The “Aha!” Moment I Want Us All to Share

Africa May Have Taken the Wrong Economic Path, But It’s Not Too Late

Over the course of my life, I’ve had a few “aha” moments that have reshaped the way I understand and exist in the world. 

One of these moments came at the edge of a Silicon Valley cliff when I vowed to surrender my life to the betterment of my Motherland. 

Another of these moments came when I fell on my knees, crying with relief, when I realized that Africans weren’t doomed to lives of poverty and that entrepreneurial capitalism offers a viable path to prosperity. 

But one of the biggest aha moments—and the one that I desperately want readers of The Heart of a Cheetah to experience—came to me through the work of the Ghanaian economist George Ayittey: 

When most African countries gained independence, they took the wrong economic path. 

Why is this such a big realization? 

Because it means there’s hope. Once we diagnose the problem correctly, we can begin working to fix it. We can get back on the right track: the free market path followed by our traditional African ancestors, from which we never should have departed. 

Let me explain. Last week, I described two vastly different nations: Country A, which grappled with terrible business environments and rampant poverty, and Country B, which enjoyed economic freedom and prosperity. 

The choice between those two options is so clear cut, I couldn’t get my head around why most African countries had chosen the path of Country A. Why did they relegate their citizens to poverty instead of prosperity? I wondered. Especially when free trade is our indigenous heritage? (As I’ve described, the pre-colonial Africans who thrived were solidly pro-market, supported the rule of law, and were firmly in favor of property rights.) 

George Ayittey’s work—and my aha moment—gave me my answer. 

The trouble began in the 1940s and continued through the following independence movement, when many African intellectuals and leaders chose to stick with a set of European ideals that ran counter to those of their ancestors—namely, socialism. 

The first four Pan-African Congresses were organized by W.E.B. DuBois, an African American socialist intellectual. The fifth Pan-African Congress, held in 1945 just after WWII, crystallized the role that modern African socialism came to play in the coming independence movement. In addition to DuBois, who was older at this point, prominent attendees included Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, and Hastings Banda—the first leaders of independent Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi, respectively. The conference attendees were united in calling for African independence from colonial powers.

One of the great tragedies of twentieth-century Africa is that under such leaders, “socialism” came to be associated with anti-colonialism, whereas “capitalism” was believed to be imperialist—and therefore colonialist by nature. 

But guess who initially made that argument. Hint: It wasn’t an African. 

Lenin originally made this claim early in the twentieth century, and by 1945, most African intellectuals believed it. Marxist socialism was gospel among African intellectuals of the time. 

By the time many African countries gained independence, they had already gotten a start on the wrong foot. They had listened to clever Western rhetoric that taught that the true African economic heritage—the free-market principles that had built so many incredible pre-colonial African civilizations—was an evil, imperialist relic. 

Nothing could have been further from the truth, but people kept moving forward without pausing to question those bad ideas. 

As we all know, bad ideas lead to bad results. And when socialism failed to “produce the goods”—that is, result in prosperity—military leaders claimed that socialism had not been applied firmly enough. They doubled down instead of stepping back and considering whether they had been on the wrong path to begin with. 

Africa’s current poverty, struggle, and strife can all be traced to the critical juncture around independence, when our leaders chose a faulty ideology. 

What immense damage these misguided leaders caused! Not only did they further impoverish Africa through government-controlled economies, but they also established one-party dictatorial states across Africa.

Bad African leaders also carried us further down the wrong path in the 1980s with their shoddy response to the “Washington Consensus,” a set of economic policy recommendations that were developed jointly by the IMF, World Bank, and US Department of the Treasury. 

Many skeptics claim that these policies ruined Africa in the 1980s, but that argument is based on a BIG misconception. 

The Washington Consensus told African nations that they needed to liberalize their economies and spend less. That was actually good advice. 

But guess what happened when bad African leaders went back to their countries with the mission of cutting spending. As you can imagine, they didn’t want to cut the funds that supplied their fancy chateaux and fleets of luxury cars, so where do you think they sliced the budget? 

Healthcare and education.  

And when people were upset that their lives had gotten noticeably worse, what did those leaders do? They pointed the finger at the World Bank and the IMF, saying “The West made me do it.” And people believed them! 

After that, “liberalism” became a dirty word in Africans’ mouths, and the Washington Consensus’ basic advice—cut regulations and make it easier to do business—went down the drain. 

But here’s the catch: That advice is not only sound; it’s the only way Africa can move forward. 

We Africans must reconsider our basic economic premises. The old, socialist ideas haven’t worked, and it’s time to admit it. We simply can’t continue the same way. 

Many of my critics  insist on two points: 1) Every African nation will have a different path toward development, and 2) Africans shouldn’t blindly follow the instructions of other countries or institutions. 

I agree with both of those points wholeheartedly. We must always operate in Africa’s best interest. 

But many people threw the baby out with the bathwater and decided that capitalism was evil—all because some bad leaders decided that it was more important to spend money getting a dozen girlfriends than making sure African children got a decent education. 

For Africa to move forward, we must solidly and uniformly repudiate the dreadful socialist legacy of our founding fathers. We can honor them for moving forward toward independence with noble intentions, but their fatal flaws must be acknowledged.

If you take anything from my book The Heart of a Cheetah, let it be this: 

Africa has traditions more powerful than those bequeathed to us by European intellectuals.

Before the arrival of the colonists and slavers, Africa had a functioning free-market system connected to the major trade routes of Europe and Asia. 

The destruction of that system was intentional. It can be re-created now, and it must be, for the sake of every generation of Africans.

The truth is, there is a price that comes with having freedom. When you have freedom and do things on your own, accidents will happen. But whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
—Magatte Wade, The Heart of a Cheetah

Friends, we are SO CLOSE to the release of my book The Heart of a Cheetah—only 1 more week to go!

You can preorder your copy here. And, as always, my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported my journey so far.