The Incubuses and Succubuses of Africa

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the news that our president has approved a 50, 000 dollar car loan each for our parliamentarians (ghanaweb.com, Friday, 19. 6. 2009). The questions that cluttered my mind were, what have the people of Africa done to merit all these wickedness meted out to us by our leaders? Why are most of our leaders so sadistic to the extent that they don’t care about the development of their people? The African has been relegated to the background for so long. We are always despised, ridiculed, and humiliated from all angles- left, right, center; I mean everywhere. The African, in most cases is seen as a nugatory. We are living on a continent where foreign governments have to help our own people; where most of our countries are seen as the poorest in the world; where our people living in the hinterlands are deprived of descent living; where majority of the poor have to travel several kilometers to fetch drinking water, mostly unhygienic. On a continent where our budgets are supported by foreign governments, where most of our infrastructural projects are supported by donor funds, and yet our governments, politicians have refused to over the years work in the interest of the people. These governments and politicians are the cause of our untold woes, pains, and miseries. They are the succubuses and incubuses on our continent.

Although the continent of Africa is the second largest in the world with the most of the natural resources, we are the poorest. The second largest, but with only one member represented among the G-20- a group of industrialized and developing countries. We have leaders who only think when it comes to serving their own interests; leaders who are shortsighted, and never think about advancing the prosperity of their people. They are greedy, selfish, and will do everything possible to attain power, even at the expense of innocent lives. But when they attain power they tell us that we are on our own. When can the majority of our people who are living on the edges begin to see the light of day? When are our governments going to put smiles on the faces of the pupils, who as a result of the financial incapacity of their parents see helplessly their dreams being shattered in every moment of their lives? In my beloved country Ghana, it was reported in the news that parents in a farming community- Afram plains have to use foodstuffs from their farms as a substitute for school fees (the barter system still in practice in the 21st century) in order for their children to continue to be enrolled in their schools (www.myjoyonline.com, Thursday, May 14, 2009). Again, it has been reported that 52% of primary school pupils are without toilet facilities and urinals in their schools (www.ghanaweb.com, Friday, 19. 6. 2009). And yet the President who was elected to seek and promote the interest of the people saw it fit to approve about 12 million dollars car loan for members of parliament (50, 000 dollars for each MP- 230 in all). This money is bloody too much. Even America, Germany, Japan, Italy, all car manufacturing countries will not pursue this nonsense agenda. If I were to have an audience with the President, I would ask him 3 simple questions: 1. How do you feel when foreign governments are feeding your own people? 2. Have you ever lived in a village where there is no clinic before, and 3. When your children are hungry, would you buy cars for them? You have begun letting your people down, Sir.

What is nauseating though is the government’s cry of inheriting a looted and broken economy- an allegation that does not fly according to their actions. The action of the president and the legislative assembly shows their insensitivity to the plight of the people who voted them to office. For me this is business as usual and the bottom line is that the citizenry have been shown the big finger. They have indeed stabbed us in the back. For the President to endorse this embarrassing act proves to the whole world how shortsighted our leaders can be. Mark my words, tomorrow he will travel around the world begging for help. Mr. President, a country that is broke does not need to spend this amount of money on luxuries. No, you are wrong bigtime, sir. An economy such as ours, which you have portrayed negatively to the international communities since attaining the highest office of our motherland, a country that was built on the sacrifices of our selfless forefathers doesn’t have to go the way you have chosen to go. What you should be doing, sir is to stimulate the economy. And you don’t stimulate an economy by endorsing this illegality. What is so painful is that somebody needs only a 100 dollar to expand their trade, but is deliberately neglected. The parents who need something small to pay the school fees of their children so that in future they can lead us away from these irresponsible acts are overlooked. The rural communities which have existed so long without clinics, example mile 18 and its environs where I taught faithfully for 2 years where the sick always have to be carried several miles to receive medical treatment when they are funny were not considered.

This irresponsibility shows why our continent is the most ridiculed in the whole wide world. Instead of our elected officials leading us from the nadir of economic destruction to the zenith of economic prosperity, they are doing the reverse. And I think this is an injustice, and remember, Mr. President that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”-Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. Please, our children are looking up unto you for a better future. Your people have been suffering for too long. God bless Ghana!!

Source: Kingsley Nyarko, PhD, Educational Consultant, IAF- Munich (kingpong73@yahoo.com)