Which African nation is smart?

Kenyan President William Ruto refuses to sign the new tax bill into law. To raise taxes was intended to pay back debts from local, regional, and international creditors. With his decision, the debts are still on the shoulders of Kenyans.

The country has various options to solve the problem: 1.) Default partly, or completely 2.) Extend the deadline for repayment and lower the monthly/annual rate 3.) Beg for debt relief in part or full 4.) Lower the interest rate on all or most loan facilities. Except for option 3.) to lower the head in shame and confess to corruption and mismanagement of the available ways doesn't erase the debt burden of the country. In any case without a credible and convincing plan for how to avoid future problems like the current situation, any country will not be seen as a serious business partner.

Like any bankrupt company debts are gone dissolving the company and starting fresh all over again, debt-free. What seems to be a science fiction movie is only for the wise African leader to understand. Stamina and charisma can turn a Gordon knot situation into a Garden of Eden scenario free from sin and innocence with a fresh new start.

To bake a cake the perfect ingredients, time, and wisdom when to take out the cake from the oven are needed. Otto Fuerst von Bismarck after the defeat of Napoleon III in the small village of Sedan created a new Germany the Kaiserreich. With it came new opportunities to reach greatness. He was a very wise German Chancellor who could see far and exploit the world situation to the advantage of the German Kaiserreich.

His vision was far-reaching beyond one generation alone and had a step-by-step approach. He gave the SPD its social laws which allowed the old elite to stay in power. Rushing to Africa he took the last remaining countries as German colonies and became the referee and European master at the Congo Conference in Berlin 1884/85.

What has this to do with the debt situation in Kenya and the deadly protests that undermine the trust of the people in President Ruto and the democratic dispensation? Everything for the wise to see and the courageous mind to work on and deploy.

When on 25. 06.2024 after protests in Nairobi came down President Ruto came out to expose himself as the old traditional authoritarian African leader like Dictators around him threatening the youth to set the National Guard in motion against the concern of them for a brighter future. This behavior of a coward missing an innovative and courageous mind out of touch with the nation and its future is very much alive across Africa.

To declare the new state is not responsible for the old state and especially its debts will outrage and anger the creditors to their inner core. After a while their heated debates will cool down as all of them have a backup system of some sort. To make this idea -not so innovative as done before in history- must be based on -no, not a manifesto- a vision with an executive plan so appealing to the nation and creditors that both see it as the Gordon knot cut in half by the sword to set all parties free. New contracts new relationships on African terms.

This act of powerful decisiveness will set a domino process in motion to turn Africa around from the status of a beggar to a continent of an influencer. African countries can not be left abandoned as long as the powerhouses of today depend on their national resources. When the time is here that Africa is exploited and empty this moment of power will turn once again into a moment of defeat.