So once again Arun Sarin CEO of Vodafone, the mobile phone company has managed to bungle a lucrative opportunity for the company. Only a few days ago Vodafone was favourite to land the deal to be the network of choice for the Apple iPhone when it launches in Europe. This seems to no longer be the case and O2 together with its parent company Telefonica of Spain have emerged as favourites. Frankly this is not a surprise because over the years O2 has managed to gain so much ground on Vodafone in many key markets. Again I ask. When is it that Arun Sarin will get to walk the plunk cause it seems that they are delaying the inevitable.
Somehow it has been revealed that Manchester United are now the favourites to sign Carlos Tevez from West Ham. How this has come to be I know not especially if you consider the fact that he was and has been linked with Arsenal for a while now. I am deeply concern by this.....
Ghana has just hosted the heads of African states in Accra and on the agenda was the age old issue of whether African countries should form a united government. This reeks of Pan-Africanism to which you have to forgive me but I belong in the sceptic camp.
The debate seems to be whether change should be incremental or transformational. Col Muammar Gaddafi seems to be advocating for transformational but his is a view not held by many of the other leaders. Needless to say that the meeting ended in stalemate. The leaders need to shift the emphasis on internal politics and nurture state politics because none of the states in Africa are politically mature. Politics in most states in Africa is actually divided on tribal lines and issues appertaining to economy are not there yet.
Aluta Continua..........
1 comment:
I support Pan-Africanism for the very reason you are against it; tribalism in domestic politics. Like many other situations, having a common external goal tends to let people temporarily (and in many cases, eventually permanently) forget their small quibbles.
For example, immediately following the terrorist attacks against the U.S.A in 2001, Americans came together in such a way as I've never seen before or since. Bush's approval rating was probably the highest of any president ever (considering he has never really done anything to warrant a positive rating, this is remarkable).
Now, you might say that that's an extreme example but consider that Kenyans generally support Obama's bid for the presidency regardless of their tribe but when you look at internal politics, the tribalistic vitriol that is spewed is staggering; at least to me.
So clearly, we want a Kenyan descendant to do well even though we don't see that the same thing applies internally (and to a greater extent, because the best candidate, regardless of tribal orientation, will be better for the entire country and its deteriorating state of politics).
Also, and I won't get into many things because I'm disinclined to write a lengthier response, we could help each other better build our economies rather than allow foreign investors to creep in and benefit without particularly rewarding the regions they conduct business in. In fact, I dare say that many companies are the reason for continuing strife in African countries (queue Shell and the diamond industry ).
I'm not against foreign investment unless it's a one-way street.
But that's that. There are several more reasons to form a union, incrementally or transformationally as there are others why it should not happen at all. From what I know, I believe the ones that support a union outweigh the ones against.
How fast it should happen, is for another discussion...
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