The aftermath
My motivation for this blog was so that I could create a platform where we can discuss issues that affect Africa. Like my all time favorite quotation of Napoleon goes ‘The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of the good ones.’
My heart won’t settle if I do not speak about Covid-19, the popularly known Corona Virus. Don’t stop reading yet, I am not about to ask you to wash your hands or sanitize, to avoid handshake or all those basic regulations. Not to get me wrong, these regulations are very fundamental if the pandemic is to be controlled, no doubt. The media has done a pretty good job in the sensitization, which is remarkable, I mean even my now just five year old nephew sings the regulations better than the ABCs ):
As we may all agree, Covid-19 is the most serious threat to global health security in decades. But first things first, my heart goes out to all who have been affected by the pandemic, and deep gratitude to the thousands of healthcare workers who are on the front lines helping their communities, feel appreciated.
The issue I would like to discuss is the aftermath. Some may feel that this could wait till the outbreak is over which I beg to strongly disagree. This is as crucial an issue of discussion as the epidemic itself I believe, especially for us Africa. The epidemic will pass, that’s for sure, that’s why we need to discuss what’s in it for Africa after this is done.
I came across a very interesting article on my Whats-app platform that read
“ The biggest conspiracy against the growth and dominance of Africa and Africans is not the work of Bill Gates, Monsanto, 5G, the Corona virus or imperialists or colonialists. It is not Donald Trump, China, Boris Johnson or Queen Elizabeth. It is not a right wing conspiracy, or a left wing conspiracy, neither is it a grand plan of Israel or even the Middle East. Africa's biggest problem is its leadership...”
It is not debatable that in Africa we need to do quite a number of improvements on leadership, where can we get leaders who are less self centered? Corruption is the order of the day, embezzled funds in every sector, it is heartbreaking how every scheme is linked to politics, projects that should help the common citizen remain that, just projects or manifestos.
This Covid-19 should serve as our wake-up call. When university students in China and America and other developed countries were/are busy modeling Covid-19 and looking for cure, Africa we are busy closing the universities and waiting upon the analysis of the research projects of their students yet complain when they want to test their findings on us, it is wrong yes, but what choice have we given ourselves. This gets me thinking, what do we teach at our universities even. But what do we expect really, even after completing university you won’t get any platform to exercise the little knowledge you acquired, I am not even talking about those lowly paid internship programs, no! Do you know how many times I have been turned down on volunteer applications? Volunteer!!! Just a small opportunity to get practical and skills-based employ-ability exposure in my filed, as a volunteer, but no, it’s only regret mails you get. Even for volunteer activities you need to know someone who knows someone who knows someone… what a shame.
I am a person that strongly believes in movement forward, even if just a little. As I love to say, if you can not fly, run, if you can not run, walk and if you can not walk crawl, but whatever you do you’ve got to keep moving. For that reason let me thank our leaders for those small progress they have done in our countries, but small doesn’t or shouldn’t mean under-standard. If I had just one opportunity to ask just one question to our leaders I would ask, ‘how much did you like attending those community hospitals you built for check up during this pandemic, how proud were you to go visit your loved ones there now that abroad was not an option, how much did you enjoy using the roads you made for your beloved community, Oh, sorry I forgot, of course you have cars that can comfortably adjust to even the worst of the roads, but what about us? I don’t understand why our leaders would like the entire world to praise and worship them for these humiliating so called projects and developments they do, I mean that is what they are in that office for in the first place.
So this Covid-19 is the biggest threat in the world, yes? In Africa? Well, do you know how many people die due to hunger in Africa everyday? No, every year? How would you know? It only affects the poor, it’s no threat to our governors and members of parliament and ‘those who matter’, so why would anyone tally the numbers. This is the most amazing bit, hunger has a cure, it is called food, just one dollar a day is all these families need to survive, but that will make our countries very poor I guess, we would rather let them die, those who manage to survive we revisit them again in four or five years, a week before the elections and give them relief food enough to last them a month before they die, and be beating our chest for generosity claims. Who shall weep for you Africa?
I do believe that Africa has good leaders, except majority are not in leadership positions yet (they don’t know people perhaps) and those that are have remained dumb to save their lives. Our beloved countries lost it to cruelty, we can not stand good and true leaders. The good and visionary ones risk to lose their jobs and humiliation after, at the very worst they risk ‘assassination’. If you weren’t afraid you would give me a long list of strong leaders in your countries who did not see the light of the day simply for advocating for better systems of governance and for a better Africa, but that’s none of my interest, I do my homework anyways.
Take just 10 minutes of your time and listen to one of the great African leaders of the times. His name is Tom Mboya. But why would our countries as we know them allow a man like this to live, his story ends in assassination in the year 1969, just six years after Kenya gained independent.
Why wouldn’t any leader want emulate this man.
People shed their blood to hand over to us the freedom we so freely enjoy, it’s disrespectful to not live up to the standard, otherwise they fought for nothing. I am in no position to influence what happens next after this pandemic, but I do trust we make time and allocate resources to that which we must, I feel that this pandemic is the sign we have been looking for that nothing is impossible, even a positive change. It doesn’t have to take us, Africa, the next 10,20, 30 or I don’t know 50 years to development, if every one of us makes it their dedication to do the next right thing, our continent will be where it deserves to be within no time.