Andrew Mwenda: Let's take a new look at African aid

[crudhousefull]

Absolutely incredible.

[thepiachu]

Country that developed because of generosity of people outside of it - Vatican.

[omoibile]

@thepiachu : Vatican is a city of a country ITALY

[Mrsirajabdullah71]

@omoibile ahhh! my dear told you I would behave lol

[omoibile]

@Mrsirajabdullah71 : Thank you darling, I can see you are.. How are you?

[Mrsirajabdullah71]

@omoibile alhumdiallah I am greattttt!!!!!

[0989098901]

miniskirt (:

short enough to arouse interest, but long enough to cover the subject

[dontlookatmeokay]

The incentive of keeping the fruits of your labour is lost on communists like Bono. Actually, Bono knows the free market is the way to go, but he ideally wants himself to succeed from capitalism, and have everyone else bow before him and his demands.

[Janusha]

@thisisabusiness666

There is no environmental effect on brain development. They dont BECOME dumb by living in slum and not having education. They live in slums and dont make better conditions because their state of evolution dont allow them to rise to that level all by themselves. Two very different things. Which I tried to illustrate.

Some will tell you that malnutrition and lack of schools make people less developed. This is not true. Reading a book does not enter your genepool.

[Janusha]

@thisisabusiness666

"doing well in college" isnt always about IQ as much as it is about doing as youre told. However when it comes to Africa and other under developed countries... Its popular to look at their conditions and think ofcourse they live in slums because they dont have education, money, access to clean water and materials to build... But its much more modern to look at all that and think: Yes... Thats exactly the kind of societies you would expect a population of 70 IQ to create.

[afroblack1000]

I Like this guy

[Jotto999]

Shut it, Bono. Mwenda is right on.

[Janusha]

Oh so now we should go to Africa and "create wealth" for them aswell ? Its not enough that we spend our money saving their lives, feeding them and rescuing them from civil wars... wars that they start themselves.

Where is the African ability to help themselves. The international community are lining up with good intentions and are more than willing to meet them half way regardless of what africans choose to do themselves. Where is the intellectual elite in Africa ? Where is the leadership.

[j0hnc00]

@Janusha oh then you've seen it.

to your answer again:

Basically the idiots are hiding behind selling natural resources and aid (the whole problem). They get given guns, to suppress the intelligent, from those who would rather have less competition for the natural resources. After all, although increased competition is good for science, the "smart ones" don't want the adverse effects (less wealth...) since the world pie isn't getting bigger; this is despite of the obvious good for science.

[Janusha]

@j0hnc00

Again. Its always astonished researchers that they cannot seem to find an intellectual elite in Africa. There is ofcourse the reason that any smart African wont stay in Africa for very long but there is really no intellectual elite running any country in Africa. I strongly believe European countrys should come in and run governments in Africa as a non-profit organisation as they seem completly unable to run anything themselves. ORGANISATION is what all of Africa desperately lacks.

[Janusha]

But ofcourse... Europe running Africa sounds like colonisation all over again. And America has a history of slavery. Which makes China seem like the way to turn for trade and money. But the Chinese... They are smart. Very smart. And have MUCH less concern with the future of Africa. Everything which Europe has worked towards, trying to make Africa stabile for trade and civilized enough that foreign companies dare come in and do business, China is sneaking in the back way with cheap promises.

[larredgar]

@Janusha you're right! look at africa it sits on trillions of dollars worth of gold diamonds oil wealth of all kind. they should be on top of the world,but look at them, one is more poor than the next.black just do not have the temperement intelligence or the civility.they go from one civil war to another they elect corupt leaders and stand around and do nothing while they steal.putting africa back under colonial rule is the best thing for them.

[larredgar]

@Janusha to continue my comment, back to colonisation ,one currency one language (africa has over 2000!)

consolodate many of the countries, no land locked countries! take over thier very corrupt governments and replace them with a board of directors, run the country like a company-pracitical cost effective.train them not to think tribaly but for the benefit of the country.No, africa will never become europe or the united states ,at best they will be a mid level country .but thats better than now

[fmcneillii]

@larredgar Africa could be better than the US or Europe.

[j0hnc00]

@Janusha Nah being raped by the chinese is the better option at the moment.

Anyway the best for the continent is an African Solution with Africans Only primarily. Having these (as you've described earlier) "low IQs, unorganised..." (IOW all blacks are significantly inferior to non-blacks) leaders is the second best thing next to any foreigners, besides the intellectual African elite.

