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Africans need to renew their minds in order to create much-needed change. Every African or anyone one connected to Africa and its people all around the world have the vision of an Africa which is free from poverty, diseases, ignorance, political oppression, economic inertia and the ills of imperialism.
Post-colonial Africa has existed for well over half a century but hasn't flourished in the modern era. Slavery, colonialism, wars, dictatorships and political violence, corruption, and economic mismanagement, have all played their roles in creating debilitating environments in which poverty, crime, and disease thrive. Religious mercenary and intolerance continue to play active roles in keeping Africa from real development. Tribal bigotry is a problem which needs to be tackled and the solution lies entirely on the ability of Africans to begin to foster different views of who they are and how they relate.
As the AIDS and HIV era fades into near oblivion Ebola surfaced and took West Africa hostage recently. Meanwhile, malaria and typhoid – the greatest native killers of Africans which continue to claim the lives of Africans more than AIDS and Ebola combined – continue to decimate the long suffering people of the ailing continent while Africa's corrupt and morally bankrupt leaders run around clueless. For them, going cap-in-hand for western aids and handouts is the easy way out to finding solutions to Africa's challenges.
It is the same story from decade to decade and from one bad government to another. African leaders just can't get it right; for them, fixing Africa is a rocket science. So far, their efforts towards creating the environments and living standard Africans deserve as of right have not been sincere. Across the length and breadth of Africa, the leadership – whether traditional, political or in business – are incompetent, self-serving and corrupt. While brimming with hubris, these leaders lack the capacity or sincerity to build competitive and prosperous nations for their people.
In pre-colonial Africa, people lived in unique tribal city-states and communities defined by language, culture, tradition, and a belief system. They thrived and developed at their pace despite the effects of the slave trade which Europe used to decimate the population of fit and healthy Africans for centuries. The former slave traders metamorphosed into colonising powers when the heinous trade in humans became a moral albatross. They then changed tactics by cutting up Africa like a piece of pie among themselves and treated their loot as trade outposts. They confiscated whatever natural resource and artifacts that suited their avaricious objectives for as long as they wanted before handing to Africans what they called independence.
Solely for their commercial interests and administration convenience, the colonial plunderers created geographical contraptions made up of distinct and independent tribal entities with obvious cultural and religious fault lines into quasi-sovereign nations. African countries were born. These countries were not created by Africans via treaties or referendum, therefore, the forced grouping of independent tribal entities with distinct and un-shared loyalties onto nationhood means that no one tribe, kingdom or community truly believes in the country in which they found themselves.
As the AIDS and HIV era fades into near oblivion Ebola surfaced and took West Africa hostage recently. Meanwhile, malaria and typhoid – the greatest native killers of Africans which continue to claim the lives of Africans more than AIDS and Ebola combined – continue to decimate the long suffering people of the ailing continent while Africa's corrupt and morally bankrupt leaders run around clueless. For them, going cap-in-hand for western aids and handouts is the easy way out to finding solutions to Africa's challenges.
It is the same story from decade to decade and from one bad government to another. African leaders just can't get it right; for them, fixing Africa is a rocket science. So far, their efforts towards creating the environments and living standard Africans deserve as of right have not been sincere. Across the length and breadth of Africa, the leadership – whether traditional, political or in business – are incompetent, self-serving and corrupt. While brimming with hubris, these leaders lack the capacity or sincerity to build competitive and prosperous nations for their people.
In pre-colonial Africa, people lived in unique tribal city-states and communities defined by language, culture, tradition, and a belief system. They thrived and developed at their pace despite the effects of the slave trade which Europe used to decimate the population of fit and healthy Africans for centuries. The former slave traders metamorphosed into colonising powers when the heinous trade in humans became a moral albatross. They then changed tactics by cutting up Africa like a piece of pie among themselves and treated their loot as trade outposts. They confiscated whatever natural resource and artifacts that suited their avaricious objectives for as long as they wanted before handing to Africans what they called independence.
Solely for their commercial interests and administration convenience, the colonial plunderers created geographical contraptions made up of distinct and independent tribal entities with obvious cultural and religious fault lines into quasi-sovereign nations. African countries were born. These countries were not created by Africans via treaties or referendum, therefore, the forced grouping of independent tribal entities with distinct and un-shared loyalties onto nationhood means that no one tribe, kingdom or community truly believes in the country in which they found themselves.
However, contemporary African countries have existed long enough to have found a way to make a success of the multi-ethnic arrangements as a reality but that has become elusive because they just can't figure out how to co-habit in harmony. To move forward to find prosperous and progressive nationhood in the present format, there is the overwhelming need for a change in the way Africans see and value themselves. The demand for cutting up countries based on tribal and ethnic homogeneity may not be the solution. Africans must have a change of the mind and, therefore, their ways.
With independence gained, Africans became free and the land and their destinies were all theirs to control but the demons that had plagued the African didn't take too long to surface. The inter-tribal hatred, religious intolerance, and short-sightedness that were lurking somewhere deep in the African's psyche surfaced and the result has ever been chaos and political failure. It didn't take long before greed and tribal bigotry took the destinies of Africans down the path to perdition.
Lack of patriotism and avarice led to coups, political violence, economic incompetence, and dictatorships. The results are extreme poverty, hopelessness, and disease. Is there any hope for a change in the direction Africa is traveling? Yes but such change has to be genuinely desired. Making brilliant speeches and producing top draw academic materials to elucidate the need for change is not the same as taking deliberate actions to cause desired changes. In Africa the victims possess the same mindset as the perpetrators - openly corrupt politician are celebrated.
Africa is not responding well to global economic and technological trends. It may not be reasonable to expect Africa to compete at the same levels as western economic powers in the same breath for obvious reasons. However, is it unreasonable to expect Africa to begin to make purposeful attempts at turning things around with results? Africans deserve to live in progressive nations where democracy, accountability, and responsible governance ceases to be myths. Instead, Africa is being held to ransom by clueless despots, corrupt politicians and their thuggish sidekicks.
There will not be a better time for Africans to stand up against the current crop of incompetent, corrupt and morally bankrupt leaders. Africans must stop the blame game and renew their minds. African leaders must change the way they relate with their western counterparts and begin to treat them as equals. They must put a screeching stop to end the master-servant approach at all levels.
In the words of Dave Hand, "Until Africans change their own social and economic culture into one that is far more responsible, family-focused, educationally driven and respectful of honest democratic government nothing will change. Africans have the same abilities and intelligence as any race but unless they make the effort to make better cultural choices they will be left behind. Mandela is an exception as black leaders are more interested in seizing power and stealing from their countries to support their extravagant lifestyles and flee to Europe if any difficulties arise”.
Africa is a wealthy continent and should be a major contributor, not an endless drain.
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