African Leaders Failure to Understand Globalization

In response to President Benjamin Mkapa's rebuttal of an original article Franklin Cudjoe stated the following:

Did the President address trade barriers within the continent at all? I mentioned that as well. Why can’t Tanzanians buy Ghanaian chocolates, for instance? Why did Nigeria ban 96 products from Ghana when Ghana could go into Nigeria 7 times, population wise? How open are COMESA and ECOWAS, two trading blocs for East and Southern Africa, and the West African sub region?...long after colonialism ended, Africa’s elite—who had promised limitless freedom for the newly independent Africa—soon recoiled into the statist mold of the colonizers. They were responsible for creating the most predatory forms of command and control over African societies and economies, to an extent never even imagined by the Colonial rulers. The leaders used this system to satisfy their greed, for personal aggrandizement. This effectively alienated a majority of individuals in society, because they were not able to benefit from the proceeds of their own economic activity.