[Janusha]

@j0hnc00

Sure... If Africans found an "African way" all by themselves. Thats what we all want to see happening. But they lack some 100 000 years of genetic evolvment that Europeans, Asians went through when they EVOLVED themselves out of Africa and learnt to adapt to new enviromnents. Pretty damn solid research all show a central African IQ of 70. Which is a full 30% lower than your average European. Which means a grown up African is about as clever as a 12 year old European kid.

[Janusha]

European kids dont engage in international politics or run governments because they are, much like Africans, unable to do so.

You can look at African societies and say its bad due to low education, low resources and no outside help but its much more modern to look at it and say: Thats exactly the level of society you would expect a population of 70 IQ to create.

This is the kind of slums Africans create all by themselves. Obviously you wont find no intellect in that.

/watch?v=hTUw0vKksGc

[j0hnc00]

@Janusha no arguments there since excuses for our humiliation in the eyes of outsiders are cheap and pathetic.

But regardless I'm actually in favor of eugenics and social engineering (if you've seen some of the zeitgeist videos, they mention the mouse experiment were nurture can offset some genes (not all times though)). Anyway we do have Africans at genius levels to source from and sure we might be late to the revolution but we will be there and it is coming

[Janusha]

@j0hnc00

An average IQ of 70 means 50% are below 70 and 50% are above. In Europe there might be 1 in 100 000 with exceptionally high IQ whereas in Africa there will be 1 in 10 million. An exceptionally smart African is only as smart as your average European. Researchers always wondered why there was no intellectual elite anywhere in Africa. Back in America, only 16% of African Americans have IQ's above 100 points,which is approximately what is required to achieve a mere D in college.

[insanemagicguy]

@Janusha

Don't Asians have an IQ significantly higher than Americans and Europeans?

[Janusha]

@insane

No.

They have an IQ which is 6-7 points higher than the average of Europe. Which gives people the misconception that they are slightly smarter. Fact is northern Europe have a higher IQ than the average of Europe. The more south you go, the more African and Arab genes are mixed in to pull the average somewhat down compared to the far east where there are very few African descendants.

Also the asian traditions for supporting higher education give the impression that they are smarter.

[motosana1]

Spot on brother - cracked me up!

[luizcadu]

The guy is dead on. The only point in which I don't agree with him is that education does not create wealth. You gotta have a good education in order to be a good, efficient, competitive worker, which will attract investment and wealth to you.

[keyse091]

@luizcadu I too at first thought he said that education doesn't create wealth. But when I read between the lines, I know what he means by that. Aid-supported education system is quite shallow and negligible, almost exclusively at primary level. That type of education is not enough to create the wealth required to uplift a country. At the end, he says, "support the research institutions,' which of course is a typical education system that starts from the primary to higher productive one.

[luizcadu]

@keyse091 I see what you mean. Thanks for the info.

Cheers!

[zephaniahhh]

Mwenda for president of uganda, u got my vote after this speech//Ugandan

[vijishellboy]

brilliant! You should encourage independent thinking and responsibility for Africa to change!!! I believe that the african people have great talents and powerful hearts in them to achieve a better africa!!

[MsKingwa]

Loved this, the energy, the conviction, the message, totally on point!

[atomicdogg34]

good job bono, charity really helped ireland, which now might need a bailout, moron

[Rensune]

@atomicdogg34 On Point!

[enedene1]

Fantastic lecture, fantastic. If you want to help Africa, find more Africans like Andrew Mwenda and listen what they have to say.

[Sivels]

This guy sounds like an austrian economist.

[prep4md]

A good speech should be like a miniskirt. Short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the subject.

[luizcadu]

This speech is brilliant because his point is so obvious, yet so hard for rich nations to perceive!

By the way, aren't Libia, Tunisia and Egypt more prosperous than Botswana?

Cheers from Brazil!

[Site5599]

Well said Andrew. Africa has vast resources. Zimbabwe would be able to feed Africa if their gov't would adopt free enterprise. There are large amounts of oil, gold, diamonds, etc. that could be used to create industry and as long as the west subjegates the african continent ... they are not allowed to compete.

[ssendken]

nice  observation....andrew

[shussey100]

Mr. Mwenda is a real HERO. I'm from Botswana and i admire what he is saying.

[goPistons06]

@shussey100 i've read that your country has improved much over the years, it does well in international rankings of economic growth and freedom. is this progress visible? are the poor better off? i'm from chile, and i'm curious about countries that go from statist policies to free market oriented ones.

[shussey100]

@goPistons06 Life in Botswana is just fine. We have everything that anyone in the West had. Malls, coffee shops, nice roads, nice houses. Nothing is lacking. There is no poverty on show in the streets. Whilst the incomes are average at $16000 per year, people get by to enjoy a modestly comfortable way of life.

