poor are unable to think for themselves. In ‘The White Man’s Burden’, William Easterley makes a distinction between what he calls planners and searchers. Planners are fancy economists, ‘development practitioners’ and celebrities who seem to think they know what the poor need more than the poor themselves. Searchers allow the entrepreneurial energy of the poor to unleash itself. Planners feel messianic, Searchers do not believe in top-down policies. A planner’s arrogance, Thomas Sankara would have rejected completely. When planners prevail, leaders from poor countries loose focus. They begin to act like they were elected to court Bill Gates and Oxfam.

Self-sufficiency was one of Sankara’s obsessions ‘‘Let us consume only what we ourselves control.” He said. This is reminiscent of Tanzania’s former prime minister, Edward Sokoine’s mantra, ‘ tusimame kwa miguu yetu miwili’, loosely translated as ‘let us stand on our own two feet’. Sankara encouraged Burkinabes to buy local. Soon the men and women started to eat and wear what they produced. In three years Burkina Faso, was feeding itself.

Thomas Sankara understood the indispensable role women at the time when ‘empowerment of women’ was not popular. ‘Women hold half of the other sky’ he said. But more importantly Sankara would have spoken to the women on why it is important that they ‘empower themselves. He challenged women to rise up. ‘Liberation is not given, it must be conquered’ he said to women. He appointed women in places of authority, not out of pity of mercy, but he explained that he not only believed in empowering women, but letting women take the power.

As the Sahara desert encroached Burkina Faso, Sankara embarked on a massive reforestation program. ‘For nearly 3 years, every happy event – marriage, baptism, awards, visits – was celebrated with a tree-planting ceremony in Burkina Faso. Men developed a great relationship with trees,’ he said while addressing an audience in Paris. If they meet in the afterlife, Thomas Sankara and Wangari Maathai would be looking for trees to plant in heaven! Thomas Sankara would remind humanity that it only has one home. That we need to protect our environment before mother earth starts punishing us.

Not many Africans, much less the rest of the world, know of this extinguished star. Any healthy society must have heroes from which to draw the moral, intellectual, ethical and spiritual courage to propel itself. Thomas Sankara is that kind of man. He showed Africa and the world what can happen when a dedicated people resolve to transform their nation. He showed us that the key to economic transformation on the continent lies in its people. He was an upright man, a selfless man. These are the kind of leaders that the African continent needs to resurrect and invoke. Thomas Sankara inspires me.

Samwel Ndandala is a Transfer Pricing and Value Chain Transformation Consultant at PwC Switzerland. The views expressed are entirely his own. 

(Disclaimer:  I promised to review E.W. Said ‘Orientalism’ this weekend,  but as I sat and reflect upon it, I wasn’t sure if am (yet) capable of doing it. I am still trying to understand it especially its implication to Africa and in particular “African studies”…I might ask Chambi Chachage for a chat about it before doing it! Well, since I promised to have a book review or lesson on my blog every weekend of 2014, I asked my brother- Shirumisha to write something from one of the books he has recently read …he gladly agreed and here is what he wrote)

What makes a great leader: Lessons from:Nelson Mandela: Conversation with myself (London: Macmillan, 2010)

By Shirumisha Kwayu

After the death of Nelson Mandela, the humble Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, urged people to emulate Nelson Mandela. Many leaders around the globe did the same. Nelson Mandela was one of highly regarded leader of the 21^st century. He was unselfish to principles of democracy and justice.

This week I was fortunate to get time to read a book that records his personal life of Mandela. It is the “Nelson Mandela: Conversation with myself”. The book is exposing and fun. It is a collection of letters and dialogues with friends. I enjoyed reading the letters and some stories that were part of the dialogues. The most enjoyable stories were, to name a few, “the analogy of moneychangers”, “the shadows of Nazareth”, and “the wind and sun”.

This brief note is not about retorting the stories but rather to note a few things that I’ve learned from this book.

The importance of reading widely– this is evident in Mandela’s letters and dialogues with people recorded in the book. Mandela used knowledge from vast literature to cement his arguments and also to strike conversations with people of different caliber and from different backgrounds.  It is evident that Mandela read a lot of literature about revolutions when he was establishing the Umkhomtu we Siwze. He read narrations of different revolutions occurred in the world with Algerian revolution being the notable one.

