In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably.
Hippos kill more people in Africa annually than any other wild animal.
When Uganda got debt relief in 1999, the first item President Museveni bought was a presidential jacket for himself.
The richest persons in Africa are heads of state, governors and ministers. So every 'educated' African who wants to be rich - and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich - heads straight into government or politics.
African history is filled with experiences of people shooting their way to power and then splintering into factions, like in Somalia and Liberia.
Mugabe's become a disgrace to Africa. And I must say this because I am an African and a lot of us looked up to him back in the 1980s when he was the liberation hero. But he's now turned himself into a murderous despot.
