This is Africa…so goes the saying. To the uninitiated, this is mainly used when someone wants to justify something that would not ordinarily pass for anything sensible or worth for the 21st century.
As I write this article, two occurrences in Africa…sorry three…oops its more…ring in my mind. In Kenya, our economy is on the brink of precipice… and the man in charge of the National treasury is telling us stories to reassure the casualty as they say in first aid 101. Like a good doctor, he dare not tell us we are so sick that surviving would require an African bush doctor or Pastor Dr….somebody! Another incidence is the ongoing gibberish about who fixed who in the ICC…while the real victims of the 2007/2008 post-election violence continue to languish in IDP camps across the country. I don’t wish to go into the merits of these noises but the way the political shenanigans are excited about this whole circus can only portend some not so nice moments for this country in the near future…if it is not stopped.
Not so far away towards the south, our good friends and neighbors, in Zambia have declared a national day of prayer to pray for the weakening currency and economy! Now…I must declare that I am a good Christian and very prayerful…but my crystal balls tell me that this is not how to resuscitate an ailing economy. Prayers are good but then we must do what must be done on the fiscal and monetary front to rejuvenate the economy.
In Uganda, it is political season again and the good old Dr.Kisa Besijye is at it again… well he has high affinity to being arrested by the Ugandan police for disturbing the peace! I saw him arrested recently for leaving his house….Poor old man. How is he supposed to campaign for votes without leaving his house?! May be our bloggers can help him out but his worthy competitor may not take that kindly as well.
In Rwanda, President Kagame is going for the 3rd term in office after the people of that country amended the term limit…did I hear that only one MP was opposed to the move? Anyway, I can bet he will win the term with a landslide….Burundi is trying to settle down after the contested elections. In Guinea, President Alpha Conde has just won round one of elections while in Tanzania the battle is heating up between the ruling party and the formidable opposition.
The lunatics in Burkina Faso have just been edged out of town and are now facing justice…as warring factions in South Sudan continue to duel and toss the skeletons of dead citizens around…the peace accord is just a piece of paper it was written on! And we continue to watch as people continue to die in that country….
If I continue telling you the story of Africa, the cows will have to come home! So let me stop here but one thing that we must keep asking: what is the problem with our continent?
Most of the time we keep blaming our leaders…as if they just dropped from hell while the truth is that we have been fueling this gravy train that is poor leadership in Africa through our prejudices based on ethnicity, tribalism, religion….among others. The big question is: when will this rain stop beating us?
Anyway….happy heroes day in Kenya. I hope the real heroes will be feted this year.