comes to an end, we need to pause and reflect on institution building as one of the enduring challenges of our time.

Why was Africa colonised? Why did it take long to reassert civil rights to the majority?

Is it not ironic that the people who colonised Africa chose to adopt it as a home?

The infrastructure built to support colonialism is still in situ. If the settlers did not love Africa, why would they build real estate in the adopted home?

It would not make sense to build permanent structure in a place where you are not confident about the future?

Why invest in education if the intention was to annihilate native African civilisation?

Contemporary Africa is a product of the choices made not just by native Africans who were not strong enough to resist the intrusion by other civilizations but the investment by the settlers who must have known that the ultimate beneficiaries of their sweat would be the very people they disliked in life.

The colonialist must not have been moved principally by a desire to deny a future to natives otherwise the simple choice would have been to kill the natives.

However, our past shows that the settlers really wanted to create a new home and had to secure the resources to give them a promising and secure future that was possible in their native lands.

We all want to advance our lives and pass on an inheritance to our successors.

I am not convinced that it was God’s intention that, for example, land and mineral resources belong to people who are lucky just to be born in a country.

The minerals resources are hidden and it costs money to find them let alone to uplift and process them for the market place.

Without the law, we are all animals and the law of the jungle would take precedence.

However, human civilisation has demonstrated that the rule of law is a sine qua non for development and progress.

Without the law, the house I have the privilege of calling my own is not really mine because anyone can claim the same right were it not for the law.

If there is no separation of powers, then citizens would be at the mercy of the people vested with unfettered powers.

If power is concentrated in few hands the propensity to abuse it is high. Any progressive society needs checks and balances.

Property rights are only relevant in environments where the rule of law is respect.

Without an independent judiciary, the risk of self help schemes taking root is high as people in the executive vested with power can easily be tempted to use such power to advance their personal rather than national interest.

A democratic order requires institutions. It is in the arena of institution building that we have been found wanting in Africa.

How do we build and sustain institutions? Most of us want to be led and inherently believe our salvation lies in the benevolence of strong men.

This is not the case because God did not want it that way otherwise he would have made us different and given more time in a day, for instance, to leaders so that they could do what we cannot do for ourselves.

If God was smart enough to make us all human then we can benefit from each other by understanding our purpose and how to work together for a common purpose.

We need to have shared goals and values.

We know how powerful organisations such as FIFA are. After all, Africa will host the first soccer World Cup in less than six months.

FIFA is a federation of football associations and it represents citizens organised into interest groups.

It is not a government but has power to decide how soccer is governed and without it the sport would not be able to provide a living to the players.

The soccer loving public is all the better because of institutions like FIFA.

Soccer is a game of rules. Without rules, the implications would be too ghastly to contemplate.

The soccer industry is a global one whose economy is bigger than many nations and yet an executive that is drawn from the members and presided by a president selected by members governs it.

Without a business model, it is difficult to imagine how such institutions can sustain themselves.

The genius of institution building is to identify a mechanism that can ensure that resources required to administer its affairs are mobilized and deployed for the good of the organisation.

The state as an entity is a creature of citizens. Without taxpayers the state will wither.

No state can therefore afford to undermine the interests of citizens who after all have the responsibility of giving it life.

Most of Africa’s political institutions i.e. political parties are weaker financially than churches. We all want to be well governed and yet we take for granted the challenges of setting up institutions to guarantee us of a secure future.

My own personal experiences in being part of Africa Heritage Society www.africaheritagerivonia.com have given me an insight into the African tragedy.

I often get calls and emails from people who want assistance to advance their business interests and personal careers in the hope that I can as a Chairman of the organisation respond to all such requests.

When I remind people that I am only human and mortal, many are disappointed as they expect the organisation to be me rather than an institution that they must believe in.

I have always remarked that the only power people who do not have power is the power to organise.

Imagine if we all believed in an idea and subscribed to it. How much power could we garner?

I have often imagined how different Africa would be if we paused to reflect on what makes nations and organizations great.

Great nations have institutions that inspire confidence.

Citizens need not be reminded that their voices can speak eloquently if they are organised.

Like a pyramid, human beings can organise themselves vertically by electing among them people who can speak on their behalf rather than each individual speaking at the same time.

There is no one who owes anything to anyone. However, by working together like a quilt with a common thread/bond it is possible to convert the power resident in each individual into collective power that can make a difference.

On Friday, December 11, members of the AHS who are in the legal profession hosted a Christmas party.

I was invited as a guest and my message to the audience was simple. Black lawyers, for example, have to invest in their clients in as much as we may want to build an empowered continent we cannot afford to assume that a lawyer can be good if he/she is not given experience.

If we want corporate lawyers who reflect the majority in Africa then we also must have corporate black players.

I often observed that blacks spent a lot of time imaging what whites are doing to keep them down economically forgetting that whites are as human as everyone of us and all they want in life is no different from what any human being aspires for.

It may be the case that whites are concerned that blacks are stuck in the past and not in the present where opportunities are open. If whites can do business for gain they will without focusing on skin color as was done before. When Africa ceases to be good to its promise whites will soon look for other pastures just like many blacks in the diaspora have done.

What is remarkable in South Africa, for example, is that in each suburb there is a club that provides a venue for gentlemen and ladies to network.

Members who believe in the power of networking finance such clubs.

They know that without such addresses it would be difficult and expensive to do business.

As a Zimbabwean born South African citizen, I have often wondered how big the Zimbabwean heritage economy in South Africa.

The numbers could be staggering. A million Zimbabwean born South African citizens and residents who spent about R1 000, for example, on insurance per month would be able to create a R1 billion a month economy.

But how easy is it to get the million people to wake up to set up a New Mutual instead of believing that the salvation lies in Old Mutual.

There is nothing to stop such individuals to join the political institutions in the adopted countries so that they can be the change they want to see.

However, many of us want other people to change while we remain helplessly complaining about the things we can do something about.

I do hope that all of us who believe that Africa’s better days are yet to come will join us at AHS to make the face of Africa look like all of us.

If we choose to work together we can make the right noises and more importantly we can secure the future on a foundation that we help architect and construct. – ZimOnline