The best prescription for Africa is the Strengthening of the Institutions of Governance.

An effective an independent judiciary can forestall corruption and when discovered corruption can be nipped before it happens. The creation of new parallel institutions outside the government with outside support breeds animosity between citizens and the bureaucracy which cannot be a healthy atmosphere for civility. In ethnically diverse and highly illiterare developing countries, civil unrest is the last thing anyone wants to occur.

Unfortunately, these African country "leaders" do not have the whirewithal to say, thanks to the Washington Outfits and remind them that they will come up with their methodolgies for twarting corruption and improving public services delivery for their citizens.

You will recall the Structural Adjustments Programs prescriptions of the 80s dolled out for Africa. You know the rest of the story! Now it is Poverty Reduction, Ant-Corruption Initiatives and Transparency. What's next for Africa?

Until a cadre of new Africans begin to question all initiatives from elsewhere, rather than always believing that everything prescribed for them by others is in their best interests, SubSaharan Africa ( who coined this term?) will always continue to be told what is good for them. That's the reason why Africa's problems are always amplified; corruption is everywhere and does not necessary invlove the  exchange of money between a government official and some business crook.

I believe Africa's struggling development is not entirely as a result of corruption, it is as a result of a myriad of other factors--"younger" leadership, extensive illiteracy, experimenting with democracy, lack of experienced and skill manpower and weak institutions of governance.

Africans, start coming up with your own initiatives to chart the course of your own countries' development rather than being consumers of any initiative from outside!

Eng. Ahmed Finoh, MPA

Durham, North Carolina

USA