ABOUT THE SPEAKER
George Ayittey - Economist
Economist George Ayittey sees Africa's future as a fight between Hippos -- complacent, greedy bureaucrats wallowing in the muck -- and Cheetahs, the fast-moving, entrepreneurial leaders and citizens who will rebuild Africa.

Why you should listen

Ghanaian economist George Ayittey was a voice in the wilderness for many years, crying out against the corruption and complacency that -- more than any other factor, he believes -- are the bedrock problems of many troubled Africa states. "We call our governments vampire states, which suck the economic vitality out of the people," he says.

His influential book Africa Unchained has helped unleash a new wave of activism and optimism -- especially in the African blogosphere, where his notion of cheetahs-versus-hippos has become a standard shorthand. The "Cheetah Generation," he says, is a "new breed of Africans," taking their futures into their own hands, instead of waiting for politicians to empower them. (He compares them to the previous "Hippo Generation," who are lazily stuck complaining about colonialism, yet doing nothing to change the status quo.)

Ayittey is a Distinguished Economist in Residence at American University in Washington, DC.

More profile about the speaker
George Ayittey | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2007

George Ayittey: Africa's cheetahs versus hippos

Filmed:
758,130 views

Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes a torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders in Africa -- and calls on the "Cheetah generation" to take back the continent.
- Economist
Economist George Ayittey sees Africa's future as a fight between Hippos -- complacent, greedy bureaucrats wallowing in the muck -- and Cheetahs, the fast-moving, entrepreneurial leaders and citizens who will rebuild Africa. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:30
Well, first of all, let me thank Emeka -- as a matter of fact,
0
6000
5000
00:35
TED Global -- for putting this conference together.
1
11000
3000
00:40
This conference is going to rank as the most important
2
16000
6000
00:46
in the beginning of the 21st century.
3
22000
2000
00:49
Think African governments will put together a conference like this?
4
25000
3000
00:52
You think the A.U. will put together a conference like this?
5
28000
3000
00:56
Even before they do that they will ask for foreign aid.
6
32000
2000
01:00
I would also like to pay homage and honor to the TED Fellows
7
36000
9000
01:09
June Arunga, James Shikwati, Andrew, and the other TED Fellows.
8
45000
8000
01:17
I call them the Cheetah Generation.
9
53000
3000
01:21
The Cheetah Generation is a new breed of Africans
10
57000
3000
01:24
who brook no nonsense about corruption.
11
60000
3000
01:27
They understand what accountability and democracy is.
12
63000
5000
01:32
They're not going to wait for government to do things for them.
13
68000
3000
01:36
That's the Cheetah Generation,
14
72000
2000
01:38
and Africa's salvation rests on the backs of these Cheetahs.
15
74000
4000
01:43
In contrast, of course, we have the Hippo Generation.
16
79000
3000
01:46
(Laughter)
17
82000
3000
01:49
The Hippo Generation are the ruling elites.
18
85000
3000
01:52
They are stuck in their intellectual patch.
19
88000
4000
01:56
Complaining about colonialism and imperialism,
20
92000
4000
02:00
they wouldn't move one foot.
21
96000
2000
02:02
If you ask them to reform the economies,
22
98000
3000
02:05
they're not going to reform it
23
101000
2000
02:07
because they benefit from the rotten status quo.
24
103000
3000
02:10
Now, there are a lot of Africans who are very angry,
25
106000
2000
02:12
angry at the condition of Africa.
26
108000
4000
02:17
Now, we're talking about a continent that is not poor.
27
113000
4000
02:21
It is rich in mineral resources, natural mineral resources.
28
117000
4000
02:26
But the mineral wealth of Africa is not being utilized
29
122000
4000
02:30
to lift its people out of poverty.
30
126000
2000
02:33
That's what makes a lot of Africans very angry.
31
129000
3000
02:37
And in a way, Africa is more than a tragedy, in more ways than one.
32
133000
5000
02:43
There's another enduring tragedy, and that tragedy is that
33
139000
4000
02:47
there are so many people, so many governments,
34
143000
3000
02:50
