Kongo (UE), July 10, GNA - Brother Francis Sebo, a Presentation Brother with the Catholic Church, has blamed Africa's poverty on greed and selfishness on the part some leaders and well-to-do people.

He said majority of people, who are well to do, tended to forget about the development of their fellow individuals, their community and their countries.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Kongo in the Upper East Region on Saturday, Brother Sebo, a Liberian, said besides the rich resources Africa has, Africans were endowed with smart brains.

He noted that all these potentials could have been used to develop the continent to prevent people from hunger and poverty.

Presentation Brothers are a congregation of Catholic men, who consecrate their lives to the education of youth and conduct schools and colleges in various parts of the world. They are not priests and do not marry.

Brother Sebo said: "Africans are held hostage by their own attitudes. Africans can on their own eradicate poverty and hunger if attitudinal changes are made".

He called on well-resourced Africans especially those in the Diaspora to contribute to the development of their respective communities and countries.

"Why should an African child go hungry? We have all the resources", he said.

Brother Sebo advised African leaders not to depend solely on developed countries and said what was very crucial for African countries, was for them to seek technical know-how from the developed countries to build on their own.

He stressed on the need for philanthropists to focus on education by complementing governments' efforts saying education is a tool that could be used to break the chain of poverty...

Brother Sebo said he was able to sponsor 45 students in the Talensi-Nabdam Districts through money he inherited from his father and other proceeds from families and friends in the United States and Europe.

He indicated that plans were far advanced to expand the sponsorship scheme to include brilliant and needy students at the Senior High Schools and the tertiary level.

EA/LQ

10 July 10