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Why BLACK COUNTRIES CAN'T Be Capitalist — Transcript

by Franck Zanu · 15,496 words · 2,450 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00It's so diverse and we're, [music] you
0:01know, diversity is our strength, right?
0:03>> No, it's not. [laughter]
0:06>> Depends. If Ghana says we're going the
0:08way of the contractor colonization, I
0:10would say call Donald Trump. He's the
0:11master of the dealmaking.
0:13>> What do you do when your government
0:14makes a bad deal?
0:28Hello and welcome to ZPR Zano Project
0:31Rethink and I'm Frank Zano and today
0:33this is this is an unusual guest very
0:36unusual. When I say unusual in any way
0:39you can think about it because of her
0:41story and her travels and her projects.
0:44It's mind-blowing. Anyway, she's in the
0:46studio today uh because she said she was
0:49going through ZPR on some of her journey
0:53and she came across
0:55um one of my videos that the concept of
0:58maintenance uh is not within the black
1:01culture and she said, "Huh, now I have
1:06something to talk about." And anyway,
1:07through a third party, we started
1:09hunting for each other and then we
1:11connected and she agreed to come to the
1:13studio to share her story. Now Emily
1:15have traveled 186 countries in 8 years.
1:20She has a social media platform uh where
1:24she documents things she goes to see and
1:27recently she was in Africa and she
1:29visited some museum she said and the
1:32thing she saw
1:34and then when you listen to the video
1:36about maintenance it was something that
1:39clicked in her head. But first, we would
1:41like to hear from Emily.
1:44Why pick a camera and head out of your
1:47very comfortable ranch in Arizona where
1:50she was born and raised by parents who
1:52were or are still ranchers and say, "I'm
1:56heading out of the United States to
1:58countries unheard of areas some of us
2:00would shy not to go to." But she's done
2:02it all. 186 meaning 10 more countries of
2:07the 196 of the world countries and guess
2:11how many countries she's covered Africa
2:14alone 49
2:16Emily should we call you crazy
2:19adventurous uh fearless
2:21>> all of the above all of the above
2:25>> how did you start that you said no and
2:28and what was that that first place you
2:29said I'm going to
2:30>> my first country I went to was Norway a
2:32very just quaint, you know, not not
2:35exciting, right? This is not an exciting
2:36country. But I went to Norway and it
2:38snowballed. Um it was just curiosity
2:40that continued to snowball and I I did
2:42all of Europe and then I went to South
2:44America and Asia and um I thought, well,
2:46you know, I've never been to the Middle
2:47East. I've I haven't been to Africa yet.
2:49I have to go to Africa. You can't be a
2:50world traveler and not go to Africa.
2:52>> That's correct.
2:53>> So I I went to Ghana. That was my first
2:55country um that I ever went to, which is
2:56a great country to go to. By the way, if
2:58you're if you're wanting to travel
2:59through Africa, that's a great start.
3:01Fufu is amazing. you have you have all
3:03this, you know, all this culture and all
3:05this history um in Ghana. So, I I was I
3:07was really lucky to have that as my my
3:09first country that I visited. Um but
3:11yeah, I just continue to to con, you
3:13know, to to kind of explore these places
3:15and now I'm at about 49 countries in
3:17Africa and I have five more to go to.
3:19Um, so yeah, recently I went to Somalia,
3:22Moadishu, and uh I was going through a a
3:25museum and it it did it reminded me of
3:27one of your your videos that you made
3:29because uh this museum it was restored
3:32or it was recovered by the Italians in
3:331933. You know, Somalia was an Italian
3:35colony.
3:36>> Yeah.
3:36>> And I put a a picture of what it used to
3:39look like. It used to be this it's it
3:41was beautiful, beautiful building and uh
3:43they restored it and everything was you
3:45know everything was maintained. the
3:46roads were maintained, beautiful roads
3:47and just a a beautiful place. And you go
3:50there today and um it was it was a bit
3:53of a shock and I think that's why it got
3:54so many views because it is it is very
3:57shocking um to see the the inside of it.
3:59Now, of course, Somalia has been through
4:01war. They've been through so many so
4:03many tragedies over the past 60 years,
4:05right? But when you walk inside the
4:07museum, there's quite literally there
4:10are um piles of of dirt and debris all
4:13over the museum. And there's a couple
4:15paintings that local artists have
4:16created for the museum. There was one
4:18poster with sign language. Uh but this
4:20is what I observed. So I wanted to share
4:23that with the world. And that's kind of
4:24uh how I started my my Instagram
4:26channel, my YouTube channel is I wanted
4:27to share what what I was seeing. You
4:29know what? So other people could see
4:31these places too that maybe won't ever
4:33go to Africa. They mo they won't ever go
4:34to places like Moadishu. So
4:37>> now when you got to Norway, of course
4:41it's quaint. Yes.
4:42>> Yeah. What
4:44what about the shock which is shock is
4:47not always unpleasant but what about
4:49Norway that make you said well if I can
4:51feel this way in Norway then I must go
4:53to another one it must be a good I
4:55shouldn't say good but what was it that
4:57that made you say
4:58>> next country
4:59>> it's the fulfillment of curiosity really
5:01I mean you look at a map and and you see
5:03all these different countries and you go
5:05Surinom what's Surinom like what what
5:07does it look like over there what's over
5:08there what's the history of it you know
5:10Touvalu Toualoo is this little
5:11[laughter] tiny country in the South
5:12Pacific nobody's even ever heard of,
5:14right? It it has the least amount of
5:15visitors every year. And I thought,
5:17well, I want to go explore this. If I
5:18have the opportunity, I have to go, you
5:20know, I have to go see what's over here
5:21and and what made this country a
5:23country. Um, and uh, you know, when you
5:26go throughout Africa, you do find a lot
5:27of pattern recognition in a lot of the
5:29countries and you you pick up on these
5:30patterns of of different countries that
5:32were colonized different ways or
5:33different religions, different aspects
5:34of the culture that that make up the
5:36country, right? So it it is very
5:38interesting to to be able to explore
5:40these places in depth and and you know
5:42see all their history.
5:43>> What did you do or what were you doing
5:45or did you do before let me go to
5:48Norway?
5:49>> I was in college for two years. I went
5:51to Norway when I was um college 20.
5:54>> Oh I see. Oh so between Norway and the
5:58next country. It was not just next week.
5:59It kind of there was a gap. No, no, it
6:01was it was eight years in total, but um
6:03my first year I was I was basically
6:05living in Europe because it was it's so
6:07easy to travel around Europe. You get on
6:09a train and it's 40 minutes here. And
6:10and you know, Europeans, they always go,
6:12"Oh, Americans don't travel enough. They
6:13don't travel enough." And it's like,
6:14"Well, if I need my passport to go to
6:16Alabama, maybe maybe [laughter] it would
6:17be different, a little bit different,
6:19you know, but you can you can just get
6:21in and out of these little countries all
6:22over Europe so easily." So that was that
6:24was a piece of cake. Then you get to
6:25Africa. Oh, very very challenging.
6:28>> Not as easy.
6:29>> Yeah. Even [laughter] within the country
6:30itself is challenging. I see.
6:32>> And very expensive. You know, people
6:33don't realize how expensive Africa can
6:35be. It can be pretty pricey. So
6:37>> I see. So uh 2018 was when you devoted
6:41full time.
6:42>> Yeah, it was 2018 and now now it's 2026.
6:45So yeah, it's it's been I'm hoping to
6:47wrap up in at least maybe 9 or 10 years,
6:49but there's a couple that I won't be
6:50able to get to.
6:50>> Now, what are you doing with the
6:51footages?
6:53>> I I've been uploading all my videos, my
6:55raw footage to YouTube so other people
6:56can see it. Um they are very lengthy
6:58videos so a lot of people don't have an
7:00hour to devote to Mochadishu Somalia.
7:01[laughter]
7:02Um but I started taking little clips and
7:04putting them on YouTube just the little
7:06highlights and um yeah they've been
7:08getting a lot of attention and people
7:09are they're very interested in these
7:11places. They're very interested in
7:12Africa and
7:13>> so when [snorts] I knew that my first
7:16job as a reporter that they were taking
7:17me from country to country there's a
7:19country I'm going to and I've I've heard
7:21of it of course but I don't know. I
7:23usually go to the embassy in preparation
7:25to go there and I'll ask them a lot of
7:26questions and they they used to open
7:28their embassy library so I can see films
7:31and um they always give you this booklet
7:34for simple greetings and stuff. How do
7:36you say for example I'm going to magadu
7:39did you did you do any research
7:40preparations anything at all?
7:42>> I look up the history of the country
7:44first. I think the history is so
7:45important, especially if you're
7:46communicating with someone. For example,
7:47you go to a Portuguese colony in Africa,
7:50everyone's name is in Portuguese. People
7:52don't really notice these little things,
7:54but
7:54>> it changes the culture and it changes
7:56the atmosphere and how the country
7:57works.
7:59>> Yeah.
7:59>> And I always look up the history first,
8:01but it's it's nice to also have Grock
8:03and AI and you know, you you have um
8:05little tools now. Nowadays we have all
8:07these little tools that we can use so we
8:08can communicate better with other people
8:10and um you know pick pick
8:12>> how do you prepare yourself for the
8:14difference in norms and culture in terms
8:16of say for example when I
8:19yes I had a friend in Tokyo Fatima was a
8:22reporter independent reporter
8:24>> she was a Muslim but she says no I hog I
8:26like hogging
8:28>> now when I went to Egypt if I had
8:29foolishly thought that I could hog every
8:31Muslim woman in Egypt it would have cut
8:33off my head so I have to understand the
8:35norms Fatima is is unique, right?
8:39>> It doesn't represent that. Therefore, I
8:41can hug everybody in Saudi Arabia or in
8:42Egypt.
8:43>> So, how do you get to know what can what
8:45I can now white blonde, you're here in
8:49How do you know what I should not do
8:51with the people?
8:52>> Well, they'll tell you. I mean, that to
8:54be to be totally blunt and honest,
8:56they'll tell you if if you get to a
8:57country and you're doing something
8:58wrong, everyone will let you know. Even
9:00in Japan, they're they're very subtle
9:01about it. Yeah. If they feel
9:02uncomfortable, the head's down, you
9:04know, and and there's certain there's
9:05certain body language.
9:06>> So, you go and you read cues and body
9:09languages and to understand. Okay.
9:11>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's a big part because
9:13you're not going to get everything
9:13perfect. That's the truth is you can you
9:15can research and you can look it up, but
9:16you're not going to get everything
9:17perfect.
9:18>> No, that is true. Yeah.
9:19>> You have to follow the lead of the
9:21>> some basics of multicultural
9:23communication. You have like when I went
9:24to Indonesia, if I'm wrong, somebody
9:27it's been a long time. They told me
9:29don't bring a gift but give the gift
9:31only when you are living. So when you
9:34are coming to a family in Indonesia or
9:36Philippine I can't remember. Don't bring
9:39the gift.
9:40>> Yeah.
9:40>> Give it when you are leaving.
9:42>> When I was in
9:45Japan I believe in two other countries
9:47when you give a gift and the person
9:49doesn't open it in front of you
9:51>> and in fact Africa also. Yeah. My
9:53country. You wouldn't open it.
9:55>> Okay.
9:56>> In front of the person who gave you the
9:57gift. Yeah,
9:58>> you take you keep it and then go home
10:00and open the gift,
10:01>> right?