The art of expressing ourselves– the letters and conversations expressed clearly Mandela’s thoughts in an honest way. He expressed them in a simple way that combines both easiness and seriousness of his convictions. Also he didn’t want his conversations to leave a negative image of other people, he remained positive throughout. He tried as much as possible not to be offensive yet maintaining honesty without flirting.  On another side, people in the conversations also teach us the same. The way the warders were communicating with the prisoners determined efficiency during duties. The warder who spoke to them gently got a lot more done than the one who spoke harshly. Remember the condition was the same but the communication was different and it made a difference.

Thinking with mind not blood– It’s quite important to learn and think realistically without allowing personal and emotions to take over our logical thinking. People prefer to stay away from problems rather than facing them. For instance many politicians prefer to deliver rubble speeches in order to win the masses. They can get a lesson from Mandela. He spoke what he believed without caring who will like it or not. He also decided to change the way of making his speeches by adopting the more gentle method that was more effective. The story of the wind and sun fits here well. I wont narrate it here, but I urge you to read the book so you can come across it.

 Keeping record of diaries and personal journals– Keeping records of ourselves helps us to keep history. Information, which may be regarded useless today, might be very useful tomorrow. For instance, letters to Mandela wife (Winnie), children’s, leaders, friend and colleagues were the main source used to construct this book. These letters show the side of Mandela, which we would never know if they had not kept them. Many people have considered Mandela a saint or angel but his letters and dialogues show his human side with emotions and weakness. I consider the human being side of Mandela more important as it challenges most of us to emulate him as suggested by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Meditation: When Winnie was in prison and there was no one (Mandela and/or Winnie) at home to look after the children, Mandela sent a letter to Winnie. In this letter Mandela was encouraging Winnie to learn how to meditate. Mandela argued that meditation is important for searching oneself soul. This, he contended, might be tiring at the beginning but in the tenth time you will get hold of it. Mediating is important as you can look at the mistakes that originate from yourself and it will help you evaluate by telling your self the truth. Many people keep deceiving themselves sometimes it better to leave everything and find time to search our soul and inner being.

 Lastly, The book of Mandela emphases values as biggest asset for socialisation. Humility and humbleness are shown and emphasized by Mandela as the greatest values that are honoured universally.  Respecting others regardless of their age is quite important. In certain tale Mandela describes how he felt very bad when he spoke harsh words to a friend, he later went to make peace with them. Also in another event when they were smuggling letters into the prison, a young warder saw them and pretended as if he hadn’t seen them, Mandela felt very bad for this because his colleague made it openly and it was a disrespectful act to the warder. Although in that situation Mandela could not do anything, he felt the guilty. Sometimes we as human being find ourselves in situation like this. And finally, when Mandela was on transition from prison to freedom, he insisted to wash dishes and undertake other activities that were supposed to be done by warders. This teaches us to be humble regardless of our status.

There are many lessons to learn from this book, and I ask you to read it- it’s fun and you will find yourself laughing…or crying at other times.

Wakati ambapo Tanzania imekumbwa na janga la elimu mbovu na hivyo mijadala mbali mbali kuhusu elimu na namna ya kuiboresha, kuna ambao wamebaki kuongea na kulalamika lakini kuna waliochukua hatua. Kati ya waliochukua hatua madhubuti ya kupambana na janga la elimu mbovu Tanzania ni Faraja Nyalandu. Kwa hapa sitaongelea mengi aliyoyafanya katika hili lakini nitachambua, kwa unyenyekevu, kitabu alichoandika kiitwacho : Unaweza: Mbinu Kumi za Kumudu Masomo Yako.

Kitabu kinaeleza kwa lugha nyepesi namna 10 za kujifunza na kumudu masomo. Namna hizi ni (1) Kutambua Kwa  Nini Uko Shuleni; (2) Fahamu Lugha inayotumika kufundishia; (3) Elewa Somo; (4) Zingatia Matumizi ya Muda Wako; (5) Jifunze Kutafakari; (6) Jifunze Ulichojifunza; (7) Kuwa na mkakati binafsi;(8) Ushirikiano; (9) Kuwa na Uvipendavyo nje ya masomo; na (10) Mwamini Mungu.

 Kwa makini sana Faraja anaelezea kila mbinu, anaonyesha umuhimu wa kila mbinu na pia anaonyesha jinsi ambavyo hizi mbinu zinategemeana. Hivyo ni muhimu kwa mwanafunzi kuelewa mbinu zote hizi ili aweze kumudu masomo yake.

