Poring over Erastus Mtui’s ‘Poverty Within Not on the Skin’

What you need to know:

Walter Rodney 1972’s book called How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a classic among Africans. Walter argued that, “The imperialist system bears major responsibility for African economic retardation.”

Lamenting about the troublesome state of Africa is an intellectual pastime for many in this world where every calamity is received with torrents of insights and idle solutions.
There are those who take the subject a bit more seriously though, and have produced books which explain or can be used to explain poverty on the continent.
Walter Rodney 1972’s book called How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a classic among Africans. Walter argued that, “The imperialist system bears major responsibility for African economic retardation.” This is the fodder that every university student in Africa is fed.
Nonetheless, the fact that Africa is still poor half a century later raises serious questions about the validity of Walter’s analysis. It is probably time Africans opened themselves up to alternative explanations, such as Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilisation, which explains underdevelopment in terms of civilisation dynamics; Daron Acemoglu’s Why Nations Fail, which explains underdevelopment through existence of extractive institutions; Greg Mills’ Why Africa is Poor, which explains poverty as choices that leaders make; Chika Onyeani’s Capitalist Nigger, which explains poverty as a product of lacking the “killer instinct”, and Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, which explains underdevelopment as an interplay between biology, geography and resources, etc.
To this conversation, Erastus Mtui, MBA, CPA, and an incoming international arbitrator, brings extensive experience as a business leader and strategist, with good experience in the African continent.
Poverty Within Not on the Skin is a product of years of research, deliberations, and discussions leading to an alternative explanation for poverty on the continent in terms of “10 Vicious Cycles That Keep Africa Poor”. Mtui’s thesis is that poverty in Africa finds its source in what Africans are within, and not what they are without – on their skins.
Expressed as Africans’ collective actions and attitudes, the “10 Vicious Cycles” highlight Africans’ failure to pragmatically face and transform their unfortunate situation. From population growth to poor education systems, and from business environment to political instability, they offer a litany of tirades against Africans – their leaders and their practices – whom Mtui argues “are still shaping history while others are shaping the future”.
Poverty Within is hard-hitting in many ways, as Mtui exposes Africa’s pitiful situation through numerous incisive arguments. For example, in highlighting Africans’ imprudence in their overdependence on nature, Mtui observes that Burj Khalifa alone has more international visitors than Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia tourists combined, and Disney theme parks had almost twice the number of visitors that Africa had in 2019. Therefore, Africa must learn to “create things” and “provide experiences”, the author argues.
Much of the book is devoted to analysing the “10 Vicious Cycles” as the title states, and, as a result, the author dedicates quite limited space to discussing the way forward. Nonetheless, he proposes three focus areas, namely education, agricultural transformation, and technology and innovation. Mtui believes that education should be transformative to provide self-awareness, knowledge, skills, and competencies. Similarly, he believes that agriculture, being a sector in which Africa has 60 percent of arable land yet Africa produces only four percent of global output, should be a focus for all governments. Finally, he justifies the focus on technology and innovation by saying “it is an enabler to transform all other sectors”.
The book makes a valiant effort to substantiate its case by making reference to numerous authoritative sources. This makes it quite valuable as a reference material for policy makers and scholars – indeed, it has already been made optional reading for university students in some African nations and for some leadership development courses.
That said, any book that is as comprehensive as this one is bound to have areas that could have been improved. For example, the author’s decision to organise the book in terms of chapters that match the “10 Vicious Cycles” can be considered to be not imaginative enough – as a result, the author is constrained from venturing on other issues which could have added value to the discussion.
Similarly, while most chapters start with brilliant pieces of writing which draw readers in, that style is usually not maintained throughout as streams of information crept in. It was probably wiser to push some of that information to an index so as to maintain fluency.
However, the book is written in a style that is accessible to all and it contains many powerful thoughts that are very well articulated. Mtui is a very promising writer, and readers can expect much more from him in the future.
In a writing landscape that is so barren in this region, Mtui’s work is a welcome contribution to the discussion about development in Africa by an African. The book opens up vistas of possibilities for other writers to take the discussion further.
Poverty Within Not on the Skin is available in major bookshops in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Dodoma, and Mwanza. Internationally, it is available on Amazon, in Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana, among other countries