10:01>> But in the United States, if you don't
10:02do that, it's considered to be rude. You
10:04have to open it so that they can read
10:06your expression. Did you like it or not
10:07like it?
10:08>> It's true. [laughter]
10:09>> Yeah. You have to open a gift there to
10:10show the person that hey, you know, so
10:13people have learned to fake it and uh
10:15something like that. So um
10:18>> Okay. Now, so the first country was
10:21Ghana. Now I grew up in Ghana.
10:23>> Oh, this is perfect. I thought you were
10:25from Benon. I was born in Benin, moved
10:27to Ghana when I was five.
10:29>> Okay.
10:30>> And I was there until I was 14. So I I
10:31speak all three major languages. Three
10:33away in Ghana.
10:34>> Wow.
10:35>> I do. People don't know.
10:37>> Okay. What What year did you move?
10:40>> Oh, quite a long time ago.
10:42>> Yeah. [laughter]
10:42>> In the 60s.
10:43>> Yeah. Yeah. In the 60s. Okay. Did you
10:45see the transformation from from
10:48>> Of course. That's that is the video I I
10:50talk about. Uh so when I I traveled I
10:54moved to Kenya uh in 2015 and I had
10:57plenty of time on my hands and I was
10:58going from campus to campus and engaging
11:00young people uh and talk and I knew that
11:03the time has come for us to begin to
11:05review and rethink certain traditions
11:08and customs and conclusions I grew up
11:11with growing up in Ghana colonization,
11:15slavery, uh you know all kinds of
11:18things. the world poison a lot of young
11:21people to develop a certain type of
11:23relationship with others based on the
11:25things that some militant so-called uh
11:28political leaders have said you know so
11:30I began to see it very well in in Kenya
11:35and when I go to Tanzania when I was in
11:36Kenya I would go to Tanzania Uganda
11:38Rwanda and then come back to Nairobi so
11:41I I started this series of engaging
11:43people and asking them questions and I
11:45realized whoa we are stuck with one
11:49narrative.
11:51So when I go to a city,
11:53>> first thing I would do like when I
11:54arrived in Kenya, it took me three weeks
11:56for them to get me the house and you
11:59know houseg girl driver all these
12:00things. So I was in a hotel.
12:02>> The first place I would go to because
12:04like you said, I wanted to understand
12:05the people and the place even though I
12:07knew that they would just be like me, my
12:10country.
12:11>> So I'll go to the museum museum and the
12:13library
12:15which I don't know why I was shocked.
12:17Maybe because I thought it should change
12:20but the you know the British had a long
12:23presence in Kenya
12:25>> even after colonization the queen still
12:27has I think 33,000 acres of land. When I
12:29was there Prince William came with a
12:32friend to marry on one of their land so
12:33they can see giraffes while them.
12:35>> So they have a strong presence. Mhm.
12:39>> They left a lot of things in [snorts]
12:41the museums in central Nairobi.
12:44>> Mhm.
12:45>> But it's all cowed,
12:47dusted.
12:49And I said, "Okay." So then I went to uh
12:54Ghana to visit for my mom passed and I
12:56said, "Okay, now it has come to me that
12:59the library and the museum I saw in
13:01Nairobi, let me see what I will see in
13:03this country, Ghana, which I have come
13:05back to in 2012." Mhm.
13:08>> No archive.
13:10No archives at all. And one of the ones
13:13I'm looking for really is to see the
13:15archives where the British presence in
13:18Ghana,
13:19what it meant, what it was in photos, in
13:22writings, and you couldn't find it.
13:24Somebody would say, "Wait, wait, let me
13:25show you something." And then go to a
13:27room and come back with this big book
13:29that you have to dust it and so and so
13:32forth.
13:33>> And then I went to Benin. Yeah.
13:35>> And it was worse.
13:38it was worse then it clicked me. So when
13:41I went back to Kenya, I started saying,
13:42"Whoa, why is it?" So that's when I
13:45began to look at photos immediately
13:48after independence,
13:50>> photos of Nairobi, you want to go back
13:52to that those days of how the streets,
13:54the cars, even the dressing of the
13:56people, photos of Accra, photos of
13:58Koton, which is the capital of Beni,
14:00photos of Lagos, Silon, like I started
14:03looking in archives. I can find in the
14:05British Library in in London.
14:07>> Yeah,
14:08>> the photos were there. I know.
14:10>> Framed nicely the day they were living,
14:12the photos they took.
14:13>> Yeah.
14:14>> Then I go on Google to look at the city
14:16of Ara in 2025 or 26 or whatever you
14:19want.
14:21Jamaica, the same thing.
14:22>> Mhm.
14:23>> Haiti
14:25Portal Prince used to be like, you know,
14:28you think pity.
14:30>> I know.
14:31>> So then it clicked me. I said,
14:33everybody's inclining, but we are
14:36declining. So if countries started they
14:39were poor they make this argument all
14:40the time right the United States of
14:42America the UK you name it Rome itself
14:45was a small farming area with ruggedy
14:47roads fine so you would say that any
14:50country you saw in Africa maybe that was
14:52what the United States was let's say 400
14:54years ago 500 years ago okay that is
14:57true but we've seen the incline and the
14:59development
15:00>> yeah but when you look at these cities
15:02in the African countries
15:05okay they used to be the germ they want
15:07to become now, but they've been
15:09declining.
15:11So, the thing is an opposite.
15:13>> I know.
15:15>> So, what do you think? What conclusion
15:18did you come to?
15:19>> I I have to piggyback off of the the
15:21what you just said about the British
15:22Museum because what the backlash that
15:24that we hear is the British stole
15:26everything.
15:26>> This is what you hear. Well, the reason
15:28they have those artifacts is because
15:30they stole them and that's why they have
15:31a museum full of nice things.
15:33>> Yes.
15:34>> You tell me. You're you're the expert.
15:36Is that true? I mean, I I've I've seen
15:39time and time again, there's artifacts
15:40everywhere. I see the museums. There's
15:42plenty. Yes.
15:42>> Just like you're saying, they brought
15:43out a a a case full of books and and
15:46pictures. They're there, but they're
15:47they're not maintained. They're not
15:48taken care of,
15:49>> right?
15:50>> Um so, yeah, of course, you're you're
15:51losing these aspects. You're losing all
15:53of these artifacts and these things. Uh
15:55history. I mean, you're literally losing
15:57history
15:58>> when when you don't keep a record or you
16:00don't maintain them. But, yeah, it's
16:01it's the same thing in in many African
16:03countries. So the 49 countries you
16:05visited in Africa, if you pick one thing
16:07that repeated itself through the 49
16:10would be what?
16:10>> It's it's a lack of maintenance and
16:12systems. There's no systems and
16:13maintenance.
16:14>> For 250 days in a single year, the
16:17lights went out across South Africa.
16:19Hospitals ran on generators. Factories
16:22stopped midshift. Food rotted in dark
16:24refrigerators. Students studied by
16:27candle light. Small businesses closed
16:29forever. It was costing the country $50
16:32million. every single day. This was the
16:36worst year of an electricity crisis that
16:38had crippled Africa's most
16:39industrialized economy for over a
16:41decade.
16:42>> Ghana, going back to Ghana, the very
16:44first country. I was in a taxi. Um I had
16:46a taxi cab driver and I asked him about
16:48their tax system because I was curious,
16:50you know, this is my first time going to
16:51Africa. I want to learn about how you
16:53guys do taxes in Africa.
16:54>> You mean taxes on Tax
16:55>> Taxes? Yeah.
16:56>> The Uncle Sam tax?
16:57>> Yes. [laughter] Okay.
16:58>> Income tax. And I asked, "Hey, how does
16:59your income tax work here?" You know, he
17:01explains it. Well, you know, they take
17:02the the um tax out of every paycheck.
17:04This is from colonial times. This is the
17:06same thing that every place does. And he
17:09says, "Yeah, for 5 years I haven't
17:10gotten my refund. I don't get my tax
17:11refund ever." And I said, "Oh, that's
17:13strange." And he goes, "Yeah, I went to
17:15the equivalency of the IRS. I went to
17:16the tax office." And I asked, "Hey,
17:18where's my tax refund?" And uh they went
17:20back and forth. He was arguing with the
17:22lady and eventually she said, "Don't you
17:23have family?"
17:25>> And he goes, "Yeah, of course I have
17:27family." And she says, "Well, go ask
17:28your your family for money if you need
17:30money.
17:31And I went, "No, that can't be true.
17:34There's no way. This is this is
17:35ridiculous. That there's no way that
17:37somebody at a government office said
17:39this to you." I upload the video to
17:40YouTube and and everyone in the
17:42comments, people from Ghana, there
17:44people from all over Africa are saying,
17:45"Yeah, I had the exact same experience.
17:46This is what happened to me." And
17:50>> taxation uh it's a very complex system.
17:53>> It's not Yeah.
17:54>> Yeah. Exactly. you know to collect money
17:56from people and then give them something
17:58back and you have to have a very complex
18:01almost like an uh you have to have your
18:04own original mathematical formulas to be
18:06able to say
18:07>> every indep every individual is
18:10accounted for.
18:12>> Yes.
18:13>> So where I come from in my village in
18:15Benin when any African country tells you
18:17the population they have just laugh it
18:20off. I laugh it off all the time because
18:22the truth is I have watched three
18:25different census. One I was in in I was
18:29in Kenya when the census happened to
18:312017.
18:33>> I was in Nigeria 1984
18:35>> when the census happened.
18:37>> I have been in Ghana where census
18:38happened. Okay. And then I've lived in
18:41the United States. I've been here I
18:42think I have had going four census.
18:46>> It happened every 10 years or what?
18:48>> I think it's every 10 years. every 10
18:50years. So, I'm going to the fourth
18:51census, right?
18:52>> Yeah.
18:53>> And I sat down to look uh in Nigeria in
18:561984, they ask everybody to stay home so
18:58they can count them.
19:01>> And you know where people went to? So,
19:03they they they made them take days off
19:05work and stay home so we can come and
19:06count you. So, they went to the colleges
19:08and got college students with paper and
19:10pen go home a form and fill it and bring
19:13it back. So, everybody got into their
19:14car or public and went to the village
19:16because I haven't been to my village. I
19:18was waiting to have a free day to go. So
19:19now they went to their villages or they
19:22were on barbage on the beach
19:26>> because you've given me two days off
19:27work.
19:28>> Yeah. Vacation.
19:29>> Okay.
19:29>> Yeah.
19:30>> Some people thought that the censors was
19:31government trying to track them.
19:35>> Yeah.
19:36>> Then I go to Kenya. Fast forward 2017.
19:38They asked people to stay home for 2
19:40days and everybody got in their car and
19:41went to their shagos. Shagos means
19:43village in Kenya. Mhm.
19:45>> And I was there when I saw the students
19:47came this time with a pad.
19:50>> It's like an iPad. And they asked them
19:52to ask some silly questions so they can
19:53punch it in and send it. But there was
19:55no collection central system.
19:57>> Yeah.
19:57>> So you can you can be born, live, grow,
20:01work, die in my country and the
20:03government will never know that you ever
20:05came through because only few places
20:07have birth and death certificate. You
20:10must have. Number two, we don't have
20:12social med
20:14number
20:14>> in the entire country of the United
20:16States. They have to just put it in the
20:17system, right?
20:18>> And it will give my whole history since
20:20I lived in this country. I'm not saying
20:22one is better than the other. I'm just
20:23saying we must face the fact that we can
20:26never no government
20:28>> can sit down and plan and provide for
20:31people you don't know how many they are.
20:33So every year what we do is gas station
20:36because of the WHO WH supplies us the
20:39number to say every square meter count
20:41how many but you see movement in Africa
20:44as you've seen from countries coming in
20:46without passport no registration
20:48>> you can't
20:49>> it's I know it's impossible
20:51>> so maintenance of systems now you're
20:54talking about taxation now if you need
20:56any infrastructure that needs to be
20:58maintained to the tea
21:00>> that is the IRS that is taxation
21:02>> I [clears throat]
21:03I know. Where's the money going to come
21:04from?
21:05>> Number two, did the drivers tell you or
21:07the people tell you how they send in the
21:09tax return that the how they report it?
21:12Is it digitally or paper?
21:15>> No. No, it's paper.
21:16>> Okay.
21:16>> It's it's paper. And and and even I mean
21:18even in the I mean look at Western
21:20countries in the US, we have problems
21:21with IRS. We have problems with
21:22taxation. It is a complicated system.
21:24Yes.
21:24>> Right. But this is a it's it's a pattern
21:27not just with the tax system but the
21:29legal system and and every system you
21:31know it's it's a repeat pattern.
21:33>> If you're a student in any African
21:35country and you're really looking to
21:37change your country now this
21:38conversation should tell you and we're
21:40going to go deep into things you should
21:42start thinking about
21:44right now because I have been outside
21:47I've been inside and I'm not comparing
21:49European systems is one either you use
21:52them or you don't use them. So if you
21:54have them and you are saying oh but
21:56those are European systems. Well but you
21:58are using it in the days when we were
22:00tribes and not a country because that's
22:03what we were.
22:04>> So the kings do send out people to
22:07collect levy
22:09>> chiefts.
22:10>> Okay. When I was growing up, they call
22:11it in my country lampo
22:14>> and I never knew them what the word
22:17meant. But the French government
22:19colonizing Beni had people it has
22:22trained
22:24to go door to door and collect land
22:27pole.
22:29[laughter]
22:30>> A land pole.
22:31>> Yeah,
22:31>> we call it lampo. Lampo and everybody
22:33just use a word. And so that is how and
22:36songs were sung in Beni condemning the
22:39the tax collectors who come door to door
22:41to collect money.
22:43>> So it was the the chiefs used to have it
22:46as you donate some of your farm products
22:49and stuff like that
22:51uh socialism. [sighs]
22:54>> So taxing people if you own a land it's
22:57yours. You don't pay to anybody. If you
23:00own a house it's yours.
23:02That is how we started as a tribe.
23:05Nobody says the land you owe because
23:07that person or that government if it's a
23:10traditional government has not provided
23:11you roads and security to say give me
23:13money to maintain them for you.
23:15>> Right. Right.
23:16>> You own it and you have to take care of
23:18your own thing.
23:19>> And so you live as a socialist
23:21community.
23:23There's nothing in a common pool to be
23:25used. If the chief needs a common pool,
23:30they extract human labor.
23:32>> Mhm.
23:33>> They call all of you and they say, "This
23:34woman doesn't have a husband. Her roof
23:36is bad." So all the men come together
23:39and then they put a roof for her.
23:41>> Right.
23:42>> There's no welfare system. Now we get
23:45colonized
23:47and during the time of colonization they
23:49introduced a system saying now you are a
23:51country not a tribe and we have built
23:53infrastructure and to continue to
23:55maintain it you pay tax.
23:57>> Mhm.
23:59>> The reason the people in the villages
24:01could go and put a roof on this woman's
24:03house and not ask for anything is
24:05because they know when my time comes it
24:07will be the same thing. So they would do
24:09it completely like it's their own. They
24:11can see it, they can touch it. Yeah.
24:14>> When they introduce the tax system,
24:17people don't understand what it means.
24:20>> Yeah. Well, tax is also it's anti-ism,
24:24right? I mean, it's it's really kind of
24:25anti-family if you think about it.
24:28>> Yes.
24:28>> And and that's I think that's why when
24:30that woman asked him that, she said,
24:31"Well, don't you have family?"
24:33>> It goes back.
24:34>> It goes back. That's correct.
24:36>> Yeah.
24:37>> You see, and so Rethink is saying,
24:40"Okay, they left you with something. You
24:42got to get to a point, you see, but we
24:44don't, right?
24:45>> Oh, because our leaders are corrupt.
24:50>> And that also is a conclusion that
24:53doesn't allow anybody to say, "But why
24:55are they corrupt?"
24:57So in the 49 countries you saw, you
24:59would say 90%. What is what repeated
25:02itself throughout is the lack of
25:04maintenance not only of money but of
25:07infrastructure
25:08>> of systems human labor or human capital.
25:12>> That's true.
25:13>> Everything
25:15>> basically.
25:16>> Basically there there are some
25:17exceptions to the rules of course um
25:19when one and you know there like you're
25:21saying you guys have your own systems.
25:23Africa has their own systems that
25:24they've they've already built and
25:26they've already created just like the
25:27the tribes or the chieft systems that
25:28you're talking about. Um I I think it's
25:30the same way with time. You look at
25:31Ethiopia, right? They were never
25:33colonized. They they tried. The Italians
25:35tried. Ethiopia was never
25:36>> they were occupied and then they formed
25:38artificial boundaries around them. Yes.
25:40>> Yeah. They have their completely their
25:41own way of um of of time management. You
25:44know, their day starts when the sun
25:45rises.
25:46>> So it might be Yeah. It might be 3 p.m.
25:49somewhere else, but it's you know, it's
25:509:00 a.m. there. Um so those systems,
25:52they're not bad systems, but but they're
25:54different. We we have different systems
25:55that we're different peoples and you
25:57know we have different problems and we
25:58have different solutions to those
25:59problems. I think colonialism it came to
26:01Africa and said hey we know the solution
26:02this worked for us
26:04>> here it's going to work for you.
26:05>> Mhm.
26:06>> It doesn't.
26:07>> But who should know that it doesn't the
26:09colonial or the colonized?
26:12>> I don't know. I don't know what the
26:13right answer is to that. Should they
26:14have known? I don't know.
26:16>> I think should they have known?
26:18>> Should they have known? Yeah. It's
26:19[laughter]
26:20question. Should they have known that it
26:21wouldn't have worked? Because I think
26:22they they got the wrong solution because
26:24they didn't understand the problem.
26:25>> But if you have a working solution that
26:27is working really for the people,
26:28>> why would you reject that and take
26:30another one?
26:30>> I don't know if it worked perfectly. I I
26:32think they they came and there was um I
26:34mean the infant mortality rate at the
26:35start of of colonialism was very high
26:37and and anybody any normal person would
26:39look at that and go, "Oh, we need to do
26:41something. We need to help."
26:43>> Yes.
26:43>> But it [laughter] wasn't it didn't go
26:45the way that they thought it would.
26:47Um
26:50boy
26:51>> it's it's a different solution for
26:53different people and that's okay.
26:55>> So I went to Isaba with a friend from
26:57Kenya. We were in Kenya with IBM and she
27:01said we should I'm going we we went to
27:03Kenya anyway. Uh to Nairobi sorry
27:05Ethiopia.
27:06>> Okay. Ethiopia. Yeah.
27:07>> And um the first thing that I wanted to
27:09see was uh Helisal Lazi's palace.
27:12>> Yeah. Uh the Rasta Afari Palace.
27:16>> Yeah. And and you know they say it's an
27:18irrit you're it's you was
27:20[clears throat] it Ethiopia then you're
27:22talking about Masawa, right?
27:24>> Uh Helis Palace.
27:26>> Are you talking about the one in Masawa?
27:27The blue tiled one.
27:28>> No.
27:29>> No. This is a different one. Okay. I'm
27:30sorry. I'm thinking of one in he ruled
27:32in until he uh they kicked him out or
27:34something. Okay. So I wanted to see
27:36because of course we all grew up in West
27:37Africa talking about Helis Alazi being
27:39an emperor and we see photos of the line
27:41of Judah and all that. So I started
27:43looking and taxi taxi man said no it's
27:45in the university.
27:47So they took even the bathroom
27:51>> it had a British sink and and tile they
27:55took pieces from the house. It's now in
27:57the university.
28:00>> Now
28:01>> there are close to a million
28:03Rastapharians in the world today.
28:06>> Not just in Jamaica.
28:07>> Yeah.
28:08>> There are Germans and others who says
28:09they are raspharians. Imagine if
28:12Ethiopia, whether you like the man or
28:15not,
28:15>> Mhm. had preserved Helisalazi's palace
28:20intact and make it a pilgrimage for
28:22those look Christians go to Israel
28:26because they insisted that Jesus walked
28:28here and I want to walk where he walked.
28:30So the government whether he believe in
28:32Jesus or not because it's it's a it's an
28:34Orthodox government, right? So they
28:36don't believe in Jesus. But they've
28:37created a whole tourism of pilgrimage
28:40for Christians to come
28:43>> and the money they make through that.
28:45>> Mhm.
28:47>> But Helis Lazi's Palace
28:50>> is not there.
28:50>> Yeah. I I I had the I said this the same
28:53thing when we went to Moadishu. I said,
28:55"Where's the helicopters from Blackhawk
28:56Down? There's so many Americans who
28:57would come here and want to see this.
28:58They'd pay a lot of money to come see
28:59the place where Blackhawk Down took
29:01place." No, nothing. It's all got And
29:04the tour guide tell me, "Oh, no, no, no.
29:05They took the scrap metal, you know."
29:06Yeah.
29:08>> And I I [laughter]
29:09Oh, okay. Now,
29:10>> it took about one week. You It will take
29:12the Marines here a month to unscrub that
29:15thing, but it took them 3 [laughter]
29:16days to
29:18>> to tell it. Um, [snorts and sighs]
29:22>> so that video um because it went viral
29:25and many people
29:27would not even stop and say, "Wait a
29:29minute, he's saying something about
29:31maintenance." Everybody started telling
29:33me that I was crazy. That when their
29:36mothers wake up, they sweep the
29:37compound. That is not maintenance. That
29:39is cosmetics.
29:41>> I know
29:42>> washing your body is not maintenance.
29:45No, it's cosmetic. There are people who
29:47go without washing their body, but they
29:49will eat well,
29:51>> they would exercise,
29:54>> check their everything.
29:55>> So maintenance is not washing your body
29:57and put on makeups, right? But they
29:58started pointing to things the Africans
30:00did. That means that the Africans have
30:02the concept of maintenance. So I began
30:04to call many tribes from East Africa,
30:06West Africa, Southern Africa and ask
30:08each one, what is the word maintenance
30:11in your language? And everybody will
30:13look up first and start thinking. But
30:14immediately I say what is the word
30:16repair? They will just give me an
30:18answer.
30:19>> In my language and the three languages I
30:21speak in Ben, there is no word, one
30:23single word. In Ghana, I speak all three
30:25major languages. There's no word. So
30:28concepts are very powerful. Concepts is
30:31what drives people's actions, behaviors,
30:34even prioritization is because you have
30:36a concept about something.
30:39>> Now not having a concept is not a bad
30:41thing because languages are limited.
30:44>> Mhm.
30:45>> That's true.
30:45>> So the language you speak is only as
30:48good as how many concepts you have in
30:50that language that will allow you to
30:52prioritize things.
30:54>> Mhm. [snorts] So you saw
30:58from museum to road
31:01to the street lamp to the post office
31:04[snorts]
31:05to healthcare systems. Not that it was
31:07not there once upon a time because all
31:0954 countries were colonized,
31:11>> right?
31:11>> And the colonials left infrastructure
31:13behind. They built and they left it
31:15behind. They took your mask to the
31:19museums
31:20>> over 100 years ago and you can walk into
31:23London and see those masks as if they
31:25just brought them yesterday. I I went
31:27with a group of people to Yale uh Museum
31:31of Arts.
31:32>> Yeah,
31:33>> they legally borrowed and or bought some
31:35of those artifacts from Benin and across
31:38West Africa. So I go to London, I go to
31:40Paris and I can see the things they took
31:42when they were there as administrators.
31:44Yes, they saw some value in it as a
31:46preservation of what they saw. They
31:48brought it to London. So if you want to
31:49write anything about
31:52>> the craft, I have to go to France
31:55into their library. I will see it more
31:56and write about it and bring it home and
31:58publish.
31:59>> Mhm.
32:00>> You have the record.
32:02>> But the infrastructure they left behind,
32:05they kept and protect yours. So as of
32:07last year, you started screaming that
32:09they stole your mask and they should
32:10return it. They preserve it for 100
32:13years to be able to return it to you.
32:16The one they left,
32:18they can come back and find it.
32:20Including the spoons, the leather chair
32:22that was with metal string tied to it.
32:25What country was that?
32:26>> That was the Gambia.
32:28>> That was the Gambia.
32:29>> Yeah.
32:30>> Do you see that leather chair? I could
32:32see because I collect antique.
32:34>> Okay.
32:35>> The value of that leather chair.
32:37>> I I know. And then you saw the bronze uh
32:40is it made of gold or bronze? The the
32:43utensils and the plates and the cups all
32:45by the British
32:46>> I think it was silver but I could be
32:47wrong. That's correct. But I mean it's
32:48valuable. It's it's a valuable material.
32:50Even if you were to melt it down you
32:51would still find some value in it, you
32:53know.
32:55But [sighs]
32:58>> so tell me why do you think that is the
33:01case? The the lack of maintenance why
33:04what in your mind did you conclude was
33:06the reason? Um there's so many theories
33:08on this. There's there's theories I've
33:10heard I've heard people biologists argue
33:12biological theories. I've heard
33:13religious people, you know, have their
33:15religious um arguments.
33:16>> Yeah.
33:17>> Um I don't Yeah. Uh but I don't know if
33:20the, you know, I think historically,
33:24Westerners had different challenges that
33:25they had to overcome from Africans. I'll
33:27give you an example. Africans have the
33:29best immune systems in the entire world.
33:32Nobody can beat your guys' im. You have
33:33great immune systems, but why? How did
33:36you how did you get such good immune
33:37systems?
33:38>> How do I get that?
33:39>> Because we need to sanitize our
33:40environment.
33:41>> You had challenges and a lot of lot of
33:43people [laughter]
33:44but you had those challenges and a lot
33:46of people a lot of people unfortunately
33:48they passed away from those challenges.
33:49Well, it's the same thing. You go to
33:50Japan. Japan gets the most the most
33:52snowfall in the entire world every
33:53single year. If you're not a long-term
33:55thinker, you have you have three months
33:56to prepare for nine months of winter.
33:58And if you're not a long-term thinker in
33:59Japan and you can't plan and maintain,
34:01you're gone. And and you know, we all
34:04have those different challenges. We're
34:05we're different people, which is
34:06controversial to say. It shouldn't be,
34:08right? But we're we're different people.
34:09Races are different. People are
34:10different. But those different problems.
34:13Uh we had to overcome those different
34:14challenges. So I I don't know if
34:17everybody is.
34:17>> Let's start with the bi those who gave
34:19the biological reasons. Those who said
34:20biological reasons, what did they say?
34:22>> That's well, it's long-term versus
34:23short-term thinking. That's the That's
34:24the biology because of the physical
34:26environment.
34:27>> But I don't know if that's true. I'm not
34:28a biologist and I can't prove that. And
34:29they can't prove it either.
34:30>> What do you mean they can't prove it?
34:32Well, it could be cultural. It could be
34:33a lot of different things and and we
34:35don't see it everywhere in the world,
34:36right? There are exceptions to this
34:37rule.
34:37>> What is the exception?
34:38>> Well, I would say Irria and Ethiopia are
34:40an exception. Itria Yeah, Irtria was
34:43great. This is this is a total exception
34:45for Africa. Are you are you familiar
34:47with Itria and their their government
34:48right now? Their new president.
34:50>> Yeah,
34:50>> it's a militaristic government. A lot of
34:52people say, "Yeah, they argue that it's
34:54a dictatorship." But, you know, when I
34:55went to Itria and I I started talking to
34:56people, they they were happy. They have
34:59a 0% crime rate. Mhm.
35:01>> How how does it, you know, when I went
35:03there, I I went I looked around and
35:04there's a bicycling culture
35:06>> and I'm going I've never seen a
35:07bicycling culture in Africa. How did
35:09this happen?
35:10>> You know, they're and they're not locked
35:11up. You leave your bike out and no
35:12nothing happens. That's fine. But it it
35:15is um it's a very militaristic style of
35:17of government. And I would argue that it
35:19is better than when the Italians had it.
35:22[laughter]
35:22>> I would argue that it has a lower crime
35:24rate.
35:24>> Okay. If you wanted to find if you
35:27wanted to find in the archives in the
35:29eratrio library of so and so you mean
35:32that uh their maintenance of records
35:34roads infrastructure that it's an
35:36exception
35:37>> yeah it is it really is yeah I
35:39absolutely would argue no and and even
35:41the roads are paved you cross the road
35:43and the cars slow down
35:44>> that's right
35:45>> doesn't happen in other parts you know
35:47but they've but my my point is they
35:49found us their own solution
35:51>> was the solution
35:52>> their own solution I think a very strict
35:54form of of government and and and very I
35:57mean very strict systems and procedures
36:01and and not only that but if you look at
36:03the west you look at some western
36:04countries if you look at the crime
36:05statistics typically Irrians are listed
36:07in some of the highest crime rates I
36:09don't I don't like saying that but it's
36:11true so you'll take the same people it's
36:13the same people they're in different
36:14places but in the west they're they
36:18they're not not doing very well but then
36:20you put them in their own country and
36:22their their leader has their own form of
36:24of uh style of leadership and [laughter]
36:26they're doing a lot better.
36:28>> I'll be interested.
36:29>> Yeah.
36:29>> 49 countries is an exception.
36:32>> Yeah. Okay.
36:33>> If we use the exception as a rule, then
36:35we wouldn't talk about it's possible.
36:37>> I know.
36:38>> Okay. But let's come to the No, but what
36:40you said is was interesting and I want
36:41to come to that.
36:42>> Yeah.
36:43>> They have a military government.
36:45>> Yeah, they do.
36:46>> He's he's brutal and he's dictatorship
36:48kind of.
36:50>> That's what that's what how we perceive
36:51it in the West.
36:52>> No, I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah.
36:53>> Okay.
36:56And therefore things
37:00you know there was a place like that.
37:03So I'm so I was in Nigeria when two very
37:08interesting characters became the head
37:09of state.
37:10>> Mhm.
37:10>> Have you heard of Bari?
37:12>> Uh yeah I have.
37:13>> Okay. So Buari was just recently he he
37:17did eight hours and left office.
37:18>> Yeah.
37:19>> Okay.
37:19>> Yeah I know. uh before I think the one
37:22we have now.
37:23>> Okay. So, not long ago. However, he was
37:26a military
37:27>> leader of the country in 1980s
37:30>> 83 I believe. His left tenant was called
37:34Brigadia
37:36who doesn't smile to the cameras.
37:38>> Mhm.
37:38>> Cold like stone.
37:40>> Mhm.
37:41>> And he doesn't just threaten you. He
37:42will actually kill you if you break his
37:44law.
37:45>> Mhm. So when they came to power they saw
37:48chaos
37:50and they instituted what was called war
37:53againstipline
37:55a whole military decree
37:57>> to deal with in discipline Nigeria was
38:00trashed up everywhere trash
38:02>> traffic jammed people don't line up
38:05>> the six months these two gentlemen were
38:06in power
38:08>> people voluntarily came out and clean
38:11the streets and lined up at the bus
38:13stops at the banks at the post office
38:15this is something I witnessed and I
38:16covered and I wrote about it.
38:20>> Okay.
38:20>> I know
38:21>> people till today were like
38:24no this cannot be Lagos.
38:27You go to the bus stop. Oh, you can hold
38:29a baby and walk into the bus.
38:32>> Yeah.
38:33>> So then some gentleman overthrew these
38:38two guys immediately. Overthrew them.
38:40Okay. That was Babanga. He overthrew
38:42them. While the the no smile guy was in
38:46Saudi Arabia attend attending the mecca
38:49with his nine-year-old son.
38:51>> They overthrew them.
38:54>> The government went away.
38:55>> Mhm.
38:56>> And Babanga became the head of state.
39:00>> And he stayed on for what is it six or
39:02eight years? I I can't remember. You
39:03understand?
39:04>> I don't know. I I don't know. But I've
39:05heard I've heard the same story.
39:07and
39:08>> Lagos turned within 24 hours to the
39:11Lagos before Bui.
39:12>> I know.
39:13>> So what I'm trying to say is this. I
39:15said something in my recent episode.
39:18>> Mhm.
39:20>> The true character and essence of a man
39:23is observed and seen when you are free,
39:28[snorts] not when you are under durex.
39:31So, it's possible that what you're
39:33describing about Iratria is because
39:35somebody has the whip on their head and
39:37an AK-47.
39:39Let's go to the Philippines. Manila was
39:42taken over by drugs and gangs.
39:44>> Mhm.
39:45>> Government after government until the
39:47last mad man Obama called a mad man.
39:49Duet.
39:50>> Yeah.
39:50>> Dete came to power and he hanged two
39:53pistols on his hip and he told them
39:55before in the promise of the elections,
39:57I would actually kill you. And that dude
40:00didn't just threaten you. During his
40:02reign, Manila cleaned out of drugs.
40:05Recently, I called a friend of mine. We
40:07stationed there as a reporter. I said,
40:09"It's over since he left office." So
40:12now, let's go back. You said it's not
40:13biologic.
40:14>> Yeah.
40:16>> Well, I I I do think it's it's
40:18biological. I do. So if you introduce a
40:21new government toria right now that is
40:24saying hey you have democracy and human
40:26rights and [laughter] I won't slap you
40:28even if you you understand I'm saying to
40:31you if that is the exception and I was
40:33right when you said it's militaristic
40:35I've seen it in other parts that it
40:37happened once upon a time in Ghana had
40:39Jerry John Jerry Rollins I'm sure you
40:41heard his name when you went to
40:41[laughter] Ghana
40:42>> okay Ghana across started cleaning
40:45people were cleaning trash as soon as he
40:47left office
40:49>> Ghana has flooded big time this year
40:52rain season because the city is trashed.
40:56>> Yeah.
40:56>> So that is the that is the reason uh
40:58that is the excuse the biologist gave
41:01which is the other one. Religion. Let me
41:02hear what the religious people say.
41:04>> Oh there's all kinds of I mean the the
41:06the things that that I've heard from
41:08religious people. I'll tell you the LDS
41:10church and I and I don't like to repeat
41:12this but they they say that there are
41:13certain races that are cursed. You know
41:15this is in their old doctrine. Even in
41:16the 70s, they wouldn't allow certain
41:18races to be put into the temple and get
41:20married. So, it was um
41:22it's it's
41:23>> there are many cursed societies who
41:25still pave their roads and keep their
41:27trash in a bag.
41:29>> Well, there's there's I know it's the
41:31same thing. [laughter] There there's
41:32corrupt all over Eastern Europe.
41:34>> If if the religious people are saying
41:35it's a curs, the curs didn't
41:37specifically say I'll make you trash
41:38your but we we you saw our our women.
41:42Oh, we will go to the salon and make
41:44ourselves so clean.
41:45>> Yeah. Do you know that in the homes of
41:47Ghana and Benilin and Togo?
41:48>> Yeah.
41:49>> You will never find a hoarder.
41:51>> No.
41:51>> We clean three times a day.
41:53>> Yeah.
41:54>> I know. Do you see it?
41:55>> Okay. So, there's no curse. [laughter]
41:57>> No. I No.
41:58>> The curse should have started with you
41:59refusing to to to maintain yourself.
42:02>> Yeah.
42:02>> So, the religion is is nonsense.
42:05>> No, I mean it's there's biological
42:06there's um
42:06>> but here is what you said in the
42:08beginning that u Yes, of course. Uh the
42:10black race, Africans have an immune
42:13system. I've lived in this country going
42:15four decades and I have never and people
42:18go when I say it catch a cold
42:20>> or the flu. Never. I don't sneeze and
42:22immune system. I don't I don't. Right.
42:24>> Yeah.
42:25>> And you say Yeah. I think you know it.
42:27It's because we come from a place that
42:29germ because of the heat.
42:31>> Yeah.
42:32>> So if you leave a trash outside in
42:33Japan, it will take long [groaning]
42:35unless summer comes before there will be
42:37a germ or whatever they call. Right. But
42:40in a hot temperature you just have to
42:42leave a meat drop out somewhere and
42:44within it start smelling.
42:46>> Yeah.
42:46>> So we have to use more deodorants in
42:48Africa which we're tired of using
42:50because anywhere that there is no air
42:53>> gems forms faster. Okay. That is the
42:55although people think that people don't
42:57take a shower. We take shower more than
42:58anybody.
42:58>> Yeah.
42:59>> Okay.
43:00>> So in that environment you got germs
43:02form very fast because of the heat.
43:04>> Yeah.
43:06And therefore things erode very fast
43:10also.
43:12>> Yes, that's true too. The sun can erode
43:14anything
43:15>> very [laughter] fast. Right. So
43:17therefore to constantly say something if
43:20you wake up it's going to be the same
43:21form tomorrow
43:22>> the way you left it. It's going to be
43:24the same thing. [laughter] There is no
43:26reason at all that people would say oh
43:28we have to have what is called proactive
43:30maintenance.
43:31>> Right.
43:32>> No.
43:33>> Right.
43:34>> You won't do that. the system.
43:35>> I live in um this country and I have to
43:38buy a leaf blower,
43:39>> a snow blower,
43:41>> a leaf a leaf uh grinder,
43:44>> branches grinder. I my garage was all
43:46kinds of equipment and I have to learn
43:48or you have to pay somebody to do it.
43:49Right. Right.
43:50>> Okay. I moved to Kenya. I lived on a 2.8
43:53uh 2 and a half acres of land with a
43:56huge building on it.
43:59>> Mhm.
44:00>> 5 years, Emily.
44:01>> No maintenance
44:02>> and the leaf never fell. Yeah,
44:04>> it was green every day. The only thing
44:06is the fruit will go away and then come
44:08back after 3 months. Avocado.
44:10>> Exactly.
44:10>> Okay. The leaves were not falling. No
44:12fall, no summer, no spring.
44:14>> Uh no winter.
44:16>> Yeah.
44:16>> So why would I my brain say invent a
44:19blower?
44:20>> Yeah, this is exactly right. I know. And
44:22and uh yeah. No, I I agree. I agree with
44:25that. But
44:25>> two, when we were growing uh when Africa
44:27was forming, there were no motor
44:28vehicles.
44:29>> Right. Right. I know.
44:31>> How many feet do you not need on this?
44:33Why should I pay the whole rate for you
44:35to just walk to the next village when we
44:37don't travel that much anyway because
44:38your village
44:39>> you stop because of language changes so
44:42you don't go anywhere that much right
44:44>> so what is the point
44:46>> right there's the rivers and the lakes
44:48allow the rainfalls and it just washes
44:50away
44:51>> so you can see this over thousands of
44:53years [snorts]
44:54>> yes
44:55>> yeah that's exactly
44:56>> you have to do very little
44:59>> our buildings don't have uh conduits
45:01inside heating system. That's why they
45:04do rag because you have to break it
45:07and reach a pipe if you want to change
45:09it.
45:09>> Yes,
45:09>> we don't have conduits in our buildings.
45:12>> The buildings here expand 2 in in the
45:15winter or contrast I think and then in
45:17the summer it expands something like
45:18that, right? The buildings in America.
45:20So in the winter when you're closing
45:21your door is tight, but in the summer it
45:23start closing.
45:24>> Yeah.
45:24>> Okay. That's right.
45:25>> And like you said, Japan where I live
45:27for four years. Yes. You got to prepare.
45:31>> Yeah.
45:33So but the point is the African has to
45:36understand this
45:38the the history of the evolution
45:41that you have chosen to make your place
45:44look like the other places
45:47>> right
45:48>> the question now is where are you going
45:51to invent this
45:54proactive maintenance?
45:56How do you do that? The brain is stuck
45:59with how you related to the environment.
46:01Let me let me ask you. Do you think they
46:03they need to though?
46:04>> Could there be another solution instead
46:05of going through this this process of
46:07trying to figure out maintenance and
46:09make it
46:09>> I don't believe they can.
46:11>> Well, there's another solution. That's
46:13you guys have to figure that out. I
46:15don't know. [laughter] This is, you
46:17know, it's another it's another solution
46:18for another people, right?
46:19>> Well, like I saying, the blind mind
46:21saying to the blind mind,
46:22>> yeah,
46:23>> you can't see, but you can have another
46:24alternative to see. And he asked you,
46:26how do I where do I see it?
46:28>> Right.
46:29But it's it's it's a you know the way
46:31>> that is why these conversations are
46:32important. Yeah.
46:33>> If a younger fellow today in college
46:36>> in Ghana Nigeria is hearing this and say
46:39ah now I see where he's coming from. So
46:42before I did the maintenance video of
46:44course I told you I open myself to have
46:46this experience and say why every city
46:49even in the Caribbean.
46:50>> Yeah.
46:52>> And that is strictly black and the
46:55continent black. But go to the UK and
46:58see where blacks live. Come to the
47:00United States and see where blacks live.
47:02>> Yeah,
47:03>> it's important. It's the same thing. We
47:06are known in the United States to trash
47:08>> everywhere we live.
47:10>> Yeah. Yeah. It's it's true. It's a it's
47:12it is
47:13>> then when you say the Africans have to
47:14figure it out. How about those living
47:15with a place where maintenance is
47:17prioritized and yet they can't maintain
47:18their environment? Then how would they
47:20figure it out?
47:20>> Well, I know and that's the problem that
47:21you run into too because how how do we
47:24figure it out? You know, if we're all
47:25together and we're all we're all it's so
47:27diverse and we're you know, diversity is
47:29our strength, right?
47:30>> No, it's not. [laughter]
47:32>> Depend.
47:33>> I didn't say it, but
47:34>> diversity is a strength.
47:36>> Uh
47:37>> okay.
47:37>> Yeah. [laughter]
47:39In plants,
47:40>> but you got to know who you are asking
47:42to come and diversify with you.
47:45>> Yeah. We say the word as if
47:48I if I diversify
47:51the Chicago Bulls and I say every 300lb
47:54guy, please come in. Every short guy 3.5
47:56ft high, please come in. We just want to
47:58diversify the height.
47:59>> Yeah. Exact. Yeah. Exactly.
48:00>> But they're not going to win six
48:02>> Yeah.
48:02>> gold rings. Okay.
48:04>> Yeah. Yeah. It's
48:05>> you're not going to win it.
48:05>> It's so true.
48:06>> So some places and some things you got
48:08to think to say what type of diversity
48:11are we talking about? diversity of
48:13talent or just diversity of people. So,
48:15I'm not a big fan of just diversify.
48:18The place that needs diversity right
48:21now, it's Africa,
48:25not Europe.
48:26>> But what what do we do if if uh if it if
48:29we diversify Africa? People are coming
48:32in and they're making the same mistakes
48:33by putting in systems that won't last.
48:35Will it help?
48:38>> Well, the systems you see, you've been
48:40to Dubai. Yeah. Yeah. But Dubai was they
48:44also, you know, they they had British
48:46people come into Dubai to try to set up
48:48their systems.
48:48>> The systems you see in Dubai.
48:50>> Yeah. They they're lasting.
48:53>> They knew they knew that they are not
48:55going to be the ones to manage it.
48:58>> I know they have.
48:59>> That's the smartness of the Yes. Most of
49:01the Middle Eastern. One thing they knew
49:03about themselves is that look, we are
49:05Bins. We've lived in the desert. We can
49:07manipulate that place. Give me a little
49:09cattle. I can travel far. I can live
49:12without water, heat, sand. Okay.
49:16>> Yeah.
49:16>> They can do it better than anyone.
49:17>> Right. Yeah.
49:18>> So if you take them out of that place to
49:20a place that has that condition, they
49:22will survive.
49:23>> Mhm.
49:24>> Because they knew this. They also looked
49:26outside to places that has certain
49:28things they think we need it. So a
49:30sensible person, you just simply have to
49:33ask that person.
49:35>> Don't say come and build it for me and
49:37go away. You say come and live among me.
49:40>> So once upon a time
49:43>> the is that what they called? They are
49:46from
49:47>> the pis the Pistons or Pistols the
49:50basketball team.
49:51>> I think it's the Pistons. But the
49:53Pistons I might be wrong.
49:54>> They were known to be the most
49:55physically aggressive. They elbow your
49:57face. They bleed you up.
49:59>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Once upon a
50:01time, the Chicago Bulls knew that we
50:02needed someone who is a rough as
50:05[snorts] these guys just for our
50:08rebound. Now, there's a guy with a bad
50:11character, Dennis Rodman.
50:14>> The Bulls seems to be a very gentle,
50:16well educated guys who organize in the
50:18way, but they said, "But we need him."
50:21They asked Scotty Pip and Michael
50:23Jordan. Now, look [snorts] at Michael
50:24Jordan's character.
50:26>> Yeah. And you would think he would be
50:27the one to say no freaking way. But he
50:30said no, bring him in.
50:33That is true diversity.
50:35Did he prove his point? Oh yeah, you can
50:38be a badass rebounder than the worm
50:41himself.
50:42>> Yeah,
50:42>> that's what I believe. They didn't they
50:45didn't say,
50:47Dennis, come and train one of our
50:49rebounders and go away. No, they say
50:52come and live among us as one of our
50:55players.
50:57So you got to look at your system and
51:00say there are things we are very good
51:01at. Oh yes, we are really very good at
51:05it that if someone is able to put the
51:07capital together,
51:09Africa would be heaven.
51:11>> Yeah, there's so many beautiful places
51:13that could
51:13>> capital maintenance cannot come from
51:16within that continent. So I prepared
51:19myself when I was doing the the
51:20maintenance video. I I called people and
51:22asked them the language. But because you
51:24were coming and I said you've come to it
51:26allowed me again to go and read more and
51:29did more and this guy maybe you've heard
51:31of him. Uh and this is very important
51:34for those of you who really are
51:35concerned about this maintenance problem
51:37and then the bad government of Africa.
51:39His name is Richard Murphy. He wrote
51:42this wonderful book in his [snorts] blog
51:43called Finding Funding F U N D I G
51:47Funding the Future.
51:48>> Mhm.
51:49>> In his argument, everywhere you go,
51:53infrastructure crumbles,
51:56care will fail and even democracy itself
52:00will be under severe strain. These three
52:02things you find it in every African
52:04count council. It's
52:05>> true. Because according to him the
52:08concept that shapes everything around us
52:12is capital and capital maintenance.
52:17>> The three factors of production are
52:20land, labor, capital.
52:23>> Mhm.
52:24>> Every they are intertwined. You can
52:26never do without one.
52:28>> But there is one among them that is very
52:30different from all the other two.
52:32Capital.
52:34Because capital
52:36always contains manmade things. The
52:41factory buildings, the machines, the
52:43roads.
52:44>> Yeah.
52:44>> The forklifts, the airplanes.
52:47>> Yep.
52:48>> Take any building.
52:50>> Inside are the computers, the printers,
52:52the faxi machines, the refuge fridge,
52:54the tables, the desk, the software.
52:57These all are called capital.
52:59>> Mhm.
53:01>> Land doesn't need maintenance.
53:03kind of
53:05>> labor doesn't need maintenance.
53:08>> Capital, which is what you see in this
53:10room, the cameras you see here,
53:12>> the chairs, everything, they are
53:14man-made.
53:16>> Therefore, capital is not money.
53:21>> Capital is not money. According to
53:23Murphy, it is the accumulation or the
53:26accumulated stock of financial,
53:29physical, environmental, human and
53:32societal resources that make future
53:36well-being possible.
53:39Failure leads to society's decay.
53:45Capital maintenance.
53:48capital. What the British left behind,
53:51the French left behind, the Spanish left
53:52behind, the Portuguese left behind were
53:54all capital. The railway lines, the
53:57museums, the train stations, the bus
53:59stops, the fire station, the street
54:01lights, these were all capital. But they
54:04left it in a culture where the people
54:06have never had the concept because how
54:08they evolved, that proactive capital is
54:12not there.
54:14>> Yeah. Yeah.
54:16When you were in Africa, you could tell
54:18the African economics,
54:20they focuses obsessively on financial
54:24capital
54:25returns. What profit can I make? What
54:28profit can I make? The driver wakes up
54:30in the morning, drive that car for eight
54:32long hours.
54:33>> Mhm.
54:33>> But the oil have to turn darker than
54:35this and be smelling before he will pull
54:39up at a roadside guy.
54:41>> Mhm. and they will wash the filter and
54:45put it back up.
54:46>> Yeah. Yeah. They It's a It's a quick um
54:50quick cash society, you know. It's It is
54:54what it is.
54:54>> So, I was talking to a gentleman who is
54:56a professor and I said,
54:58"If I hear you say again that Tinubu,
55:00the president of Nigeria is corrupt and
55:02he's weak, I will say, you you're not
55:04intellectual at all, but this is the
55:06common [clears throat] accusations
55:06across the continent of Africa."
55:08>> Yes. How is it possible that 54
55:10countries will be accusing their leaders
55:11only every year? They forgotten that no
55:14miracle,
55:15>> no,
55:16>> no amount of power can ever generate a
55:20good leader in a country where its
55:23capital
55:25maintenance is zero and infrastructure
55:28is decaying every day.
55:30>> It leads according to Murphy
55:32when you focus very obsessively on
55:35capital which is return on what whatever
55:37I do. While you neglect the others,
55:40including capital maintenance,
55:42everything becomes collapsing
55:45services,
55:47environmental breakdown,
55:49and political anger.
55:55>> So the political anger we see in Africa
55:59is simply because infrastructure
56:02is always steel born.
56:07A friend of mine was on a show. She's
56:08going to Ghana with about 15 people this
56:10year, December. She wants me to come
56:12along because she's building a condo and
56:14want people to buy it, but they have to
56:15come and see it.
56:19>> And we were having dinner talking before
56:20the show and she said
56:24the project she just received
56:27would cost $15.8 million to build to
56:30build the project. I won't say the name
56:31of the company. It's a huge $15.8
56:33million. He said, "But do you know that
56:35the budget they showed me was almost
56:38twice
56:41because they have set aside into that
56:43budget 5 years of maintenance
56:47>> as a budget."
56:49>> Mhm.
56:50>> Because land, labor,
56:54they yield capital,
56:57>> which is things people sell to get
56:58money. the the the cars you need to run
57:02your company, the computers, okay, that
57:04becomes the capital,
57:07if you [snorts] don't maintain it,
57:12then talent don't have anything to do.
57:16So the huge unemployment you saw across
57:18the continent of Africa
57:20is because infrastructure is not there
57:23to even need labor to manage it.
57:27So I'm going to throw it on you.
57:31If you were asked to just come to Ghana
57:34or Togo or Ben and be an adviser for 6
57:36months
57:39to the leaders of that country, you saw
57:42and you understood why the country is in
57:44what would be your first advice?
57:47>> I I to be honest, I wouldn't tell them
57:49to try to practice maintenance and and
57:51go down that path. I would tell them to
57:53try to start something new.
57:55>> Give me an example. I I'm not the I I I
57:57didn't go through the challenges of of
57:59Africa. I I don't know, you know, I
58:01can't I can't fix it overnight. But in
58:02and these solutions, they don't come
58:03from overnight. I mean, they come from
58:05they come from being put up against
58:07hardships for years and years and years.
58:08That's kind of how you develop the the
58:10strengths that that you have immune
58:12system or the long-term thinking or what
58:14whatever the case is. But, um it's it's
58:16it's not I don't think that the solution
58:18is to practice maintenance. I I think
58:19it'll just lead to more issues down the
58:22line. It's not an easy solution.
58:25Now that they have allowed western type
58:27of
58:28>> infrastructure,
58:30>> you cannot continue to live on the old
58:32process. You will die.
58:34>> The zero healthare infant mortality when
58:36I was grow can you believe that when I
58:37left Beni at five,
58:38>> the kids who were my same age who didn't
58:40leave
58:41>> by the time I went to Beni, not a single
58:43one is alive
58:46because my village
58:48>> had the first clinic
58:50>> and when I say clinic don't laugh.
58:52I won't. I won't. But
58:54>> they put buckets in corners of the next
58:56room for people to pee in it because
58:58there is no That's clinic. I'm talking
59:00about one doctor.
59:01>> Yeah.
59:02>> Okay. No sterilization systems. I say to
59:05the people in the village, when you are
59:06sick, don't go to the clinic. You die,
59:07faster.
59:10So my village got a clinic in 200 2003.
59:15I left when it's five. 2003. First
59:17village, first clinic ever. When I say
59:19clinic, I'm talking about you've seen
59:21some of them. All right.
59:22>> Yeah.
59:23>> So without them allowing the country as
59:25a whole beni allowing uh foreign like
59:29means of medicine.
59:31>> Mhm. Mhm.
59:33>> Maybe 90% of people would have the
59:36mortal the infant mortality was just
59:39severe.
59:40>> I I know but
59:42>> so they would they Yes. They did right
59:44by relying on you have to import foreign
59:48>> Yeah. Yeah, you have to
59:49>> if you're going to import foreign
59:50things, then you have to say, okay, if
59:53biology biology is responsible for the
59:56lack of maintenance, and I'm asking, you
59:58saw it. I can see your face. You're
1:00:00like, come on, they should have done
1:00:01better than this. No,
1:00:02>> where do we start then?
1:00:04>> I don't think that that it's necessarily
1:00:05that they should have done better. I
1:00:07think it's I think it's just a different
1:00:08way. Like when we were talking about the
1:00:09the times, you know, yeah, their their
1:00:11way of keeping track of time in Ethiopia
1:00:12is not a bad way. No, there's a cost of
1:00:14both. But I think [clears throat] Africa
1:00:17is going to have to develop their own
1:00:18solutions to all of these problems on
1:00:19their own. And they're going to be
1:00:20different solutions. They're not going
1:00:21to be the same solutions as the West.
1:00:23And in saying, well, you know, we'll
1:00:24just set up a clinic in all these
1:00:26places. It's like, well, then you have
1:00:27to import something from somewhere.
1:00:29Well, how do you do that? Well, if
1:00:31you're going to do it via railroad, you
1:00:32have to have railroad tracks. And that
1:00:33again leads back to maintenance. If
1:00:35you're going to do it with a plane,
1:00:36well, you have to have maintenance on
1:00:37the plane. I went to I mean, I can tell
1:00:38you when I was leaving Moadishu, the
1:00:40maintenance on the plane had issues. We
1:00:41had to turn around and go back. And so I
1:00:44no but seriously like I mean if if you
1:00:45if you have a clinic or you you have any
1:00:47kind of outside medicine that's being
1:00:48rushed in um it does create it creates
1:00:51some kind of a dependency doesn't it?
1:00:52Wouldn't you agree that you have a now
1:00:54you have a dependency on that import
1:00:56that it has to be
1:00:57>> that is why you don't import it.
1:00:59>> So you're going to make the medicine
1:01:01make the the products.
1:01:03>> No that's why I was giving you the the
1:01:06example of Dubai. You don't import it.
1:01:09You ask those who know how to run the
1:01:12modern medical system,
1:01:14>> diversify your culture by asking them to
1:01:17come and install and run it among you.
1:01:20>> Well, okay, I'll push back on that. And
1:01:22Aiden Smith is the the architect of the
1:01:24Burj Khalifa. He's a white guy from
1:01:25Texas. He made the Burj Khalifa. Someday
1:01:28he's going to pass away. He's going to
1:01:29he's in his 80s. Um
1:01:31>> who is going to
1:01:33>> be the next person in line? What is
1:01:35that?
1:01:35>> How are we going to maintain the Burj
1:01:37Khalifa in the
1:01:37>> What is that? your
1:01:39>> what's that?
1:01:39>> Uh the guy
1:01:40>> Oh, Aiden Smith.
1:01:42>> Aiden Smith.
1:01:43>> Yeah, he's he's one of the most famous
1:01:44architects. Um his name's Aiden Smith.
1:01:46He graduated from Texas&M. He's working
1:01:47on the Jedha project.
1:01:49>> What did he build?
1:01:50>> The Burj Khalifa. The the tallest
1:01:51building in the world in Dubai.
1:01:53>> Yeah. You speak too fast.
1:01:55>> Oh, sorry. I'm [laughter] sorry. But um
1:01:58>> Yes. Okay. No, it poses a It just poses
1:02:01[clears throat] a challenge, you know.
1:02:02>> Uh like my friend is a construction
1:02:04management.
1:02:05>> He built it.
1:02:06>> Yeah. But he built it with the company.
1:02:08>> Well, yeah.
1:02:09>> Yes.
1:02:09>> Yeah.
1:02:10>> The company has the blueprint.
1:02:11>> Sure.
1:02:12>> The company is running it.
1:02:13>> Yeah. Sure.
1:02:14>> The entire road systems in Dubai run by
1:02:16Italians. They have to gate everywhere.
1:02:18>> Yeah.
1:02:19>> And they have generated thousands of
1:02:21employment. Kenyans, Malians, Ghanaians
1:02:23are all there because of just a thousand
1:02:25mile road would generate anywhere close
1:02:27to over 10,000 job opportunities. Right.
1:02:30>> Right. But but
1:02:31>> the water system in Dubai have to keep
1:02:34>> the water system is owned, not built by
1:02:37a German company. Owned, maintained and
1:02:39sold back to the people. So they know
1:02:41they need money. So they will run it and
1:02:44you would generate employment for your
1:02:46people.
1:02:47>> What do you see wrong with that method?
1:02:50>> Um well there's I mean there's two
1:02:51things that I can think of. One is I
1:02:53don't I don't know if a lot of people
1:02:54would want that.
1:02:56>> Look at South
1:02:57>> that is not a solution. I'm asking what
1:02:59is wrong with that solution?
1:03:00>> I know but I mean I think about South
1:03:02Africa and South Africa if you if you
1:03:03have a government contract in South
1:03:05Africa your your company has to be 51%
1:03:07owned by an African.
1:03:09>> You can't be a white South African and
1:03:11own a company with government contracts
1:03:12in South Africa.
1:03:14>> So your answer is what?
1:03:16>> So well I don't know if that's going to
1:03:17work in the long term because you have
1:03:18to keep
1:03:19>> in South Africa the whites are South
1:03:21Africans
1:03:22>> right?
1:03:22>> They are not contractors who have come
1:03:25to gain permanent residency. Well, the
1:03:28the ownership of the company has to be
1:03:3051% blackowned. So even if you're South
1:03:31like Elon Musk, right, he didn't Yes.
1:03:34bring Starlink there as a result.
1:03:35>> No, but I'm saying in South Africa,
1:03:37>> right?
1:03:39>> 51% have to be black.
1:03:40>> Yeah. For a government contract,
1:03:42correct? Company. Yeah.
1:03:42>> So, but these ones are not they are not
1:03:45citizens. The whites in South Africa are
1:03:46citizens.
1:03:48>> Yeah. Yeah. But I'm saying if you bring
1:03:51them to your country and say, "Hey, own
1:03:53it and live here and own it and run it
1:03:55>> so that we can get jobs." You
1:03:57>> we tax you.
1:03:59>> Yeah.
1:03:59>> But so that you can maintain this thing
1:04:00that we need so much.
1:04:02>> Right. Right. Right. Yeah.
1:04:03>> What in your opinion is wrong with that?
1:04:05>> How is it different from colonialism?
1:04:07Because the laws are different. Somebody
1:04:08else isn't running the laws for the
1:04:09country. Is that
1:04:10>> only that difference? No. This one
1:04:12you're not inviting countries. You're
1:04:13inviting companies. Private
1:04:15>> contractor colonialism basically.
1:04:17>> That's correct. as a term I call it.
1:04:19>> Okay. Well, I I I mean I think people I
1:04:22don't know if it would be favorable to a
1:04:24lot of people. I think that people would
1:04:26really disdain that to to know that the
1:04:27>> that you're that you're inviting experts
1:04:30who can own and develop a place for you
1:04:32and work for you.
1:04:33>> It sounds crazy but but um I mean
1:04:38yeah I I don't think that they Well,
1:04:40okay, I'll give you another example. I
1:04:42just went to Venezuela.
1:04:43>> Mhm. Oh, now we have an oil. Oil. All
1:04:47the oil. It used to be owned and
1:04:48maintained by the United States.
1:04:50>> Yeah.
1:04:50>> Lots of jobs. Venezuela used to be it
1:04:52was a great place. Everybody loved to
1:04:54live there.
1:04:55>> And then Maduro came along. Socialism
1:04:57came along. And and there's still
1:04:58[clears throat] people in Venezuela
1:04:59today that'll argue and say, "I would
1:05:02rather live in a in a worse economy. I'd
1:05:04rather live in a worse country under um
1:05:06under with with our resources."
1:05:08>> Yes. I would rather live there than live
1:05:11in a country where there's a foreign
1:05:12source. whatever the foreign source may
1:05:14be, maybe it's the United States, maybe
1:05:15it's another country, but I I would
1:05:17rather be independent and have my my
1:05:18nationalism.
1:05:19>> No, no, no. Independent and uh
1:05:21independent and contractor colonization,
1:05:24two different things. Contractor
1:05:25colonizations are companies who come to
1:05:27work in a country with the expert they
1:05:29have. Now let's take let me take you
1:05:31back to 1994. Then
1:05:33>> you mentioned something interesting. You
1:05:34brought up a country like South Africa.
1:05:36>> Until 1994 51% of any companies is not
1:05:40black.
1:05:42>> Right. Okay. Now they made 51% is black,
1:05:45>> right?
1:05:45>> What do you see in South Africa now?
1:05:47>> No, I I know it's it's been I mean you
1:05:49can look up South Africa and 19 1960s
1:05:52South Africa looked like 1980s
1:05:54California.
1:05:55>> I mean it was a it was they were a
1:05:57nuclear power. They had a better economy
1:05:58at one time than the United States. I
1:06:00know I know all that. But I don't think
1:06:02it would be very favorable for the
1:06:03people to I don't think they would like
1:06:05it. I know it it would work. I'm
1:06:07agreeing with you. I know it would work.
1:06:09But
1:06:09>> Oh, you're speaking about the emotion of
1:06:11the people. But I'm telling I'm asking
1:06:12you to No, I I want us to be technocrats
1:06:15as a think tank. A think tank doesn't
1:06:18would say what the people feel.
1:06:20>> Mhm.
1:06:21>> That is separate.
1:06:22>> But am I and I I know you're trying to
1:06:24be respectful enough to say [laughter]
1:06:26do it. I know this is the problem when
1:06:28somebody doesn't look like something
1:06:29like that.
1:06:30>> No, but I I I mean I agree. Yes, it
1:06:32would work. Of course, you're right that
1:06:33that would work. Um
1:06:35>> Were you the one who made the movie
1:06:36about the St. St. George Hotel?
1:06:40I have a vi I have a video on the St.
1:06:41George Hotel
1:06:42>> in Acra.
1:06:45>> I think well I have one video but I
1:06:46don't know if it's the same one.
1:06:48>> Okay. There's a lady
1:06:49>> there's another St. George in in um
1:06:52Guyana in South South America too.
1:06:53Right. And there's
1:06:54>> so there's a lady who went to Ara and
1:06:56she was there in 1961. Yeah.
1:06:58>> And the hotel she said unbelievable in
1:07:011961. She described what it was because
1:07:04that's where she stayed. Okay. and she
1:07:06would look out the window and the road
1:07:07was paved beautifully and all that and
1:07:09the kids go up and down and said when
1:07:10she stepped out
1:07:11>> the kids would walk and and it was safe.
1:07:14She went back 2024
1:07:18not a single thing
1:07:21the windows are the road is completely
1:07:25gone.
1:07:28>> Yeah. Yeah.
1:07:29>> The reason it was 1961 that was four
1:07:31years after independence. So the people
1:07:33who manage and supervise it
1:07:35>> Mhm.
1:07:35>> had just left. So the beauty remained
1:07:38for only 4 years.
1:07:39>> Mhm. Mhm.
1:07:41>> I completely agree with you. If you
1:07:42introduce what I've been speaking about
1:07:44for the last 13 years, contractor
1:07:46colonization is the only many places
1:07:48know it. America itself in some shape or
1:07:51form is a contractor colonization. Oh
1:07:54yeah. By saying to people 51,000 people
1:07:56are allowed every year to be selected by
1:07:58computers to come into this country.
1:08:00>> Yeah. They knew you are coming with
1:08:02talents they don't have.
1:08:04>> Well, let me let me push back and I
1:08:06agree with you, by the way, but I I just
1:08:07want to play devil's advocate. Um, if if
1:08:09you have contractor colonialism, are you
1:08:11dependent on the contractor?
1:08:14>> What is depending?
1:08:15>> If the contractor says, "Hey, we don't
1:08:16want to work with you anymore. We're mad
1:08:18at you for some reason. Hey, we're going
1:08:19to take away all of our services." What
1:08:21do you do then? What's the next step?
1:08:23>> Before you get into any and you know
1:08:25that you know the art of the deal.
1:08:27>> Yeah. Yeah. The famous book by Donald
1:08:29Trump is you have to find somebody who
1:08:32will make the deal on your behalf. Many
1:08:33people make deals on my behalf. There is
1:08:36a corporation that came to me and he's
1:08:38pitching something to me. You think I
1:08:39sat because I can speak on camera.
1:08:41Therefore, I also know what is a good
1:08:43deal. I [snorts] call two lawyers.
1:08:44They're charging me a lot of money to
1:08:46take a look at it and make a better deal
1:08:47on my beh.
1:08:51So maybe if Ghana says we're going the
1:08:53way of the contractor colonization, I'll
1:08:55say call Donald Trump. He's the master
1:08:57of the dealm
1:08:58>> to look over the deal for you. Or there
1:09:00are institutions in Switzerland. Go
1:09:01ahead.
1:09:02>> What do you do when your government
1:09:03makes a bad deal? And this is really
1:09:06important for Africa today because we
1:09:07see China come in. Oh yeah, they're
1:09:10putting roads in and and and I ask
1:09:11people in Africa all the time, what do
1:09:12you think of the Chinese? And they like
1:09:14the Chinese. They're like, yeah, the
1:09:15Chinese are great. Our government
1:09:16wouldn't put this road in and the
1:09:17Chinese did it for us. They like
1:09:18>> they did it for us.
1:09:20>> They build it for you on a contract. So
1:09:22let me give you an example what happened
1:09:24and you've seen it. Zambia now has lost
1:09:26three infrastructures.
1:09:27>> I know
1:09:27>> to the Chinese. One of them is the port.
1:09:30The second one is I think electric power
1:09:32or something like that. They like
1:09:33>> and they took over a stadium. Why?
1:09:35>> Kenya has lost the SGR. You know the
1:09:37SGR? The train that go the train that go
1:09:40from Nairobi to Mombasa. Fast quick.
1:09:42>> Oh yes. That's a nice train too.
1:09:43>> That's correct. You know who is behind
1:09:45the wheel?
1:09:46>> China.
1:09:46>> China. I know because Kenya told them
1:09:49come and build it for us and we will pay
1:09:51you. By the time like I told you any
1:09:54project Africans put together they don't
1:09:56put a reserve for maintenance. So when
1:09:58China finished building the SG hey man
1:10:01where's my money it's time for me. You
1:10:02said I should finish it. They don't have
1:10:04the money to pay China. So they are now
1:10:06running the system to recover their
1:10:08money. The same thing happened in
1:10:09Zambia. That is what I mean by don't ask
1:10:12the expert to come and build it and walk
1:10:14away.
1:10:15>> Yeah.
1:10:16>> Two things will happen. By the time you
1:10:17finish you have no money to pay him.
1:10:19>> Mhm.