 Muhimu zaidi ni jinsi Faraja anavyounganisha uelewa wa masomo darasani na maisha ya kila siku. Elimu inatusaidia katika utatuzi wa matatizo ambayo tunakutana nao kila siku maishani. Hivyo anaonyesha uelewa ni muhimu kuliko kukariri.  Zaidi pia anaunganisha uelewa na maisha kwa kuonyesha umuhimu wa ushirikiano na pia kuwa na muda na mambo mengine nje ya masomo. Mambo yote haya ni muhimu.

 Kwa muda sasa kumekuwa na mjadala kuhusu lugha ya kufundishia hapa Tanzania hususan matumizi ya lugha ya kingereza kwenye shule za sekondari. Bila kuingia kwenye huyo mjadala Faraja anaonyesha jinsi lugha inaweza kufanya mwanafunzi asielewe na anatoa mfano wa wimbo wa Taifa ulioandikwa kwa kanji (Kichina). Ingawa watanzania wanaujua wimbo wa Taifa, kama umeandikwa kichina hatutautambua. Hivyo anaonyesha tu ni lazima kila mwanafunzi afanye bidii kuelewa lugha ya kufundisha ili aweze kumudu masomo. Anasema mwaka wa kwanza ni muhimu sana wanafunzi waelewe lugha ya kingereza na kanuni zake ili aweze kumudu masomo yake. Hili la lugha ni tatizo kubwa nchini na lazima Taifa (sisi wote) tuzidi kulifikiria ili kuleta suluhisho la maendeleo.

 Kwa hekima kubwa, Faraja ameonyesha mbinu ya mwisho ni kumwamini Mungu. Hili ni jambo la juu sana na kila mwanafunzi anayemwamini Mungu anafanikiwa kwa sababu hakubali vitisho au wasiwasi kumrudisha nyuma. Ndio sababu naona kitabu kinaitwa UNAWEZA, hili ni neno la kiimani na ni kweli kila mwanafunzi anaweza.

 Kitabu kimetumia rangi mbalimbali katika kurasa zake na pia michoro. Hii ni muhimu sana kwa kuvutia wanafunzi kusoma na pia kwa uwelewa rahisi. Kila mbinu imewakilishwa kwa rangi tofauti.

 Nilipata shida  kidogo nilipokuwa nasoma hiki kitabu haswa kwa kuona labda Faraja alifikiria zaidi wanafunzi walioko mijini au wenye uwezo flani. Maana Faraja alitoa mfano wa kupoteza muda kwenye mitandao. Nikajiuliza ni wanafunzi wangapi wana mitandao Tanzania? Lakini nilifurahishwa badae niliposoma mbinu ya “mkakati binafsi” niliona kati ya hatari ambazo Faraja alitaja zinazowekumkumba mwanafunzi  ni kama “kazi nyingi nyumbani.” Hapo wasiwasi wangu ulipungua nikajua mwandishi alifikiria pia wale wanafunzi wenye uwezo duni wa kimaisha ambao wanakumbwa na hatari kama hizi.

 Naona pia Faraja angeongelea zaidi au kuweka mkazo zaidi juu ya “kutambua vipawa”. Ingawa Faraja aliongea hili kwa mbali na kutoa mfano wa maisha yake na uandishi (alivyokuwa akitengeneza kadi na kuandika maneno mazuri akiwa mwanafunzi) angeweza zaidi kuongelea jinsi ya kutambua vipawa na kuvikuza. Hili simlaumu, na labda iwe changamoto yetu wengine sisi kuliandikia.

 Binafsi ingawa nimesoma na kumudu masomo mpaka shahada ya uzamivu (PhD) nimejifunza mambo mengi sana  kwenye hiki kitabu. Nimejifunza umuhimu wa kutafakari na kujifunza nilichojifunza. Niliwahi kufundisha kwa miaka 3 katika chuo kikuu cha Nottingham, na kama mwalimu ilinibidi nisome na kujitayarisha sana ili niweze kufundisha vizuri. Nafikiri baada ya kuacha kufundisha nilisahau kidogo kiwango cha elimu nilichokuwa napata kwa kujitayarisha na somo. Lakini kitabu hiki cha UNAWEZA kimenikumbusha na kunionyesha kuwa, hata kama sifundishi, ninaweza bado kujifunza ninacho jifunza.

 Asante sana Faraja kwa kitabu kizuri. Asante kwa kuchukua hatua katika mapigano ya kuboresha elimu Tanzania. Nawasihi wazazi wanunulie watoto wao hiki kitabu na wasome nao. Kama unauwezo nunulia pia watoto wengine kwenye shule mbali mbali.