so many organizations who want to help the people in Africa.
35
146000
4000
02:54
They don't understand.
36
150000
2000
02:58
Now, we're not saying don't help Africa.
37
154000
2000
03:00
Helping Africa is noble.
38
156000
2000
03:03
But helping Africa has been turned into a theater of the absurd.
39
159000
6000
03:09
It's like the blind leading the clueless.
40
165000
4000
03:13
(Laughter)
41
169000
2000
03:16
There are certain things that we need to recognize.
42
172000
3000
03:20
Africa's begging-bowl leaks.
43
176000
3000
03:24
Did you know that 40 percent of the wealth created in Africa
44
180000
3000
03:27
is not invested here in Africa?
45
183000
2000
03:29
It's taken out of Africa.
46
185000
2000
03:31
That's what the World Bank says.
47
187000
2000
03:35
Look at Africa's begging-bowl.
48
191000
2000
03:38
It leaks horribly.
49
194000
2000
03:41
There are people who think that we should pour more money,
50
197000
3000
03:44
more aid into this bowl which leaks.
51
200000
4000
03:49
What are the leakages?
52
205000
2000
03:52
Corruption alone costs Africa 148 billion dollars a year.
53
208000
5000
03:59
Yes, put that aside.
54
215000
2000
04:02
Capital flight out of Africa, 80 billion a year.
55
218000
4000
04:07
Put that aside.
56
223000
2000
04:10
Let's take food imports.
57
226000
2000
04:12
Every year Africa spends 20 billion dollars to import food.
58
228000
5000
04:19
Just add that up, all these leakages.
59
235000
3000
04:22
That's far more than the 50 billion Tony Blair wants to raise for Africa.
60
238000
4000
04:27
Now, back in the 1960s Africa not only fed itself,
61
243000
3000
04:30
it also exported food.
62
246000
2000
04:32
Not anymore.
63
248000
2000
04:35
We know that something has gone fundamentally wrong.
64
251000
3000
04:39
You know it, I know it, but let's not waste our time
65
255000
3000
04:42
talking about these mistakes because we'll spend all day here.
66
258000
5000
04:47
Let's move on, and flip over to the next chapter,
67
263000
6000
04:53
and that's what this conference is all about -- the next chapter.
68
269000
4000
04:57
The next chapter begins with first of all, asking ourselves
69
273000
5000
05:02
this fundamental question,
70
278000
2000
05:04
"Whom do we want to help in Africa?"
71
280000
4000
05:09
There is the people, and then there is the government or leaders.
72
285000
5000
05:15
Now, the previous speaker before me,
73
291000
7000
05:22
Idris Mohammed, indicated that
74
298000
4000
05:27
we've had abysmal leadership in Africa.
75
303000
4000
05:32
That characterization, in my view, is even more charitable.
76
308000
4000
05:37
(Laughter)
77
313000
2000
05:41
I belong to an Internet discussion forum,
78
317000
3000
05:44
an African Internet discussion forum,
79
320000
3000
05:48
and I asked them, I said, "Since 1960, we've had exactly
80
324000
6000
05:54
204 African heads of state, since 1960."
81
330000
4000
05:58
And I asked them to name me just 20 good leaders,
82
334000
4000
06:02
just 20 good leaders --
83
338000
3000
06:05
you may want to take this leadership challenge yourself.
84
341000
5000
06:10
I asked them to name me just 20.
85
346000
2000
06:13
Everybody mentioned Nelson Mandela, of course.
86
349000
3000
06:16
Kwame Nkrumah, Nyerere, Kenyatta -- somebody mentioned Idi Amin.
87
352000
6000
06:23
(Laughter)
88
359000
3000
06:26
I let that pass.
89
362000
2000
06:28
(Laughter)
90
364000
2000
06:31
My point is, they couldn't go beyond 15.
91
367000
4000
06:37
Even if they had been able to name me 20,
92
373000
3000
06:40
what does that tell you?
93
376000
2000
06:42
20 out of 204 means that the vast majority
94
378000
7000
06:49
of the African leaders failed their people.
95
385000
3000
06:54
And if you look at them, the slate of the post-colonial leaders --
96
390000
5000
07:00
an assortment of military fufu heads,
97
396000
4000
07:04
Swiss-bank socialists, crocodile liberators, vampire elites,
98
400000
5000
07:09
quack revolutionaries.
99
405000
1000
07:10
(Applause)
100
406000
4000
07:14
Now, this leadership is a far cry from the traditional leaders
101
410000
4000
07:18
that Africans have known for centuries.
102
414000
2000
07:21
The second false premise that we make
103
417000
3000
07:24
when we're trying to help Africa
104
420000
1000
07:25
is that sometimes we think that there is something called
