Strong institutions emerge only if visionary leaders stay their course

Bob Collymore with Safaricom chairman Nicholas Nganga during the telco’s AGM. Collymore, who passed away last week, leaves behind Safaricom as Africa’s most profitable company. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

When Barack Obama made his first trip to Africa as the first black president of the United States, he made some interesting observations. One, countries like Kenya once had a larger per capita economy than South Korea. Two, in Africa, the era of the strongman was over; it was now the era of strong institutions.

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