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July 24, 2005: Professor George Ayittey, distinguished economist from the American University in Washington, DC, discusses social, political, and economic development in Africa with Anchor, Bill Moyers.

BILL MOYERS: With me now is Professor George Ayittey. He's originally from Ghana -- a noted economist -- who teaches now at American University in Washington, DC. Welcome to WIDE ANGLE.

GEORGE AYITTEY: Thank you for having me.

BILL MOYERS: What goes through your mind when you watch that film?

GEORGE AYITTEY: It's a very heart-breaking film, if you look at the refugees and people were starving in Zimbabwe. And they're crossing the border and they're destitute and have to come up with an electrified fence. It's sort of like a throwback to the apartheid era when the racist regime in South Africa threw an electrified fence against the border in Mozambique and even Zimbabwe to prevent them from coming in. But it's a horrible situation in Zimbabwe that we have right now.

BILL MOYERS: When I saw the film, I thought, of course, of refugees on the border between Mexico and the United States trying to leave their destitution to come to golden opportunity -- the golden arches -- of California. Is there any similarity between those two situations?

GEORGE AYITTEY: Well the similarities sort of vanish when you consider the fact that Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of the region.

BILL MOYERS: How long ago?

GEORGE AYITTEY: Well, this was about ten years ago, 15 years ago. But the situation has reversed completely. And the main reason why it has reversed is because you've had bad policies and a bad regime and misgovernance in Zimbabwe.

BILL MOYERS: Well, you've got a tyrant, a despot, a scoundrel, a thief as the --

GEORGE AYITTEY: Well, yes. 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. But, see, there's another thing about Zimbabwe and that is it is a repeat of the same African script where we moved out the white colonialists. And then we have black new colonialists. And country after country, they run their countries down an economic slump. Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia. All these countries are following the same script. And that is what is very disappointing about Zimbabwe.

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