105
421000
6000
07:31
a government in Africa that cares about its people,
106
427000
5000
07:37
serves the interests of the people, and represents the people.
107
433000
4000
07:43
There is one particular quote -- a Lesotho chief once said
108
439000
5000
07:48
that "Here in Lesotho, we've got two problems:
109
444000
2000
07:50
rats and the government."
110
446000
3000
07:53
(Laughter)
111
449000
3000
07:57
What you and I understand as a government
112
453000
3000
08:00
doesn't exist in many African countries.
113
456000
3000
08:03
In fact, what we call our governments are vampire states.
114
459000
4000
08:08
Vampires because they suck
115
464000
3000
08:11
the economic vitality out of their people.
116
467000
3000
08:14
Government is the problem in Africa.
117
470000
3000
08:18
A vampire state is the government --
118
474000
3000
08:21
(Applause)
119
477000
1000
08:22
-- which has been hijacked by a phalanx of bandits and crooks
120
478000
4000
08:26
who use the instruments of state power to enrich themselves,
121
482000
3000
08:29
their cronies, and tribesmen and exclude everybody else.
122
485000
3000
08:34
The richest people in Africa are heads-of-state and ministers,
123
490000
4000
08:38
and quite often the chief bandit is the head-of-state himself.
124
494000
4000
08:44
Where do they get their money?
125
500000
2000
08:46
By creating wealth?
126
502000
2000
08:48
No.
127
504000
1000
08:49
By raking it off the backs of their suffering people.
128
505000
3000
08:53
That's not wealth creation. It's wealth redistribution.
129
509000
4000
08:59
The third fundamental issue that we have to recognize
130
515000
5000
09:04
is that if we want to help the African people,
131
520000
5000
09:09
we must know where the African people are.
132
525000
3000
09:12
Take any African economy.
133
528000
2000
09:15
An African economy can be broken up into three sectors.
134
531000
3000
09:18
There is the modern sector, there is the informal sector
135
534000
5000
09:24
and the traditional sector.
136
540000
3000
09:28
The modern sector is the abode of the elites.
137
544000
3000
09:31
It's the seat of government.
138
547000
2000
09:34
In many African countries the modern sector is lost.
139
550000
4000
09:38
It's dysfunctional.
140
554000
2000
09:40
It is a meretricious fandango of imported systems,
141
556000
4000
09:44
which the elites themselves don't understand.
142
560000
2000
09:48
That is the source of many of Africa's problems
143
564000
4000
09:52
where the struggles for political power emanate
144
568000
4000
09:56
and then spill over onto the informal and the traditional sector,
145
572000
5000
10:01
claiming innocent lives.
146
577000
3000
10:05
Now the modern sector, of course,
147
581000
2000
10:07
is where a lot of the development aid and resources went into.
148
583000
5000
10:13
More than 80 percent of Ivory Coast's development
149
589000
3000
10:16
went into the modern sector.
150
592000
2000
10:18
The other sectors, the informal and the traditional sectors,
151
594000
6000
10:24
are where you find the majority of the African people,
152
600000
4000
10:28
the real people in Africa. That's where you find them.
153
604000
3000
10:31
Now, obviously it makes common sense
154
607000
2000
10:33
that if you want to help the people, you go where the people are.
155
609000
3000
10:36
But that's not what we did.
156
612000
2000
10:38
As a matter of fact,
157
614000
2000
10:40
we neglected the informal and the traditional sectors.
158
616000
7000
10:47
Now, traditional sector is where Africa produces its agriculture,
159
623000
3000
10:51
which is one of the reasons why Africa can't feed itself,
160
627000
3000
10:54
and that's why it must import food.
161
630000
3000
10:58
All right, you cannot develop Africa by ignoring
162
634000
4000
11:02
the informal and the traditional sectors.
163
638000
3000
11:06
And you can't develop the informal and the traditional sectors
164
642000
6000
11:12
without an operational understanding of how these two sectors work.
165
648000
4000
11:18
These two sectors, let me describe to you,
166
654000
2000
11:20
have their own indigenous institutions.
167
656000
3000
11:23
First one is the political system.
168
659000
3000
11:27
Traditionally, Africans hate governments. They hate tyranny.
169
663000
4000
11:31
If you look into their traditional systems,
