The other day, a government minister in Malawi was complaining about the closure of US Consulates and Embassies across Africa. If you follow this blog, you’ll remember that I did mention here, was it last year or the year before, that the US State Department was coming after US embassies in Africa. Now, that plan seems to have materialised.

But, even if African governments protest and complain about the closure of US Agencies and Embassies – which I do not dispute were doing some of the most admirable development work across Africa, the bottom line is this: we, Africans, truly have to get our acts together and begin to build our own economies in which our own people want to invest and live in. In fact, the fact that 62 years after independence, we in Malawi can’t successfully manage a small economy (or grow it for that matter) is a damning verdict about the type of leadership we have. Because, as much as the closures will disrupt…a lot of things. It’s also an opportunity to chart a different path. A path that leads to building an economy that attracts international businesses, and in which our citizens will be proud to live in.