Let's All Work Together, OK?

"We all know the big elephant in the room," says George Ayittey, a native of Ghana and an economics professor at American University in Washington. "The big elephant in the room is African governments.

"Africa has been totally mismanaged and misruled in the past decade. Nobody wants to talk about that because of political correctness. But Africa's begging bowl leaks, horribly."

While Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair hopes this week to push the Group of Eight leaders to spend an extra US$25-billion a year on foreign aid for Africa, Prof. Ayittey insists African leaders could pick up part of the bill themselves just by curbing their own corruption.

"I mean, it is noble for the rich countries to help Africa," he says. "But the real question is: What are African leaders themselves doing to help their own people?"

[Thanks Jordon for the link!]