From: James Ololo Mamboleo

Kenyan interests: A break from propaganda...How can a rat feed an elephant?

Rodgers,

What a marvel of thought from Rasna Warah. I have always been of the opinion that eventually, aid does more harm than good.

In Belgium where I work and live most of the time, most shops with signboards reading "African Food and Cosmetics" belong to Pakistanis or Lebanese.

As former president of Africans in Belgium, one of my major differences with most leaders is that I wanted more African entrepreneurs running independent profit making businesses while the majority of our leaders are "Association Professionals". These are people who'se main activity is writing and forwarding projects for funding.

Many times their Associations break up when they receive funding. They then start the blame game.

They form NGO's and Associations to avoid taxes. So you find that even bars and restaurants are run in form of non profits.

In one of my speeches, I told a conference that while the world was busy trading commodities, Africa was the largest NGO, where everybody wanted something from but nobody wanted to invest in. I told them that Africa was also a milking cow nobody wanted to feed.

Some argue that we cannot run our continent like a business. I told them that it is because of successful entrepreneurship in the western world that they have money for funding associations and without proper trade, there would be no aid.

People (even Europeans) are not comfortable when I say "I don't understand and will probably never understand the economic equation that makes Belgium the solution to Congo's economic problems"

How can an an elephant feed on the left overs of a rat?

Yesterday, I attended a fund raising diner organized by a Rwandan extended family member. The lady, wife of Rwanda ex career diplomat and cabinet minister has now lived on Belgian Social Security funding for many years.

But she wants to help Rwandan orphanages, so the best way to do this is invite people to fund her funding.

But I asked myself... If you cannot sustain yourself, how can you be sustaining others?

But this is a question I should never ask.

I therefore commend the direction Kenya has taken on self sustained economic development and would be prepared to play any given role so that this direction is followed successfully and handed over to the next generation.

We cannot be beggars all the time, lets go for self help solutions to our economic problems, all over Africa.