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Most Africans are poorer today than they were 50 years ago. Why is poverty worse in many African countries today after over 50 years of political independence? It is disheartening to note that Ghana, once the beacon of hope in Africa, a country so blessed with many natural resources, and at the time of independence with a GDP larger than South Korea cannot meet it's basic needs after half a century of political independence. Over 40% of its citizens survive on less than a dollar a day, have no access to clean drinking water, uninterrupted electricity, basic health services, and formal education. What went wrong? Where did the promise and the dream go? Yet any pragmatic discussion on the country�s economic situation degenerates into bickering partisanship, name calling, insults, heated tribal arguments that fail to identify the problems let alone address them. No wonder we are stagnating in our development efforts and even going backwards in some respects. Why is it that an idea that seemed so right : political independence taking charge of running your own affairs - has proved so wrong? All across the continent there has been massive leadership failures. These monumental leadership failures has trapped Africa in a vicious circle of corruption and even greater poverty. Not that no progress has been made at all. The little progress hat has been made has not trickle down to the ordinary folks of the World's poorest continent on whose back this little progress were made; The poor farmers in the rural areas, the hard working women who carry wares on their head day in and day out servicing the informal sector of their countries economies. The farmers who till the land daily to produce that cocoa that earns the foreign exchange for the country yet has no electricity and no clean drinking water and medical facility to attend when he falls sick. Their children study under trees. The insatiable and incurable greed of the African politician condemns these hardworking folks to perpetual poverty. Bloated, inefficient bureaucracy swallows up any gains that should have gone to make life a little comfortable for these farmers while corrupt and venal ministers buy fleets of new 4x4 cars and travel business and first class on planes to meetings and conferences no one cares about. In Ghana under NPP government of John Agyekum Kuffour, government ministers and appointees were quickly whisked abroad for treatment at the slightest hint of a headache for supposedly better equipped hospitals where they could receive better treatment. They were avoiding Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye, Effia Nkwanta etc, etc,like a plague because of their own failure to equip these hospitals and expand them to provide top notch medical services for all Ghanaians. Even deputy ministers, special assistants, and presidential hangers on were all whisked around in motorcades led by police sirens to avoid the chaotic traffic situation in Accra and Kumasi created by their own failure to think and expand the road network. I read that in Kenya today, ministers use helicopters to avoid traffic jams again created by their own failure to build roads with millions of dollars of loans from the European Union and EU Central bank for that very purpose. Under the current NDC government of Attah Mills, part of the money meant for the Achimota - Ofankor road project is used by a thesector minister to get himself a brand new luxury BMW 740Li . Failure to invest in the people through pragmatic and prudent economic policies backed by selfless and honest leadership the dream of reducing poverty will remain a fleeting illusion. Putting policies in place that will boost the private sector to invest at the grassroots to create jobs for the people who will receive salaries and then spend it on buying essential goods and services such as clothing and food. This money goes around and in classic Keynesian terms the economy is boosted. In such ways more people can be lifted out of poverty. It happened in China, it is happening in India and it is time for this to take off in Africa.We need to take advantage of the opportunities in the global economy to make real results for our people..Africa's future is in our own hands. There is no lack of resources, no deficiency of know how. What we need is effective planning, putting country first and banishing greedy selfish interests.