The Tamarind read: “It’s our turn to eat”
March 23rd, 2010 | Published in Culture, Fiori by Redazione
British journalist and author, Michela Wrong has had many years experience working as a correspondent for the BBC and the Financial Times in Africa.
“Its our turn to eat: the story of a Kenyan whistleblower” Is the third book she has published on the continent. In it she traces the journey made by John Githongo, a Kenyan who decides to turn on his fellow tribesmen, the ruling Kikuyu elite, and make public one of the biggest money scams the country has been subjected to since it acquired Independence in 1963.
The book reads as a scathing resume’ of the endemic corruption that is present at all levels of Kenyan politics and shows what little was done by Britain, the US and the World Bank, to actually put into practice their anti-corruption discourse. What mattered, for these Western actors, was disbursing loans in the name of eradicating poverty rather than taking a critical stance on what is unarguably the biggest impediment to development across the world today.
A five star read. Important for anyone interested in Africa, Kenya, the pitfalls humanitarian aid and the implications of late twentieth century global politics.
Michela Wrong. Original Trade Paperback, 2009: “IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT. The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower”
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