Walter is a mad man. But to borrow a line from Chinua Achebe's
A man of the People, even a mad man sometimes speaks the truth. I do not agree that colonialism should be absolved of all blame. Neither should the even more vicious neocolonialism. However, I think it is true that the African genius is grossly under-utilized. The reason this continues unabated has to do with our education and socialization system. Our education system does not teach us to be thinkers. Instead, it teaches us to take pride in memorizing even things we do not understand. It also discourages questioning how things are the way they are - effectively destroying curiosity. Yet it can be argued that curiosity is one of the most important elements in charting new territory. In addition, we are socialized to believe in all things mzungu. To be consumers of technology, not creators of it. These are NOT easy problems especially because of their systemic nature. If anything, they are self-propagating, in a sense. But I think slowly, we are crawling out of the mess. Very slowly. At least it is the feeling I get whenever I see local content on out televisions, radios and the internet. How Wazuans, for instance, share local solutions to local problems, is clear testimony to our progress.
Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.