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THE AFRICAN IN THE MIRROR. By Abimbola Lagunju



 Excerpts from this book:


"The persistence of this trait in the gene pool makes it possible to draw
parallels between major actors of early African history and their
contemporary counterparts.  Mali emperors were known for their extravagant
pilgrimages to Mecca, not for their religious zealousness or piety. Mansa
Kankan Mussa made the most extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca in African
history. 

He (Mansa Musa) travelled to Mecca in 1325, with 500 slaves and 100 camels
(each carrying gold). It is recorded that  he gave away gold in enormous
quantities to the amazement of all the communities and villages through
which he passed. He had gotten the wealth from outrageous taxes on his
subjects, levies, sale of slaves, and from enslaving other African
states....

"Mansa K. Mussa has many parallels in contemporary African history. It is a
known fact  that some post independence African leaders looted their
country even  to the amazement of their greedy Western backers. African
leaders were known and are still famous for their immense ill-gotten wealth
and their extravagance in foreign countries, whilst it is an open secret
that their countries are mired in squalor and poverty...

"Two former African presidents were rated among the ten most corrupt
leaders in the world by Transparency International in a report in 2004. it
was claimed that Mobutu Seseko stole about four billion dollars; Nigeria's
Sanni Abacha stole about six billion dollars...Jean Bokassa of CAR made
himself a golden throne amid the squalor of his country...."

 

Comments

  1. HERCULE21 September 2021 at 02:11

    A very thought-provoking book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eric22 September 2021 at 01:24

    Excellent, committed writing. One must read the whole book though

    ReplyDelete

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