170
667000
3000
11:34
Africans organize their states in two types.
171
670000
4000
11:38
The first one belongs to those ethnic societies
172
674000
5000
11:43
who believe that the state was necessarily tyrannous,
173
679000
4000
11:47
so they didn't want to have anything to do
174
683000
3000
11:50
with any centralized authority.
175
686000
2000
11:55
These societies are the Ibo, the Somali, the Kikuyus,
176
691000
3000
11:58
for example. They have no chiefs.
177
694000
2000
12:01
The other ethnic groups, which did have chiefs,
178
697000
4000
12:05
made sure that they surrounded the chiefs
179
701000
4000
12:09
with councils upon councils upon councils
180
705000
3000
12:12
to prevent them from abusing their power.
181
708000
3000
12:17
In Ashanti tradition, for example,
182
713000
3000
12:20
the chief cannot make any decision
183
716000
2000
12:22
without the concurrence of the council of elders.
184
718000
3000
12:25
Without the council the chief can't pass any law,
185
721000
3000
12:28
and if the chief doesn't govern according to the will of the people
186
724000
3000
12:31
he will be removed.
187
727000
2000
12:33
If not, the people will abandon the chief,
188
729000
4000
12:37
go somewhere else and set up a new settlement.
189
733000
2000
12:39
And even if you look in ancient African empires,
190
735000
4000
12:43
they were all organized around one particular principle --
191
739000
5000
12:48
the confederacy principle,
192
744000
2000
12:50
which is characterized by a great deal of devolution of authority,
193
746000
4000
12:54
decentralization of power.
194
750000
2000
12:57
Now, this is what I have described to you.
195
753000
2000
12:59
This is part of Africa's indigenous political heritage.
196
755000
4000
13:03
Now, compare that to the modern systems
197
759000
2000
13:05
the ruling elites established on Africa.
198
761000
4000
13:09
It is a total far cry.
199
765000
3000
13:12
In the economic system in traditional Africa,
200
768000
5000
13:17
the means of production is privately owned.
201
773000
3000
13:20
It's owned by extended families.
202
776000
3000
13:23
You see, in the West, the basic economic and social unit
203
779000
3000
13:26
is the individual.
204
782000
2000
13:28
The American will say, "I am because I am,
205
784000
3000
13:31
and I can damn well do anything I want, anytime."
206
787000
2000
13:33
The accent is on the "I."
207
789000
3000
13:36
In Africa, the Africans say, "I am, because we are."
208
792000
4000
13:40
The "we" connotes community -- the extended family system.
209
796000
4000
13:44
The extended family system pools its resources together.
210
800000
3000
13:47
They own farms. They decide what to do, what to produce.
211
803000
4000
13:51
They don't take any orders from their chiefs.
212
807000
3000
13:54
They decide what to do.
213
810000
2000
13:56
And when they produce their crops, they sell the surplus
214
812000
4000
14:00
on marketplaces.
215
816000
2000
14:02
When they make a profit it is theirs to keep,
216
818000
2000
14:04
not for the chief to sequester it from them.
217
820000
3000
14:07
So, in a nutshell, what we had in traditional Africa
218
823000
4000
14:11
was a free-market system.
219
827000
2000
14:13
There were markets in Africa
220
829000
2000
14:15
before the colonialists stepped foot on the continent.
221
831000
2000
14:17
Timbuktu was one great big market town.
222
833000
2000
14:19
Kano, Salaga -- they were all there.
223
835000
2000
14:21
Even if you go to West Africa, you notice that market activity
224
837000
4000
14:25
in West Africa has always been dominated by women.
225
841000
3000
14:28
So, it's quite appropriate that this section is called
226
844000
3000
14:31
a marketplace.
227
847000
1000
14:32
The market is not alien to Africa.
228
848000
2000
14:35
What Africans practiced was a different form of capitalism,
229
851000
4000
14:39
but then after independence, all of a sudden,
230
855000
3000
14:42
markets, capitalism became a western institution,
231
858000
4000
14:46
and the leaders said Africans were ready for socialism.
232
862000
5000
14:51
Nonsense.
233
867000
1000
14:53
And even then, what kind of socialism did they practice?
234
869000
3000
14:56
The socialism that they practiced was a peculiar form of
235
872000
3000
14:59
Swiss-bank socialism,
236
875000
2000
