Wealthy nations and international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have become the central economic planners for Africa. The result is sporadic project implementation; corruption; poor economic performance attributable to inept policies; political tensions as each ethnic community jostles to partake of the "national cake"; and disaster unpreparedness due to donor anaesthesia, writes James S. Shikwati in South Africa's The Star newspaper. Shikwati is director of the Kenyan-based Inter Regional Economic Network (Iren).