To understand the continent’s growth prospects, attention must be given to levels of governance.
Is the international community awaiting an invitation from a credible alliance of rebellious Zimbabwe ministers and opposition leaders before it will come to the country’s rescue? Or has the ruling Zanu-PF propelled the country so far down the road to catastrophe that party officials are incapable of reason, and only military intervention will save the country from calamity?
That’s it! I have had enough. The next time I’m at a conference where the coverage of Africa by the Western media is ritually condemned, I will wrestle the microphone from the speaker and declare: "There is no conspiracy to undermine the continent, no plot to perpetuate its poverty, no plan to ruin its reputation," writes Michael Holman, former editor of the <i>Financial Times</i>.
There is a voice missing, or at least muffled, in the hubbub of claim and counter-claim that marks the first anniversary of the Glen-eagles anti-poverty initiative. One year after the G8 leaders promised to tackle Africa’s deepening crisis, there is no shortage of assessment of the gaps between what leaders of the world’s richest countries pledged and their subsequent performance.