For the 50^th post of this blog, I deeply thought of what to write or which book to review. I then decided that I would write a reflection on the famous George Orwell’s Animal Farm.  I kept asking myself if I am capable of reviewing this, almost, century-old masterpiece!

In a synopsis, Animal Farm is a political fairy tale that narrates a rebellion carried out by animals against their owner/farmer- Mr. Jones.  The animals wanted to be free from exploitation. It was a revolution aimed at liberating the animals. They wanted dignity, independence, equality, free speech, education, and everything else that living creatures naturally desire.  These ideals were engraved in 7 commandments, a sort of a ‘National Anthem’ titled the Beasts of England’ and were symbolized by a green flag. The animals were successful in chasing Mr. & Mrs. Jones out of the farm and set up their own system. For them, “man is the only creature that consumes without producing…yet he is a lord of all animals” (p.4).  And that explains the summary (for the dumb animals such as goats) of the 7 commandments and the Beast of England – ‘four legs good, two legs bad’. The revolution seemed to be a success story in the beginning. Even when men (Mr. Jones and his friends) wanted to retake the farm, the animals were able to protect their territory and independence in what they famously called the ‘Battle of the Cowshed’. However, the leaders (pigs) led by Comrade Napoleon gradually changed towards the behaviors of ‘man’ whom they rebelled. He started by fighting hard against his fellow leader, Snowball. Napoleon and his fellow ‘leaders’ or rather rulers slowly killed the ideals that animals fought for including equality, freedom of speech and participation. The laws in the farm were gradually changing in favour of the ruling animals while exploiting other animals. There was no room for complaining and those who did were quickly shut down or threatened. There was no permission to challenge the ‘leader’- he was always ‘right’ as the hard working Boxer would confess like a creed that should not be proven. Killings happened in the farm and things were not in ‘cloud 9’ as the animals thought but they were ‘convinced’ to remained patriotic whatever the situation because the single aim was ‘not to be ruled by man’. However, Napoleon and his fellows in the ruling class ended up learning to walk on two legs and imitated everything that was of man…even their new friends were men…and the dumb goats changed the summary anthem to ‘four legs good, two legs better’.

Well, what can I say? Upon reflecting on this fairy tale, my mind thought of so many historical events at international level and local level too. At local level a lot of contemporary issues can also fit into George Orwell’s story. Although the Animal Farm was written in 1930s and published in 1945, the story is still relevant to political situations in many countries in the world.

Without going into much details, Orwell’s book kept me thinking of Russia, China, ‘independent’ Africa, multiparty Africa, Arab Spring, Capitalism, and Socialism…I could write a few pages on each of those from Orwell’s book but for this short entry allow me to write something short and general.

Citizens who feel that they are exploited or not free are usually prone to carry out a revolution if they get a right and (mostly) a charismatic leader. They revolt against what they perceive as an exploitative system with the aim of replacing it with a fair system that will make everyone equal and ensure freedom of participation, speech, etc. Such revolutions have been common in many parts of the world. Russia Revolution on 1917 and its aftermath, for example, had much influenced in George Orwell’s writings and in particular the Animal Farm. Of late we have seen “revolutions” in North Africa that ousted out decades old rulers/dictators. However, the question is always the sustainability of these hard fought for ideals in the hands of ‘leaders’- who often prefer titles such as “comrades” “brotherly leaders” and “revolutionary leaders”. Even the leaders that were ousted in North Africa, such as Muammer Gaddafi, had revolted against authoritative systems in their times but then changed to become dictators themselves. Since history repeats itself, one year after Tahrir Revolution, Mohamed Morsi, for example, the then new president, tried to accumulate more presidential power in his hands, which…too bad gave a justification to what I categorize as a ‘coup’.

 In Africa, we read about liberation struggles in the 1950s through to early 1980s. The aim was to remove colonialists out of our land and to gain dignity, independence, and freedom.  However, most of new African leaders (with few exceptions such as Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda) changed to become dictators, refusing to get out of power, and worked hard to be like the colonialists in style and many other things. They embraced colonial-like policies of exploitation and class division. They created an elite class in Africa, just like the pigs did in the animal farm.