[geoffreysemaganda]

I dont know this guy but I like what he said. Watch it.

[HuggumsMcgehee]

"Creating wealth". God I love this guy.

[ninika20032000]

I love it 

[AFRIKTODAY]

To put it bluntly, the world bank, IMF and UN are " collectivistic" bureaucratic institution that prone world government through bilateral relation between government while sidelining the individual citizenry of either Africa or US! Their ultimate purpose is to create an international centralized world government and destroy National or regional sovereignity. Once you understand that, you can begin to understand why they appeal so much to "violent" African president in the name of " demonicracy.

[estorpai]

Bono i used to respect you. Now i recognise you represent some evil people behind the scene.

Go sing music Bono, cos you lack the IQ to discuss social and economic issues.

You are a snake Bono!!

[HuggumsMcgehee]

@estorpai I highly doubt Bono is intentionally doing evil. That's the thing that so many people miss, but it's one of the most important things we need to recognize when solving problems. It's oftentimes the most well-intentioned people who help create and perpetuate senseless evil and destruction. We often fail to remember that intentions are just thoughts in your head. Unless you have psychic powers, your thoughts have NO effect on the physical world. Only your actions for good or for bad.

[TheCapitalistdog]

@HuggumsMcgehee

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. :-(

[estorpai]

@estorpai

Bono i used to respect you. Now i recognise you represent some evil people behind the scene.

Go sing music Bono, cos you lack the IQ to discuss social and economic issues.

You are a snake Bono!!

[NikoisBack]

@estorpai Problem is more pragmatic. Rich people and big companies go into charities in order to pay less taxes. It is an interested behaviour. They need Poverty in Africa in order to have this opportunity to have tax rebates.

Africa Poverty = Charity business = Charity investment = Tax rebates.

[ridim2007]

5 star

[Jetlag1989]

23582 watched this video? This is so sad, should be watched by a lot more people!!

[bigkim1000]

Good speech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheStallone2]

Man thnks very much for introducing me to this video! This man has mad a point.

If u have a facebook account, i suggest u up load it to Kampala viewers account, Since the channel attracts many Ugandans. I could make a change, if people have the opportunity to listen to this speech, and put turn it into a debate.

It will help us to come up with our strong ideas, which will help us to confront our corrupt leaders in all possible ways.

THOSE GUYZ MUST BE FORCED TO LEAVE POWER!

[furQ]

bono does a kanye..

[tigerone1970]

We cannot talk about aid or corruption, without undersanding the neocolonial framework that extracts 4 dollars from Africa, for every dollar that is returned in aid. We also have to understand the crucial role grand corruption in this process - uncorrupt leaders will never cut backroom deals with Western corporations that allow wealth to be extracted from Africa without these corporations paying taxes or sharing profits.

[tigerone1970]

Donor aid is just another tool in creating dependency not by 'African countries', but national political elites. It is this aid that can be withheld at the drop of a hat, that gives western corporations control over African elites domestic and foreign policies.

It is this COLLUSION between the West and African elites, that is keeping the people away from their own wealth. Whether that is land, or minerals. Or the non-creation of a manufacturing sector.

[tigerone1970]

It is all about power, and maintaining Africa's position as undeveloped and not a threat to the West.

So you have development that does not develop, and aid that is not aid.

[theheretic999]

good stuff. pity nobody will listen.

[nubian377]

Why can't TED organize a debate between some of these corrupt African leaders, the world bank, and some of these thinkers African thinkers? It would be interesting.

[hornetpalooza]

I've recently found crops from Kenya in my local supermarket, living this far north I really appreciate these imports during the winter. There's a good market here, go for it!

[Dah77]

There is nothing like a free lunch. Aid is a tool used by the west to undermine Africa. Mwenda is spot on. The world is more competitive than cooperative.

[UsitukaneMkunga]

Great speech.

He highlights a problem, how it occurred and provides possible solutions. Encourages wealth creation rather than distribution.

[doroteya11]

Good eloquence...poorly constructed facts. I guess, Mwenda is driven by the ambition to give Africa a better face...he says only six countries are in civil war, he doesn't say that many are bedridden with bad leadership, corruption. He also contradicts himself. For instance, he says, sending someone to school will not create wealth. But he goes ahead to say that knowledge is an important part of wealth creation. I have no doubt that his speaking engagement is organized as a result of aid!

