This grab-you-by-the-throat speech by Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders and the complacency that allows them to thrive. These “Hippos” (lazy, slow, ornery) have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile “Cheetah Generation,” a “new breed of Africans” taking their futures into their own hands. Click below to play the video.
I review the book IQ and the Wealth of Nations, written by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen. I critique the authors’ major assertion that a significant part of the gap between rich and poor countries is due to differences in national intelligence. The authors claim that they have evidence that differences in national IQ account for substantial variation in per capita income and growth of a nation. This essay review debunks their assumptions that intellectual and income differences between nations stem from genetic differences. This critique provides an extended review of the research literature that argues against these assumptions and presents a different picture from that presented by Lynn and Vanhanen about the concept of intelligence, what IQ measures and does not measure. The essay exposes the racist, sexist, and antihuman nature of the research tradition in which the authors anchored their studies and the deep methodological flaws and theoretical assumptions that appear in their book. The low standards of scholarship evident in the book render it largely irrelevant for modern science. This essay specifically deals with the IQ value of Ethiopian immigrants that came from Israel, used by the authors as representing the National Average IQ of Ethiopia. Most of these immigrants had rudimentary knowledge of literacy, and experienced an abrupt transition from rural Ethiopia to Israel with all the accompanying effects that it entails such as trauma, dislocation, and cultural shock. The test was conducted a few months after their arrival. That specific study, conducted by two Israelis, that assigns low IQ to the immigrants is also replete with technical and statistical errors. One might arrive at the conclusion that further action of a legal nature would be necessary to put an end to such postulations, which in my view, do not bear scrutiny… click here to continue reading.
Members of the controversial Kinijit International Council (K.I.C.) held a meeting yesterday to discuss their group’s status after receiving a letter from the main leadership in Addis Ababa informing them that it is taking back the political leadership of the party.
The 23-member K.I.C. had 17 active members. Out of those 12 were present at the meeting. Some of them said that the K.I.C. must now dissolve itself as required in the instruction that came from the main leadership.
But with Dr Taye Woldesemayat’s insistence that Kinijit chairman Ato Hailu Shawel wants the K.I.C. to continue as a support group, the majority of those who were present voted against disollving it.
There is also a press conference with the Kinijit North America auditor Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw tonight. Reportedly, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has launched an investigation into the financial impropriety by the Shaleqa Yoseph group.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A U.N. elections consultant told an Ethiopian treason trial on Tuesday two anti-poverty activists charged with trying to overthrow the government had been acting within the law.
Daniel Bekele, 40, and Netsanet Demissie, 29, are the last defendants out of 131 originally charged in the proceedings that followed post-election violence in 2005 which a parliamentary inquiry said killed 199 civilians and police, and resulted in 30,000 arrests.
The defendants were involved in deploying observers at polling stations in and around the capital Addis Ababa.
Most of those originally charged were freed on July 20 after the government published a letter it said opposition leaders had signed admitting their guilt and repenting.
Defence lawyers say Bekele and Netsanet, who work for ActionAid Ethiopia and the Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia respectively, refused to sign and want to be acquitted.
The case has been criticised by human rights groups and donors, who complained that it was an attempt to dismantle the opposition after it made strong gains in elections.
Richard Morgan Chambers, who was assigned by the United Nations to advise the then-chairman of Ethiopia’s election board, testified the pair had “performed in accordance with the constitution and the legal framework of the country”.
Chambers, who was appearing as a defence witness, said the defendants had provided him with “extremely helpful” analysis.
“Their report on the election was balanced and contained the negative and positive aspects. They performed an impressive job as election observers despite the difficult situation,” he said.
The trial was later adjourned to Wednesday afternoon.
ADDIS ABABA, 31 July 2007 (IRIN) – The number of girls and women who undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) has declined in Ethiopia’s Southern Regional State, and could be reduced further if stronger penalties were enforced, an NGO leader said.
“Previously people did not even mention FGM/C; it was a taboo,” said Bogaletch Gebre, executive director of Kembatta Women’s Self-Help Centre, a local NGO engaged in educating the public in Kembatta, Alaba and Tembaro zones.
According to official statistics, FGM/C prevalence in the state decreased from 80 percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2005. Bogaletch said this could improve with legal reform.
“The law in our country is very weak and not a deterrent,” she said. “When this happens, people are not afraid of breaking it. My life as a woman is not worth more than 500 Birr [US$55].”
Under the Ethiopian Penal Code, FGM/C carries a punishment of imprisonment of not less than three months or a fine of not less than 500 Birr.
“Ethiopia is a signatory to many international laws, but has not yet ratified the Maputo protocol,” she told IRIN in the capital, Addis Ababa, on the sidelines of an African consultative meeting on FGM/C.
The Maputo Protocol came into force in November 2005 and is an African initiative that prohibits and condemns FGM/C. As a result, 16 African countries have banned the practice.
The consultative meeting heard that the occurrence of FGM has reduced in several other African countries.
“Prevalence decline is visible in countries like Kenya, Eritrea, Mali and Nigeria where anti-FGM/C interventions have been going for some years,” said Fama Hane Ba, African Division Director at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). “This is good news.”
FGM/C, which involves the partial or total removal or injury to the female genitalia, is practised as a deterrent to promiscuity in some African communities.
”Prevalence decline is visible in countries like Kenya, Eritrea, Mali and Nigeria where anti-FGM/C interventions have been going on for some years”
Hane Ba said the majority of women at risk are in 28 African countries. “An estimated 120 to 140 million women and girls have also been subjected to the FGM/C practice throughout the world,” she said.
She added: “It is encouraging to note that many organisations are implementing innovative programmatic strategies combining law enforcement and culturally sensitive approaches to sustain behavioural change.”
Community dialogue, alternative rites of passage ceremonies, role modelling by families and consensus-building among communities were cited as achieving positive results in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Egypt.
“Community dialogue uses a wide range of participatory methodologies and culturally sensitive advocacy strategies, such as story-telling, active listening and strategic questioning to generate a deep and complex understanding of the nature of FGM/C,” Hane Ba said. “Through this process, many communities are saying ‘no’ to FGM/C.”
