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Old 12th Apr 2016, 07:46
  #10 (permalink)  
Wageslave
 
Join Date: May 2011
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In my opinion none of the above (nice one Zaphod!) is beyond human control, except for Foxcotte's first sentence in his last paragraph. Even in Africa an honest company could be run, given the will (and I doubt if Fastjet is far from that, knowing Ed Winter). Their corruption problems will be with contractors and external support agencies.

Africa's population at large simply isn't wealthy enough to travel by air regardless of cost, most can't even afford shoes, let alone a bus fare for Heaven's sake and neither do they have the peculiar western desire to forever be somewhere else 1000 miles away when 10 miles would do just as well. The mass demand for city breaks that established European locos but are completely unknown in Africa. Commerce, such as it is, works just fine by phone and internet not by largely unnecessary indulgence travel.

Want African locos to thrive? Fix Africa's economy. Fix Africa's attitude to corruption. That's all. (!!) Give it 50 years of cultural revolution continent wide but don't hold your breath. Unfortunately the cultural revolution facing Africa just now is a toxic one and although it is gaining much from China's integrity and general wealth isn't on the list and it shows little if any sign of getting there under its own initiative. Even so most routes would be long and thin by European standards which doesn't make things any easier.

Bahati nzuri

Last edited by Wageslave; 12th Apr 2016 at 08:10.
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