[bumisworld]

what he is saying is that you do not get the entire picture of Africa here in the west. The issues are more complex than 'oh those poor people' and it is a beautiful continent, with intelligent people. The culture is difrent, but people want the same ops, we just have criminal business men as our leaders

[ODNAbc]

Andrew Mwenda is spot on, the zombification of Africa is a plan by the west to keep the African people from developing the natural resources in the manner they choose to, Imaging if African countries came together and had total control of their resources, from extracting to fabricating and selling to the rest of the world, Europe, Asia, North America would go broke in one year.

[zephaniahhh]

Andrew Mwenda for president !

[TMayai]

MartinBormannIsAlive:

The speaker is right. Unfortunately, the economies you referenced did not grow as a result of aid; they emerged out of things he emphasized--adoption of aggressive market policies that have nothing to do with aid. Read Easterly's work...

[paxfiat]

Bono makes great music but him heckling makes me cringe.

[brandonboyle]

Essentially, he's saying that aid to Africa is a two-pronged detriment. It removes incentives for economic development, and it empowers African governments as agents of oppression or passifiers

[MartinBormannIsAlive]

He's talking shit. India, China, Vietnam, Ireland, Eastern Europe and Mexico have received lots of aid, and they have grown and grown. Truth is African's are incapable of usinf aid productively. But I aggree with him - we should not give Africa anything anymore!

[Sivels]

@MartinBormannIsAlive idiocy alert

[AfricansArise]

I love the way Ugandans seem to pronounce "important" as "impoNtant"! My cousins do that all the time!! Lol.

But back to serious issues. The brother makes some very good points.

[meatrobot44]

fuck you its theyre karma, motherfuckers! Its called stop being a bunch of greedy monkey/rats!

[dswinder]

meatrobot44: You don't deserve life

[SIKABURO]

Thank you Andrew.Webale nyo for the facts.I loved your eloquency as well.Africa go!!!

[LusoCMD]

even if Public Administration was 2% of population these are the numbers:

2% of population = 618 000

618000 / 690 Billions UGX = 1 116 504 UGX per P.Admin. person

1 116 504 UGX = 587 U.S. Dollars

[LusoCMD]

18% of Agricultural population = 18 Billion is just a joke

18 Billion divided by 5,562,000 = 3236 Uganda Shillings

3236 Uganda shillings = 1.70 US Dollars per person

[jojomahm]

Oi....am Ugandan, if you dnt bliv da $1.70 can be allocated to every person, ask me, i provide you with data to back it up, there those whoere not even catered for in the budget

[President2017]

Nice Speech man

[dirkdoggler]

You said it- I'm gonna look this dude up!!

[ridesteady]

trust

[sandfly912]

all shall be

[bluecafe22]

I have been saying this for years! The media portrays Africa as a disaster zone where all is at its worst. Rarely does one see an Africa where people are happy, healthy and doing well. Indeed, most would not know such an Africa exists.

The images in the western media are truly stomach turning, and make one wonder if its all just a clever attempt at slander.

[HuggumsMcgehee]

@bluecafe22 Yeah. We Americans seem to want to treat Africa like our ward rather than a potential equal partner. Not. Helping.

[bintikenya]

I don't like the sexist joke about mini-skirts he makes at the end of his one sided speech.

[reez29]

These are the future leaders of Africa!!! felicitations!!!!!

[manmanhane308]

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. The world is slowing begining to see very bright minds in Africa. TED is doing a greate job in this effort =)

[bakaira]

This is the truth about africa, we dont wanna be beggars forever,This guy has been harrassed by museveni og uganda for so long, he has had him put in prison becasue of his intelligence and his publications about the ills of uganda government. I wish we had 10 andrew mwendas in uganda, they would have led uganda to another level

[USASoCCerGoaL]

african politicians sell their country out for foreign aid. It should be a priority to get aid but it should also be a priority to produce foreign trade market and contracts with labor from within africa to build upon the market. This would insist on the african country in which trade is dealt to be secure, which most of africa is not..Must have true change in governments

[miscmall]

It's baffling to see govts give aid with one hand while extending (extortionately) high-interest loans with the other.

[pvtech]

Aid is the short term answer...Are we suppose to support them forever?

We should really be focused on Posterity.

[liquiddark]

Bono and Sachs are focused on making poverty history. The plan they've given assumes 20 years of aid, followed by an eternity of nobody "being poor" to death.

[ghanboy]

Very captivating speaker. My eyes were glued to the screen for a while.

[masakanyendo]

For Mwenda to claim that sending a child to school will not lead to development/wealth is madness! Human capital is a form of investment and on average the higher your human capital the greater your wealth. He claims income is a function of "you finding a profitable trading opportunity", he is talking about making investment decisions but he forgets that educated people make better investment choices.

