The Kenyan writer best known for his celebrated Granta essay – How to write about Africa – talks toEliza Anyangwe about how the notion of ‘development’ and other words incubated in the west fail to capture the reality of Africa. ‘The obsession with the essay has become very interesting because it provokes liberal guilt: what can we do better, but never asks how can we restructure power arrangements, which is what Africa needs,’ says Wainaina. 

He goes on to talk about the portrayal of Africa as ‘diabolically corrupt’ and, using Kenya as an example, explains how those stereotypes feed the development industry and everything it does. Do you agree with him?