George Ayittey Quotes

Ghana, Economist
1945 – January, 28, 2022.

George Ayittey was a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC. He is a professor at American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

In the West, the basic economic and social unit is the individual; in Africa, it is the extended family or the collective.

George Ayittey
- Family
Unlike their Western counterparts, Africans take elections very seriously - rising up early to queue patiently in line for hours under the hot sun and cast their ballots. Any misguided attempt to nullify or steal their votes will evoke a strong reaction from them.

George Ayittey
- Up
- Strong
- Sun

Personally, I regard myself as an intellectual 'rebel,' kicking against the 'old colonialism-imperialism paradigm' which has landed Africa in a conundrum.

George Ayittey
- Rebel
In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably.

George Ayittey
- People
- Work
There was free trade in Africa. There was free enterprise in Africa before the colonialists came.

George Ayittey
- Free
When Uganda got debt relief in 1999, the first item President Museveni bought was a presidential jacket for himself.

George Ayittey
- Presidential