Prime
What Africa needs to get to a better place
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Title: The best options for Africa
Available at: All leading book stores
Price: Shs80,000
No. of pages: 218
Reviewer: Edgar R. Batte
Do you want to make Africa a better place to live in? Professor Alfred Latigo, a senior economist with United Nations, shows you how, in his eleven detailed reasons, in his book The Best Options for Africa.
His advice, packaged in 218 pages, is directed to almost all circles of society from the government to educationists, the young and old. He also talks about the different factors that should put this continent in a more ideal place.
Whereas Prof Latigo does not necessarily apportion blame on a particular person for Africa’s failures, as you turn pages you’ll get a sense of him talking to you directly.
He cleverly divides his novel into three parts allowing readers pick on topics in whatever order they might find more relevant. Part one is titled “Cry, the beloved continent” in which professor Latigo urges people to reject the status quo and press for change by focusing on sound decision making, fighting insanity, thinking differently, avoiding many unproductive meetings and cutting down on the government’s role.
He goes on to push for the need to invest in education as a way of unlocking Africa’s potential, and he illustrates this by using his personal story. “Education certainly helped make my dreams come true and pull me out of poverty. My parent laid the foundation for my education, much as it was up to me to build on it. They rewarded and encouraged learning early in my life,” Professor Latigo writes.
“While my parents knew I had a promising future, they also noticed that I dreaded manual work, like digging and carrying heavy things, including water. Since I hated manual work, my father told me point blank, “Alfredo, the only way you will be successful in future is through your ‘pen’, you must hold onto it firmly. It is your tool for tomorrow,” he further writes, urging for the need for education in Africa as a key solution to securing its brighter future.
Rising against dream killers forms the basis of the second part of this novel in which he preaches against uncaring attitudes to cleanliness and disunity among Africans. He talks of the need to reverse the negative image of Africa and disallow the curse and disadvantage complex. Are Africa’s natural resources more of a curse than a blessing? Prof Latigo presents his argument. He suggests solutions and how they can be best implemented in the third part of the fairly voluminous novel.
In his solutions he urges for the need to exploit existing opportunities and harness Diaspora resources in order to cut out the dependency syndrome.
The inspirational author lists godly values and presents an argument on whether divine principles are relevant to politics and governments. He makes a strong case for the need for Godly value system in every aspect of life.