Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard about the two tragedies that struck Africa over the last two weeks. The flooding in Sierra Leone which has killed over 500 people so far with many more missing, and the deadly terrorist attack in Ouagadougou which claimed the lives of 17 people. As usual my feed on social media was full of well wishes to the people affected. It was also full of reproach from angry people who feel that western media did not and do not cover the events well enough as they would tragedies occurring in the west; take the Houston flooding for example.
I am going to be as subtle as I can.
That is total bullshit. Reading through posts like those just make my skin cringe. How exactly would a balanced and extended coverage of African tragedies by western media really help us? Except at the very least just perpetuate stereotypes about us; that we are poor, uneducated and hungry people who lack this and who lack that, and that if he had not lacked those things maybe such tragedies would have been averted.
I don’t understand how a cross-section of us Africans are seemingly not at peace unless the “white man” has acknowledged our issues. It is almost as if our problems do not exist unless the white man in a great show of magnanimity decides to portray our problems and cover our current affairs as much as they do theirs.
We have national and private TV stations on our continent. Why don’t we use that to cover our own issues? Or do we think that the issues only gain more clarity and validity if this is echoed on CNN?
Let’s be clear. The white man will never put our problems before theirs, and until we, as Africans realize that we bear the burden of finding the solutions to our own problems, we will never step out into the light and find lasting and sustainable solutions that will set Africa on the right path to REAL economic growth and empowerment.
We are at a turning point in Africa wherein there has never been as many educated Africans as there are now. And when I say educated, I am not talking necessarily about a degree. I’m talking also about a broadened mind that is more exposed to the world like it never has before and is keen to soak in every bit of learning opportunity like a sponge. It would be a shame if we continue to use this to expect validation from the white man first before we put it to use on our continent.
Africa belongs to us. It is our choice to make of it what we want.
by Wandji Wilfred.
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Additional commentary by Tino Foy
Reading this reminds me of an exchange I had with a fellow Cameroonian brother his Facebook account:-
Kisob Alaric Esq:
"Change in Africa is inevitable. The "Chopchair" generation is emptying out naturally. Millions of our people are now classroom and/or social media educated (downsides noted). Yesterday's Africa can never be the Africa of our time. Her youth now know too much to let the open and notoriously wasteful luxuries of yesteryears inure in perpetuity. The mysticism of power is eroding- the barrier is broken. We need no wars, for war itself is archaic. We will build a continent for today's African- fearless, educated and free....ALK Esq-"
Tino Foy:
"This to me comes from a similar place in the heart from which Kwame Nkrumah spoke to some 32 African leaders in Addis Ababa in 1963 but the opposite of what he begged happened and continues to happen. I am afraid to say you are overly optimistic in your trust of this generation. I look at all my mates and I can hardly pick 10 that are good for office. They have all been bought into the status quo. Neither our classroom education nor our social media education has done enough to prepare us for the future you envision. Our hands off approach will never make any significant difference. I see you noted the negatives of social media but in a manner which understates it. Social medial does have the power to forge a stronger union which we need to pave the way ahead but the reason why that union is not yet in existence is because the willpower is lacking. We want change but we do not understand what it takes for it to happen. We want to pray for it forgetting it can only come through extreme action and commitment on our part.
Kiso Alaric Esq:
"Grand frere, I appreciate your contribution. Your points are very valid. However, remember that this is the generation that is forging the IT hub in Kenya; the generation that has customized tech for Africa: Giftedmom in Cameroon, Green Venture in Tanzania, Chilimba in Zambia etc. We have also put Afro pop on the world stage- