' A/472375 '"ii mil INI nil INDIGENOUS AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS Second Edition George B.N. Ayittey IllfSU T r a n s n a t i o n a l P u b l i s h e r
CONTENTS About the Author Acknowledgements xi xiii INTRODUCTION: A CENTURY LOST 1 A. Africa's Economic Collapse 1 B. Who Ruined Africa? 3 C. Western Culpability 5 D. The Fundamental Cause of Postcolonial Africa's Ruin 7 E. Myths and Misconceptions About Africa 11 F. The Common Sense Approach to Africa's Ills 17 G. Aim and Purpose of Book 19 CHAPTER 1: THE INDIGENOUS SOCIAL SYSTEMS 23 A. The Peasants' Social Structure and Organization: A Comparative Overview 23 B. African Beliefs, Religion, and Customs 34 1. Philosophical Tenets 34 2. The Individual Versus the Society 41 3. The Fundamental Rights of the African People 49 4. The Concept of Wealth 51 5. Education 58 C. Summary 65 CHAPTER 2: THE INDIGENOUS LEGAL INSTITUTIONS 67 A. Natural Law, Customary Law, and Statutory Law 67 B. Native Courts Courts and Customary Law 70 1. Jurisprudence in Stateless Societies 74 2. Jurisprudence in States 80 C. Contracts and Property Rights 89 1. Property Claims 91 2. Settlement of Disputes and Court Cases 95 D. Interethnic Conflicts and Disputes 101 E. Summary 102 CHAPTER 3: INDIGENOUS POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 105 A. Introduction 105 B. Stateless Societies 112 1. Organizational Structure 113 a. The Igbo Government 116 b. The Fulani of Northern Nigeria 119 c. The Somali 120
vi INDIGENOUS AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS d. The Gikuyu of Kenya 123 e. The IKung of the Kalahari 127 2. Selection and Role of the Headman in Stateless Societies 130 C. Government in Chiefdoms 131 1. Day-to-Day Administration 133 CHAPTER 4: THE AFRICAN CHIEF 143 A. The Selection of the Chief 143 B. The Functions of the Chief 153 C. "Corruption as a Cultural Trait" A Digression 157 D. Checks Against Abuse of Power by the Chief 159 1. Religious or Supernatural Sanctions 161 2. Institutionalized Sanctions 162 a. Private and Public Admonitions 162 b. Prohibitions Against Office of Chieftaincy or Kingship 164 c. Political Pressure from Various Groups and Associations... 166 E. The Destoolment of the Chief (Removal from Office) 170 F. Spontaneous (Peasant) Responses 174 G. Lemma 176 CHAPTER 5: AFRICAN KINGDOMS 185 A. Organizational Structure 185 1. The Serer State/Kingdom (Senegal) 188 2. The Kingdoms of Sierra Leone (Temne and Mende) 189 3. The Mossi States/Kingdoms 191 4. The Ga-Dangme Kingdom 192 5. The Kingdom of Ife 196 6. The Kingdom of Kongo 196 7. The Basoga Kingdom of Uganda 196 8. The Swazi Kingdom 197 9. The Zulu Kingdom 199 B. Exceptional Kingdoms 202 1. The Kingdom of Dahomey 202 2. The Dyola Kingdom 205 C. The Traditional Role of African Kings 208 1. The African Concept of the Universe 208 2. The King's Link to the Universe 208 D. The Selection and Removal of African Kings 216 1. The King of Cayor (Former Province of Ghana) 216 2. The Bur (Serer King) 217 3. The Ga King 218 4. The Asante King 221 5. The Oni or Oba (Yoruba King) 224 6. The Kongo King 227
CONTENTS vii 7. The Luba King 228 8. The Zibondo of Basoga 228 9. The Kabaka of Buganda 229 CHAPTER 6: GOVERNMENT IN NATIVE AFRICAN EMPIRES... 233 A. By Assimilation 233 1. The Mandinka (Islamic) Empire, 1870-98 233 2. The Eighteenth Century Zande Kingdom 234 3. The Zulu Kingdom 235 B. By Indirect Rule 235 1. The Ancient Empire of Ghana 235 2. The Wolof Empire 237 3. The Mali Empire 239 4. Nineteenth Century Asante Empire 241 5. The Oyo Empire (Yoruba) 243 6. The Kingdom of Benin 251 7. The Kanuri Empire (Northern Nigeria) 254 8. The Lunda Empire 258 9. The Kingdom of Kuba 259 10. The Empire of Mwene Mutapa (Great Zimbabwe) 263 CHAPTER 7: THE NATIVE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: ASUMMARYAND AN ASSESSMENT 265 A. Summary 265 1. Chiefdoms and Kingdoms 265 a. Stability 268 b. Indigenous Curbs Against Despotism 272 c. Native Freedom of Expression 275 d. Peasants' Power 277 2. The Empires 280 a. Checks Against African Imperialism 283 b. Absence of Strong Centralized Rule 285 B. Features of the Indigenous Political System 292 1. Beliefs 292 2. Native Courts 292 3. The Political System 293 C. The Indigenous African Constitution 294 D. The Indigenous African Political System: An Assessment 297 E. Kritarchy and Democracy 305 CHAPTER 8: THE INDIGENOUS ECONOMIC SYSTEM: CAPITAL AND PRODUCTION 311 A. The "Economic Problem" 311 B. Production 317