 In the multiparty Africa, we see the same dangers. After 1990s, Africa opened up to ‘democracy’ in what scholars such as Samuel Huntington, calls “third wave” of democracy. Political parties emerged with the aim of removing old parties that had become so exploitative after independence.  There were hopes in Africa. But most of these new regimes (formed under the multiparty system) ended up becoming dictators and some even worse than the older parties’ regime. In Tanzania, my country, we have not been lucky to replace the old CCM with another political party regime. However, there is a wave of change- although gradual. Some political parties have managed to command considerable number of followers and if, all goes well, there are prospect that one day they will get into power. But power corrupts, even the increased popularity in these parties have already becoming a challenge and a root cause/source of nascent feelings of dictatorship.  It is something that we need to be careful so as we do not find ourselves in a worse situation like the animals.

 This is not to say that we need to stick with the one party throughout. NO and I repeat NOOOO!! with an emphasis. Multiparty is a good system and its ideals are crucial to ensure participation and democracy. Events of failure of multipartism in some African countries and to some extent what we are seeing in Tanzania, should not discourage Tanzanians from voting change! We have to embrace the ideals as long as we put in place checks and balances that will ensure ‘new leaders’ don’t hold on into power and become dictators. In his preface to the Ukrainine version, George Orwell himself complained that “nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country…” (p.118). I just hope what we have been witnessing, of late, with our main opposition party in Tanzania will not corrupt the meaning of democracy in Tanzania.

George Orwell’s book includes little stories and accounts that can teach us a whole lot of what happens in a contemporary world politics. I found it very interesting that Napoleon had secretly kept the dogs who came to threaten his opponents. For some reasons I relate this part of the story with real life examples in Tanzania political businesses (some Tanzanian educated youths are secretly kept (as Napoleon dogs) ready to threaten and devour anyone who will oppose their masters…I beg youths to refuse such roles).  In short, Animal Farm is a political fairy tale that leaders and citizens should read. History repeats itself and that is why reflections of the world politics in early 1930s by Orwell are still very fresh and applicable in our contemporary world.

 I cannot say anything more on this great book because I feel very incapable of writing anything  more concerning Orwell’s work.

Sadly, persistent poverty alongside high economic growth is what explains the current situation in Africa. This is reflected in increasing inequality among citizens of the same nations. Inequality, however, is not an African issue. It is becoming a ‘conventional’ condition in neoliberal world that we are now living.

To understand neoliberalism and its sustenance ‘methods’ even with chains of failure evidence, one has to read Chang’s book. The book provides a provoking explanation of neo liberal policies and their proponents, whom Chang calls ‘Bad Samaritans’.   The Bad Samaritans through the ‘Unholy Trinity’ of IMF, World Bank, and WTO promotes neo liberal policies, which are meant to benefit them at the cost of depriving developing countries.

Using a kind of “theory” he calls ‘Kicking away the ladder”, Chang uses historical evidence to explain how the Bad Samaritan are fighting against policies that they themselves deployed to get where they are. With vivid examples he explained how countries such as Britain and USA used protectionism to build up their infant industries but they are now, through WTO, restraining developing countries from deploying such policies. In the same way, the Bad Samaritan are still subsidising their industries often in subtle means such as through ‘Research  & Development’ while acting as if the world is operating in a free and fair trade.

Chang has covered different areas including patents and copyrights, corruption, democracy and free market, and cultural and development. His analysis is rich and of critical perspective, in which he would explain the rationale used by neoliberals (the Bad Samaritan) to justify their policies then he would counter them with historical and contemporary real life examples. He showed how ‘anti-neo-liberal policies’ such as protectionism and subsidies explain the economic development of East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.

Having been raised in South Korea and witnessed the economic transformation over a few decades and now a professor at Cambridge University, Chang mixes his personal experience, insight of developing world, and academic rigour to bring forth arguments and counter arguments that help us to understand neoliberalism.

The book covers areas that ‘economics’ books will not touch. These include discussion on culture and development. I particularly loved the provoking title of the chapter, “ Lazy Japanese and Thieving Germans”….can you imagine at one point, the Japanese were known as lazy?? …to cut the story short, we Africans should not get baptised into stereotyped description of us and our continents. We need to work hard and prove those stereotypes wrong.

 At some point in the book, in particular when Chang was discussing ‘corruption’ and ‘patents/copy rights’, I got really scared and almost not agreeing with him. Actually, readers who are not careful might get it all wrong. However, at the end of each of those chapters, an objective reader will understand the arguments. In all those chapters, I learnt to be critical even when things that we hate are used as justification for certain policies.

This book is crucial for African policy makers who blindly embrace neo-liberal policies. Reading the chapter on Foreign Direct Investment  (Titled ‘The Finn and the Elephant”), I could never stop thinking about my country-Tanzania. I don’t know the details of our FDI contracts and so I can’t comment much, but from the hindsight, I think we need to revisit the contracts and be more careful to protect our very own manufactures (or we only have producers?) against   foreign companies.

