Having said the above, let me emphasise that to Africans, it should not matter who wins this US election. We must work with whoever wins.

However, it must be understood that no American president can resolve Africa’s socioeconomic problems. It is Africans themselves who can make a meaningful, long-term change in Africa.

Good, clean, effective governance is what Africa lacks and no foreign leader can provide that.

One   of the particularly important references is the state of democracy and freedoms in Africa. It is a dire, unsettling state, as shown by The Economist’s Democracy Index 2023. Africa ranks at the bottom in the Democracy Index. We have a continent that has not embraced democratic values.

In his excellent book, The Capitalist Manifesto, Swedish economist Johan Norberg writes, “Sub-Saharan Africa is not the poorest part of the world because the region lacks the economic conditions needed for growth but because it has lacked freedom.”

Johan also argues that African liberators became “occupiers who continued to plunder their people.” According to Johan, the democratic political system is a better political system for economic development. He argues that Africa is the poorest continent because African leaders chose statism,   instead of pro-market reform.

Very few African countries have had good governance in Africa over the past decades. Norberg argues that Botswana and Mauritius have done well. I would add Namibia. I think Namibia has also done well on governance.

The argument that Africa lags behind because of colonialism is not convincing to people who study the world and its history.

After World War II, Germany and Japan were in ruins. Yet, these countries managed to rise to the riches in a few decades. Why? Well, it was good governance, strong human capital.

In 1965, Singapore was one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita of $500. The country is now one of the world's richest countries, richer than its former colonizers.

How did Singapore do it? It was good, effective governance with good institutions, and good pro market policy in the business sphere.

There is also Taiwan and South Korea. Both these countries were dirt poor in the 1960s. Today they are rich.

It can be done. Africans can do it and must do it themselves. No Kamala Harris or Donald Trump can do it for them.

Africa is a continent with immense potential. If its people were to make right decisions on governance, the continent would flourish.

Despotic leaders tend to have support in Africa and that’s not helpful. These despots amass wealth at the expense of the impoverished. Abject poverty plagues most countries in Sub Saharan Africa. Repressive regimes around the world – from Venezuela to Iran, to North Korea, to Russia, to China – are supported by many in Africa.

At the recent protests in Nigeria, some protesters carried the Russian flag. Chad and Central Africa Republic (CAR) has also had protesters waving the Russian flag. The military junta leaders who took power through coups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, have severed ties with the West, and got closer to Russia.

The pro-Russia behaviour is not helpful, in my opinion. It damages Africa. We may be dissatisfied with the West, nothing wrong with that. There is a lot to criticize about Western policy in Africa. However, moving closer to Russia and China at the expense of our relations with the West is ill-thought. There is no need to severe ties with the West. What is needed is reform, reset of our relations with the West.

The reason we are not pursuing the reset of our relations with the West is because we are short-sighted and our leaders lack a vision that puts the interests of Africans first.

Western nations led by the likes of Harris and Trump don’t owe us anything. They left political power long time ago. The focus must be on how to work with them. African countries do not have to choose a side. Working with all continents is what is in the interest of Africa.

Phumlani M. Majozi is author of a new book “Lessons from Past Heroes” and a macroeconomist and political analyst. He’s the host of The Phumlani Majozi Show on YouTube. Subscribe to his show here: Phumlani M. Majozi - YouTube.