viii INDIGENOUS AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS 1. Organization and Occupations 317 2. The Factors of Production: Supplies and Ownership 322 a. Land Tenure 322 b. Land and Chief in the Tribal Policy 323 c. Land Acquisition 326 d. Land Grab 331 e. Land Sale 335 f. Land Reform A Digression 340 g. Labor 342 h. Capital 344 i. Entrepreneurship and the Profit Motive 346 CHAPTER 9: THE INDIGENOUS ECONOMIC SYSTEM: DISTRIBUTION 355 A. Free Market and Free Trade Tradition 355 1. Markets Types and Organization 355 a. Market Regulations and Controls 360 b. Market Tolls and Taxes 361 c. The Importance of Markets in Indigenous Africa 363 d. Media of Exchange 371 e. Market Prices 374 f. Role of Women in the Distribution System 381 2. Means of Transportation/Roads 389 B. The Role of Government in the Indigenous Economy 390 1. Government Intervention 390 2. Taxes 397 C. Summary of the Features of the Indigenous Economic System 401 1. Land Tenure 390 2. European Enterprise 397 D. The Indigenous Economic System: An Assessment 404 E. Appendix: Gold Is Black and a Curse 410 CHAPTER 10: THE INDIGENOUS INSTITUTIONS UNDER COLONIALISM 415 A. Colonialism 415 1. Early Contacts and Scramble for Africa 415 2. Resistance Against Colonialism 418 B. The Colonial State and Traditional Africa 421 1. Colonial Atrocities 421 2. African Chiefs Under Colonialism 423 3. Colonial Policies 426 4. The Native Institutions Under Colonialism 432 C. Colonialism: An Assessment 442 1. European Imperialism 442 2. Arab Imperialism 449
CONTENTS ix CHAPTER 11: THE POSTCOLONIAL DESTRUCTION AND BETRAYAL OF AFRICA 459 A. Introduction 460 B. Monumental Leadership Failure 462 C. The Ten-Count Indictment Against the Postcolonial Leadership 467 1. Charge Number 1: The Betrayal of the Cause for Freedom 467 2. Charge Number 2: The Institution of Brutal Political Tyranny... 468 3. Charge Number 3: Intellectual Repression 472 4. Charge Number 4: Refusal to Take Responsibility 477 5. Charge Number 5: Functional Illiteracy "Development by Imitation" 478 6. Charge Number 6: The Imposition of Alien Ideologies and Systems on Africa 479 a. Socialism An Alien Ideology 480 b. "Swiss-Bank" Socialism 482 7. Charge Number 7: The Economic Ruination of Africa 483 a. The Golden Age of Peasant Prosperity 484 8. Charge Number 8: Butchers, Bombers, and Bandits (The 3-Bs)... 488 a. The Butchers 488 b. The Bombers/Destroyers 489 c. The Bandits 489 9. Charge Number 9: Denigration of the Indigenous.491 a. The Indigenous Versus Western Institutions 491 10. Charge Number 10: The Persecution of the African Chief 494 D. Summary 506 CHAPTER 12: EPILOGUE 507 A. Africa Beyond the New Millennium 507 B. Botswana: Indigenous Success 511 1. The Keys to Botswana's Success 514 C. Somalia's Collapse: Elite Folly 517 D. African Solutions for African Problems 523 E. Selected African Solutions 525 1. Resolving Political Crises: The African Way 525 2. Conflict Resolution: The African Way 528 a. Benin City (Nigeria) A Haven of Tranquility 533 3. Rural Development Under a Traditional Chief 535 a. KwaDumisa: A Successful Village Development Model 538 4. Traditional Medicine 540 5. Integrating the Traditional and Modern 551 a. Conservation: Lesson Under a Mango Tree 551 b. How a Modern African Country Should Be Governed 552
x INDIGENOUS AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS Maps Map 1: Principal Peoples and Languages of Africa 559 Map 2: Trans-Saharan Trade Routes 560 Map 3: Precolonial African States and Kingdoms, Tenth-Sixteenth Century 561 Map 4: Precolonial African States and Kingdoms, Sixteen-Nineteenth Century 562 Map 5: Colonial Africa 1913 563 Map 6: Political Map of Africa 1990 564 Bibliography 565 Index 575