(May be that’s why Chang only cites the example of Tanzania (the donor darling) once in reference to HIV/AIDS drugs…)

 Well, on a different note, while reading the book, I could not stop thinking of Acemoglu and Robinson book ‘Why Nations Fail’… I now think the two authors put a blind eye to the ‘kicked ladder’ when they tried to explain their theory.

 All in all, as readers we need to read more widely before getting baptised into one idea. Reading widely helps us to have a balanced view of situations informed by critical analysis of information from different sources.

Finally, I would advice political economists students (undergraduate) and even upper levels to read this book. It will give them a critical step towards understanding the polarised world of increasing inequality amidst economic growth. Most importantly, it will urge them to fight the unfair policies and ‘save’ humanity!

****In Short, I will say Americanah is a tapestry of a disturbingly beautiful love story woven with so many threads of different colours that reflect the daily realities of life in a globalized world.

 As I was looking through my friends’ reading lists for 2013, I noticed a number of books that I might also read in 2014. One of these was Americanah by sweet bright Chimamanda. Although I had never read any of her books, I had read some of her articles on the Guardian and also listened to her talk on TED.  My friend likes her a lot and has praised her work to me a number of times. He referred to her in his provoking Guardian article. So during my Christmas holidays in South-Africa, I went to the Exclusive Book Store and picked Americanah determined to start reading it as soon as I finish the book that I was reading. The mistake was, I opened the first page of the book when I had resumed to work…and my wish for the next four days of work was to get home and read it. I didn’t bring the book to the office with me because I would have to sacrifice office hours reading it. This is how excellent the book is.  My dad asked me, what book are you reading now? I said…it’s a book, that if I were the Minister of Education, I’d make it a set book for Secondary School English literature syllabus.

The book is a fiction that captures so many mini stories depicting many aspects of realities in people’s daily lives. It crosscuts through city life, village life, developed world lifestyles and developing world lifestyles. She is capturing globalization in a mastery literary style. It is set in three continents – a really big plus! Upon reflecting the book (am not attempting to do any comparison here or something of the sort), I thought of a book my dad bought for me about ten years ago- the Lexus and the Olive Tree– I really cant remember the details of that book, but it’s title just made a lot more sense in the Americanah.  The book connects the modernity with traditions or rather brings globalization to the reality of our daily lives.  To understand globalization, one has to simply read Americanah before dealing with difficult academic explanations to it.

There is a huge focus on issues of race, perfectly portrayed by a considerable number of pages devoted to explain the blogging career of Ifemelu and some of the Raceteenth posts. However, thinking of the book as mainly about race is to see a narrow picture of it.  In this beautiful but disturbing love story of Ifemelu and Obinze,  Chimamanda has managed to bring into the picture single motherhood, culture, tribalism immigration,  divorce, poverty, religion, language, academia, and business. The book is like a tapestry woven with so many threads of different colours that reflect the daily realities of life.

May be out of my own faith/cultural reservations, there are a number of things that I didn’t like in the book. First, I didn’t like how the story ended- Obinze divorcing his wife, who had not done anything wrong.  Although it can be argued that falling out of love is a perfect reason to divorce, I still think it’s unfair and more than anything I’m a bit worried about the implication of such stories in African literature that we encourage our children to read…or is it the reality of globalization? – The infusion of ‘global (western)’ culture in Africa? Second, she narrated stories about girls dating rich married men for material purposes. Although we saw how bad things turned for Aunty Uju when The General died, it was still not scary. Other similar cases seemed ok to the end such as Ranyinudo’s. Even Ifemelu re-started her love-relationship again with Obinze while he was married leading to divorce. I think Chimamanda should have been more careful and go beyond to show negative consequences….  Third, I think the novel will relate more to the emerging middle class group in Africa and not to other groups in African society- may be this is a credit  (on the other side) as discourse on the emerging middle class is now trending and in need of more debates. But not every person in Africa can easily relate to it.

All in all, the novel is a masterpiece and reflects a reality on the ground. I kept laughing and sharing so many scene stories with my sister on the phone because I could relate to them and knew that my sister will understand the stories and why am laughing.

If you have time, please read this book…it’s a classic, easy read, and enjoyable novel.

****Best Characters (the ones I love most apart from the main characters)- Iloba, Emenike, Dike,  and Boubacar