George Ayittey quotes
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“The solutions to Africa's problems lie in Africa, not in Live Aid concerts.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Expert: Africa Needs More than Foreign Aid". "Morning Edition" with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. July 6, 2005.
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“If NATO goes in and solves the crisis in Darfur, when the next one comes along Africa's leaders will just sit back.”
-- George Ayittey -
“The richest persons in Africa are heads of state, governors and ministers. So every 'educated' African who wants to be rich - and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich - heads straight into government or politics.”
-- George Ayittey -
“African history is filled with experiences of people shooting their way to power and then splintering into factions, like in Somalia and Liberia.”
-- George Ayittey -
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“Africa has more dictators per capita than any other continent.”
-- George AyitteySource : "George Ayittey: How to Defeat a Dictator". Interview with Thor Halvorssen, www.huffingtonpost.com.
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“Africa's salvation doesn't lie in begging and begging for more aid, and as an African, I find it very, very humiliating.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Expert: Africa Needs More than Foreign Aid". "Morning Edition" with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. July 6, 2005.
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“Getting rid of the dictator is only a first step in establishing a free society. The dictatorship must also be disassembled.”
-- George AyitteySource : "George Ayittey: How to Defeat a Dictator". Interview with Thor Halvorssen, www.huffingtonpost.com.
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“Hippos kill more people in Africa annually than any other wild animal.”
-- George Ayittey -
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“Look at the history of peace accords in Africa. They have a terrible record. They are shredded even before the ink on them is dry.”
-- George Ayittey -
“In the West, the basic economic and social unit is the individual; in Africa, it is the extended family or the collective.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Why Western-style democracy is not suitable for Africa" by George Ayittey, www.cnn.com. August 20, 2010.
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“In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably.”
-- George Ayittey -
“You have to separate the humanitarian impulse from the record of aid itself. We all want to help. Many people would say that it's the moral impulse of the rich to help the poor, but the record of aid has been terrible.”
-- George Ayittey -
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“Personally, I regard myself as an intellectual 'rebel,' kicking against the 'old colonialism-imperialism paradigm' which has landed Africa in a conundrum.”
-- George Ayittey -
“Dictators cause the world's worst problems: all the collapsed states, and all the devastated economies. All the vapid cases of corruption, grand theft, and naked plunder of the treasury are caused by dictators, leaving in their wake trails of wanton destruction, horrendous carnage and human debris.”
-- George Ayittey -
“The only good dictator is a dead one.”
-- George AyitteySource : George B.N. Ayittey (2011). “Defeating Dictators: Fighting Tyranny in Africa and Around the World”, p.193, St. Martin's Press
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“The election of Senator Barack Obama brought jubilation across Africa, where millions celebrated him as 'one of their own.'”
-- George Ayittey -
“There was free trade in Africa. There was free enterprise in Africa before the colonialists came.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Wide Angle" with Bill Moyers, www.pbs.org. July 26, 2005.
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“Traditionally, Africans hate governments. They hate tyranny.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Africa's cheetahs versus hippos". TED Talk, www.ted.com. June 2007.
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“What Africa needs to do is to grow, to grow out of debt.”
-- George AyitteySource : "African Debt". "PBS NewsHour" with Ray Suarez, www.pbs.org. June 12, 2005.
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“Western-style multi-party democracy is possible but not suitable for Africa.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Why Western-style democracy is not suitable for Africa" by George Ayittey, www.cnn.com. August 20, 2010.
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“Virtually all of Africa's civil wars were started by politically marginalized or excluded groups.”
-- George AyitteySource : "Why Western-style democracy is not suitable for Africa" by George Ayittey, www.cnn.com. August 20, 2010.
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“When Uganda got debt relief in 1999, the first item President Museveni bought was a presidential jacket for himself.”
-- George Ayittey -
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“Back in the 1960s Africa not only fed itself, it also exported food. Not anymore.”
-- George Ayittey
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