African "Leaders" Fumble Again!
I can see the handiwork of the Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in the recent attempt of some African head of states to form a closer political union. Obasanjo cherishes international endeavors that probably would amount to nothing at the end of the day. Don’t get me wrong, the idea is great and plot is fantastic, but the actors are mediocre and the timing is off.No one but these rulers (not leaders, please) stand to benefit from this talk because the majority of their people just want the basic necessities of life for now: Enough food to eat so they do not die from famine; a decent abode they can call there own, so that a senile maniac would not wake up one day and “Murambatsvinize” them into the bush; security for their family and business; and generally an enabling environment that allows peace and prosperity to reign.
How basic can it get? Yet majority of Africans do enjoy the most basic things a human being deserves. Yet the wise men don’t get it, they rather “build bridges” across nations, "create an economic and monetary union, establish common foreign and defense policies”, and create an impotent contraption called “United States of Africa”. This is another evidence that our priorities are misplaced.
“Charity begins at home”, and I believe the readers knows what this means. Many African nations suffer from political and socioeconomic afflictions and emanate from within. In Nigeria for instance, basic infrastructures are lacking or in extensive states of disrepair, public health facilities do not exist, educational institutions churn out half-baked graduates that end up rejected or shunned the moment they entered into the labor force. The cost of doing business is one of the highest in the world. Nothing is safe and there is no value or respect for human lives; the very enforcers of the law have turned into crooks, assassins, and bandits, ex cetera, ex cetera.
So tell me how these wise head of states can unite and make prosper a continent full of diverse people, ethnicities, languages, and culture when their very own nations are in dire need of unity and prosperity?
Imnakoya @ 11/14/2005
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