Africa’s Elites Ways of Commodifying Politics to Valorise Economic Rent

This paper starts with incredulity first. Whilst doing some research for this paper, I came across members of the top political elite from Zaire to Nigeria often taken as ‘kleptocrat extraordinaire’ to be also in the forefront in denouncing rent-seeking and corruption with an equal ‘extraordinaire’ flair and completeness at the same time. Some might ignore their stance as cynical and self-serving and try to ignore them and move on to other concerns. Others might condemn the fraudulent behaviour and adding what can one expect any ways from such immoral and unethical characters and pass on to other things.