In the African experience, as in the Irish experience, the past is part and parcel of the present. The day-before-yesterday is part of today. Samuel Huntington is wrong that the clash of civilizations is something to be confronted after the end of the Cold War. The Western world made sure there have been clashes of civilizations for the last four hundred years

The history of migrations and settlements of the Luo people in Northern Uganda had its share of trauma and tragedy. These have been preserved in archives of stories, proverbs, riddles and folklore. The lessons they impart have shaped Luo understanding of community, leadership, justice and fair play. Perhaps the most famous of the narratives is that of the separation of two Luo brothers: Labongo and Gipir over the Spear and the Bead.

Society has come a long way in evolving elaborate systems and methods of gathering and processing information we need to shape our world and master our destiny. We have devised ways of passing on our hard earned experience, skills, knowledge and wisdom to the next generation and to generations yet unborn, so that society can continue and can progress. We take education of our youngsters fairly seriously.

Extreme poverty on the continent is in decline, and progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals has accelerated. A number of very poor African countries, including Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia have made recent and substantial improvements in their levels of income equality.

China today is a sitting duck. But not so long ago China was a closed door and for most of the world; mysterious, unknown and unknowable. Now the massive and most populous country on the planet and the world’s second largest economy is wide open.

The British academic who in 1948, in the sprawling city of Ibadan, pioneered Nigeria’s first institution of higher learning wanted a college that would be the equal of any in the world. Nothing but the best is good enough for Africa (his words). It was a tall order. But against all odds, within a few years, within limits, and to a good measure, Kenneth Mellanby succeeded.

In February 2010 Ngugi wa Thiongo, one of Africa’s potential candidates for a Nobel Prize, accepted my plea for him to address students of Literature at Makini Secondary School in Nairobi. It was an awesome event for students and staff ... Ngugi had travelled from America to appear in a Nairobi court over a case of violent assault on him and his wife

In one of history’s great ironies the Muslim world of the Middle East, once so far ahead of Europe and the rest of the world, in science, medicine, astronomy and mathematics has today fallen so far behind. Most of it has never industrialized. Had it not been for the oil the region has in abundance, most of these countries would still be living in the poverty they lived in the early years of the twentieth century.