15:01
which allowed the heads of states and the ministers
237
877000
3000
15:04
to rape and plunder Africa's
238
880000
3000
15:07
treasuries for deposit in Switzerland.
239
883000
2000
15:09
That is not the kind of system Africans had known for centuries.
240
885000
4000
15:13
What do we do now?
241
889000
1000
15:14
Go back to Africa's indigenous institutions,
242
890000
3000
15:17
and this is where we charge the Cheetahs to go into the informal sectors,
243
893000
5000
15:22
the traditional sectors.
244
898000
1000
15:23
That's where you find the African people.
245
899000
2000
15:25
And I'd like to show you a quick little video
246
901000
3000
15:28
about the informal sector, about the boat-building
247
904000
3000
15:31
that I, myself, tried to mobilize Africans in the Diaspora
248
907000
5000
15:36
to invest in.
249
912000
1000
15:37
Could you please show that?
250
913000
2000
16:07
The men are going fishing in these small boats.
251
943000
3000
16:10
Yes, it's an enterprise.
252
946000
2000
16:12
This is by a local Ghanaian entrepreneur, using his own capital.
253
948000
5000
16:17
He's getting no assistance from the government,
254
953000
2000
16:19
and he's building a second, bigger boat.
255
955000
3000
16:22
A bigger boat will mean more fish will be caught and landed.
256
958000
4000
16:27
It means that he will be able to employ more Ghanaians.
257
963000
3000
16:30
It also means that he will be able to generate wealth.
258
966000
3000
16:34
And then it will have what economists call
259
970000
4000
16:38
external effects on a local economy.
260
974000
3000
16:41
All that you need to do, all that the elites need to do,
261
977000
3000
16:44
is to move this operation into something that is enclosed
262
980000
3000
16:47
so that the operation can be made more efficient.
263
983000
2000
16:50
Now, it is not just this informal sector.
264
986000
3000
16:53
There is also traditional medicine.
265
989000
4000
16:57
80 percent of Africans still rely on traditional medicine.
266
993000
3000
17:00
The modern healthcare sector has totally collapsed.
267
996000
4000
17:04
Now, this is an area -- I mean, there is a treasure trove of wealth
268
1000000
7000
17:11
in the traditional medicine area.
269
1007000
2000
17:13
This is where we need to mobilize Africans,
270
1009000
3000
17:16
in the Diaspora especially, to invest in this.
271
1012000
3000
17:19
We also need to mobilize Africans in the Diaspora,
272
1015000
3000
17:22
not only to go into the traditional sectors,
273
1018000
3000
17:25
but to go into agriculture and also to instigate change from within.
274
1021000
6000
17:31
We were able to mobilize Ghanaians in the Diaspora
275
1027000
4000
17:35
to instigate change in Ghana and bring about democracy in Ghana.
276
1031000
5000
17:40
And I know that with the Cheetahs, we can take Africa back
277
1036000
5000
17:45
one village at a time.
278
1041000
2000
17:47
Thank you very much.
279
1043000
1000
17:48
(Applause)
280
1044000
8000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
George Ayittey - Economist
Economist George Ayittey sees Africa's future as a fight between Hippos -- complacent, greedy bureaucrats wallowing in the muck -- and Cheetahs, the fast-moving, entrepreneurial leaders and citizens who will rebuild Africa.

Why you should listen

Ghanaian economist George Ayittey was a voice in the wilderness for many years, crying out against the corruption and complacency that -- more than any other factor, he believes -- are the bedrock problems of many troubled Africa states. "We call our governments vampire states, which suck the economic vitality out of the people," he says.

His influential book Africa Unchained has helped unleash a new wave of activism and optimism -- especially in the African blogosphere, where his notion of cheetahs-versus-hippos has become a standard shorthand. The "Cheetah Generation," he says, is a "new breed of Africans," taking their futures into their own hands, instead of waiting for politicians to empower them. (He compares them to the previous "Hippo Generation," who are lazily stuck complaining about colonialism, yet doing nothing to change the status quo.)

Ayittey is a Distinguished Economist in Residence at American University in Washington, DC.

More profile about the speaker
George Ayittey | Speaker | TED.com