Many books have been written about economic development and why some nations are better off that others. When it comes to Africa, the comparison and conversations inevitably lead to the nation state of Singapore. Can we really depend on wise individuals or committees to transform nations? What freedoms are we willing to give up to do so?

In my view, this is the most cogent argument against comparing developing countries to Singapore or saying that if only country A had a benevolent dictator, then the country would become as prosperous as Singapore. The main conclusion from the article is that such institutions do not scale well. This type of government led development was tried in China by none other than Lee Kuan Yew and it failed.

https://www.palladiummag.com/2020/08/13/the-true-story-of-lee-kuan-yews-singapore/