1:10:20>> Three. Even if you do, you don't have
1:10:22talent to maintain it.
1:10:25So why why keep asking Chinese to come
1:10:27and build a room that is not going to
1:10:28last 10 years?
1:10:31>> I live in a building right now that is
1:10:33112 years old.
1:10:34>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:10:37>> Did you see any building in Ghana that
1:10:38lasts 100 years old?
1:10:40>> Did you go to the Acra Castel? Osu
1:10:42Castel?
1:10:44>> I I didn't make it out there. I wish I
1:10:45had, but
1:10:46>> next to the Independent Square.
1:10:47>> Yeah. under the coconut grooves is this
1:10:50stone building the British or I don't
1:10:52know. Yeah, English
1:10:54>> with cannons and all that.
1:10:55>> Oh, I'm sorry. I did go there. I'm
1:10:56thinking of another place. Yeah. And
1:10:57I've been
1:10:58>> It was supposed to be a presidential
1:11:00>> Yeah.
1:11:01>> a president's residence.
1:11:02>> Yeah.
1:11:03>> They attempted it. Sheer maintenance.
1:11:06They couldn't. They stole everything.
1:11:07So, the president went and called
1:11:08Chinese to build some funny looking toy
1:11:10store as a presidential palace. So,
1:11:13we've changed presidential housing four
1:11:15times already since independence.
1:11:19[snorts]
1:11:20>> Yeah, [laughter]
1:11:21I wish I had I had
1:11:22>> I will be doing a private uh paid member
1:11:26and talk about colonial u contractor
1:11:29colonization.
1:11:32>> You've seen
1:11:33>> Yeah.
1:11:34>> South Africa, they took the chunk of the
1:11:36supervision from the hands of those who
1:11:38actually build the thing and understand
1:11:40the thing.
1:11:42I know it's the same with Rhodesia. We
1:11:44had the same thing with even Angola. I
1:11:46mean, there's this beautiful building in
1:11:48Angola.
1:11:48>> That's correct.
1:11:49>> Yeah.
1:11:49>> Rodesia became Zimbabwe.
1:11:51>> Yeah, I know. I know.
1:11:53>> You would never find a Zimbabwean doing
1:11:54minial job in any part of the world. No,
1:11:56because it was Rhodesia, they had jobs.
1:11:59You wouldn't catch a South African
1:12:00behaving like a Nigeria in another
1:12:02country like doing minial jobs
1:12:05>> because it was run and supervised by
1:12:07foreigners.
1:12:09But today you catch Nigeria, the oil
1:12:11country, the giant of Africa, they in
1:12:13the street of Kenya doing minial jobs,
1:12:15>> right?
1:12:16>> And then you foolishly ask the 51%.
1:12:23>> But that's that emotional tie and it's
1:12:25the emotional nationalism, you know, and
1:12:27that's the fighting force against it,
1:12:29right? And how do you counteract that?
1:12:31It's in the media. It's in the education
1:12:33system. If everybody in the country
1:12:35feels the same way, how do you how in
1:12:37the world would you implement it? How
1:12:38would you get past that?
1:12:40>> Well, you need the president of uh
1:12:44Itria.
1:12:46[laughter]
1:12:46>> Okay, here we go. This is this is it.
1:12:49This is we got the answer.
1:12:50>> No, but I come to the point.
1:12:53>> Will he be there forever?
1:12:54>> No. No. But somebody else is going to
1:12:56take over.
1:12:57>> That's correct. So yeah, you can only
1:12:59suspend the biology
1:13:00>> but for as long as you leave. Yeah,
1:13:03>> that's that's it. you know chamo Joseph
1:13:05Lenning all the places where it required
1:13:08you know right some people can function
1:13:10properly in freedom
1:13:14>> but the problem is you are only
1:13:16suppressing it like I said earlier a
1:13:18man's true character in essence is known
1:13:20when he's free not when he's under
1:13:22duress because all he's doing is just
1:13:24trying to survive so what you saw in
1:13:26Iratria
1:13:27>> is just purely people who are scared of
1:13:29a mad man who would actually shoot you
1:13:31>> yeah that's true
1:13:32>> they're tired of dying
1:13:33>> very true I
1:13:34Gaddafi held Kenya, Libya together, not
1:13:37infrastructure-wise, nothing. He wasn't
1:13:39He didn't build anything, but they were
1:13:41afraid of them. So, socially, he made
1:13:44the country look like it's peaceful
1:13:45until you travel there.
1:13:47>> Yes, 100%.
1:13:49Yeah.
1:13:50>> Yeah. You threw in the word
1:13:52contraonization because, you know, I'm
1:13:54going to say I support [laughter] it.
1:13:55So,
1:13:57>> no, it's a it's a I don't know. I I I I
1:14:00would hope that there wouldn't be any
1:14:01challenges with that, but I would worry
1:14:03that there would be.
1:14:04>> There will be.
1:14:05>> Yeah.
1:14:05>> Yeah. So, here is what somebody uh one
1:14:07of the ministers call me. Yeah.
1:14:09>> And asked me, okay, if we want to
1:14:11introduce it, I say, you don't introduce
1:14:13it the same you do with everything else.
1:14:15>> You do a sustaining campaign for about 5
1:14:17years
1:14:18>> propaganda. Yeah.
1:14:20>> And you have to have experts also from
1:14:22outside again for the propaganda. Okay.
1:14:24So you you start with media, you build a
1:14:27friendship, a group of think tanks
1:14:29listen to it and see that yes this is
1:14:31possible. So you throw it in as a
1:14:34propaganda until everybody start talking
1:14:36about it before finally is introduced.
1:14:38Not that you just wake up because I came
1:14:40to power. We start seeing you know uh
1:14:43Emily now opening a clinic here and
1:14:46there and say no it doesn't work. You
1:14:48start as a national propaganda. Many
1:14:50places have done it. You you get the
1:14:52people buy in first before you do it
1:14:54because look the threshold is passed.
1:14:56It's long time ago that we can think oh
1:14:58one day our children would do it is not
1:15:01true. Biology never dies. It's a DNA.
1:15:04>> Yeah, it's true. It doesn't ever die.
1:15:07>> When is your next country?
1:15:08>> Uh I'm doing Yemen in oc October 15th is
1:15:11Yemen. Sotra Yemen. Um it's a little
1:15:14island off of Yemen. It's not the
1:15:15mainland. I'd like to go to the mainland
1:15:17but I can't right now. The airports are
1:15:19getting
1:15:19>> Yeah. Oh, bum right now. [laughter]
1:15:21Yeah, but someday. And then I go to
1:15:23Timbuktu. And Timbuktu, this is a Now,
1:15:25this is a great library that they have.
1:15:27>> Which year are you going to? Tim
1:15:28Buckton?
1:15:28>> I'm doing it this year. I'm going this
1:15:30year at the end of October. I'm very
1:15:33excited.
1:15:34>> Maybe we should do uh an episode on the
1:15:36grounds.
1:15:37>> Yes. Come with me.
1:15:38>> Yeah.
1:15:39>> We'll charter. They have a I have
1:15:40everything lined up. I have a charter
1:15:42plane. Yes. Let's do it. Let's do it. Do
1:15:44you need a visa? You don't need a visa
1:15:46for for Molly, do you? I have a American
1:15:48uh
1:15:48>> But do you have the the Americans need
1:15:50the visa? I I It was a hard visa for me
1:15:52to get for Mali. But do you need one?
1:15:54You don't need one for because you have
1:15:55a Ghana passport, right?
1:15:56>> No, I don't have any other passport.
1:15:57>> You don't?
1:15:59>> Oh, you're going to have to get the
1:15:59visa. I'm sure. But
1:16:00>> Oh, I'll get a visa.
1:16:01>> Yeah, you'll you'll get it.
1:16:02>> All right. We shoot an episode on the
1:16:03ground. Yeah.
1:16:04>> Yeah. That would be amazing.
1:16:05>> What do you think?
1:16:06>> Are you coming along?
1:16:07>> Absolutely.
1:16:07>> Yes. Let's go to Timbuktu.
1:16:09>> Let's go to Tim B. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody
1:16:10wants to know about that country. Mali
1:16:12Empire Tim. Wonderful. All right. You
1:16:14send us the date fixed and everything.
1:16:16chatted plane.
1:16:17>> I'm I was uh I don't have my date um uh
1:16:19this is actually perfect. I don't have
1:16:21my date uh set in stone, but it's
1:16:23supposed to be October 22nd, but I could
1:16:25change that. So, if you're whenever
1:16:26you're available, you let me know. We'll
1:16:28>> we will see what our schedule.
1:16:30>> Are you Are you uh afraid to go to
1:16:32Timbuktu?
1:16:33>> No.
1:16:33>> Oh, good.
1:16:34>> I'm I'm trying to open him now to the
1:16:36world. My camera guy has to see
1:16:37something else. I'm trying to Yeah, we
1:16:39Yeah. Okay. We will do it friendly.
1:16:41>> Okay. In fact, I'll go to the embassy
1:16:43and talk to somebody to understand that
1:16:45we really want to expose the country and
1:16:46talk about things.
1:16:47>> Okay,
1:16:48>> great. Nothing came out of this.
1:16:49[laughter]
1:16:50>> This is going to be
1:16:50>> okay. This is a very good discussion and
1:16:52I think guys you've learned something
1:16:54about it. But if you want me to talk
1:16:56more in detail the real real plan of
1:16:58what contraonization or what I used to
1:17:01call voluntary colonization. That's how
1:17:04I started it before somebody said no
1:17:06change it to contra colonization. I am
1:17:08not saying it that every part of the
1:17:11world has its own strength. America
1:17:13knows if you talk about the white
1:17:14America, they are good on the farm, on
1:17:16the ranch and Wall Street. Construction,
1:17:19no, they are not good. Italians are the
1:17:20ones doing it here. Hollywood, they're
1:17:23not good. The Jews have taken over
1:17:25Hollywood. There are many factors.
1:17:27Retail, America is not good at it.
1:17:29Manufactur, yes, but not retail. So even
1:17:31this country has in a subtle way has
1:17:35encouraged contractor colonization with
1:17:36a B2 HB visa
1:17:39>> H1B visa.
1:17:40>> Yes.
1:17:41>> Now they are saying if you're coming for
1:17:43research it Silicon Valley you'll get
1:17:45the visa 5 years. That is what people do
1:17:49>> and with that we can change that
1:17:51continent. The young ones would have a
1:17:53hope and a future that they will be very
1:17:55proud about. Then this emotion and ego
1:17:57that we can do it. South Africa have
1:17:59shown us when you toss it over to the
1:18:01black man, he run it down. Don't do that
1:18:05and don't be emotional. If I'm wrong,
1:18:08come into the community. I think October
1:18:1115, I will announce it and we can have a
1:18:13debate. Thank you so much for watching.
1:18:15Don't forget to hit the join and go and
1:18:17join my community of rethinkers.
1:18:20Emily, your your platform is what?
1:18:23>> Oh, it's just Escape with Emily and
1:18:25Escape with Emily. escape underscore
1:18:29>> uh yeah it's escape withore
1:18:32but if you type in escape with emily
1:18:33it'll come up
1:18:34>> escape with Emily great if you want to
1:18:36please I encourage you to take us a look
1:18:38at some of his videos and learn about
1:18:39what she has learned as an outsider 49
1:18:42countries in Africa thank you very much
1:18:45subscribe peace

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