The current economic boom enjoyed by much of the continent is at risk of merely enriching elites and deepening inequalities.
For economists such as Sam Jackson, however, a former Sirleaf ally-turned-critic, the government is merely reproducing the kind of plantation economy that, since the founding of Liberia in the mid-nineteenth century, has enriched elites and led to three decades of conflict.
They fuel war, help the economic balance in neighboring countries, and enrich elites".
Critics say the practice enriched elites and cronies, including members of his large extended family, while his government grew estranged from ordinary Afghans.
In our nation of food banks, zero-hours contracts, legal loan sharks, stagnating living standards and a shameless, self-enriching elite, they are desperately needed.
Government projects that were supposed to benefit the poor only end up enriching the elite.
The White House, though, is already preparing a less flattering portrayal, trying to frame Mr. Romney's record at Bain as evidence that he would pursue slash and burn economics and that his business career thrived by enriching the elite at the expense of the working class.
This enriched the elite, but spawned white-elephant projects and fuelled inflation of more than 15% a year.
Mr. Lim says he was focusing on distortions in the policy that had enriched an elite few.
And critics argue that in some nations with oil or other natural resources, growth has enriched an elite class but passed over the poor.
Mr. Morsi inherited a dysfunctional state, one worn down by decades of Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian system, which marginalized the masses and empowered and enriched an elite few.