[olavka]

You misunderstood his point. He is saying that there is no automatic relationship between education and wealth generation.

(This is observed to be true, look at the great recession)

Without a functioning market there will be far fewer opportunities and opportunities that appear to be there may in fact be an illusion because corrupt governments rely on the fact that the country is poor to get international aid. They may not even want the private sector to succeed.

[olavka]

Personally, I think he has the right angle. I believe international aid should be focusing on establishing profitable internal markets and removing international trade barriers.

The poor have the advantage that they have alot of cheap human capital. Many countries in the east have shown that this in itself is immensely valuable, and seen as an opportunity by foreign businesses. As long as political stability is in place that is.

[paradoxicalcold]

so true

[MrFrankBullitt]

Africa is resource rich so they will stay poor. The U.S. will exploit them for oil and diamonds while backing dictators. There are forces at work too strong to fix with simple aid.

[adikiny]

Piers79, realise that the CLAN is the family at large which makes up a whole Subdivision of a Location. Land belongs to the Clan and cannot be passed to another clan or given to an occupier. In Luoland (East Africa) this is the way all affairs have been ADMINISTERED since the beginning of planet Earth. Example, those of the Kager Clan marry people from outside but remain Kager in identity, their spouses too become Kager.

[Nagrobek78]

It seems China is starting to exploit them more than U.S. now, while backing dictators more openly. But You are right, sometimes country's natural richness is it's greatest curse.

[adikiny]

Good speech. Government as an institution has proved to be completely impossibile in Africa. Hence, Africans ought to return to their own ancestral forms of administration, which recognised the individual, and did not place capitalism, competition and the market in the hands of any government. In fact government did not exist in Africa. Why any government in Africa today when it is obvious it is only but a dictatorial monster that enriches itself on the sweat, blood and wealth of the natives?

[adikiny]

Any aid from abroad should go, not to government or churches BUT, directly to CLANS. That is the only way that any aid can not fail to reach the natives because no one can dare cheat the clan and all members of a clan are equal in rights and respect. Government and the Clergy are Dracula!

[Piers79]

I think you the problem from the right angle. But I think the damage done so far canot be undone so simply. I agree with you that (most) gouvernments in afrika are bot serving ther people wery well. But where I disagree with you is that this can be changed by breaking up the system back to Clan culture. As this is only creating new "gouvernments" that consist of smaler populations, but remain as voulnerable to the same old problems of miss usage of Power.

[Piers79]

Afrika has, beside large rural areas, quite a number of big thriving citys, which would be much more dificult to return to clan systems as they consist of populations of very mixed origins (as anywhere else in the world).

[Piers79]

I belive that you slightly missunderstand Mr. Mwenda here, he is quite clearly stating that you should not be giving aid, because it is much easyer to get rich by diging into the "aid market", then by trying to colect welth by means of the capital driven market system. Hence the solution dosn't lie in returning to pre capitalist struktures, but quite in the oposite:

[Piers79]

we must open the world market and suport capitalistik struktures inside Afrika in order to create the possibility for the Afrikan people to thrive on ther own wealth.

Now to a short off topic here: it seems strange to limit writen comments to 500 caracters as complex ideas need more words to express them. And compared wih the videos text usses prakticaly no storage place at all...

[bythewayof10]

While I agree with many of the issues he presents, I don't believe he is correct about foreign investment. We already have plenty of evidence to prove that foreign investment has done terrible things to many countries, and their respective environments and communities. How about this. African nations should first look to sustain themselves only, within themselves. That is, develop their own food sources, and trade their products for the things they need.

[cuttiesx]

I totally agree with you, the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreements btwn EU and Africa demands African countries to open upto 90% of their markets for EU products. The foreign investors will be allowed to invest as much as they can in the countries, this is very damaging coz EU is a rich block and the African investors cannot compete with them at the moment.

[mrreman]

Very interesting. Among many of his great points, he's so right in that what we see here in North America from the medias coverage of Africa is Only about Famine and Aids and sympathetic positions.

Such a weak view of Africa.

[pdoeman]

Great video. Everything he says I agree with. Its time to let the commercisal market into Africa. Our Western countries didnt grow from charity.

[Mrmoc9]

The Chinese prime minister was right. These African leaders lack discipline, and they put themselves first above all others.  They should be shot in the nose.

[insanelycreative]

This is relevant to all developing countries, not only in Africa but also Asia as well.

[tetranoob]

very interesting talk.

[mad05963]

very enlightening

[arabonormanno]

One of the best TEDtalks ever!!!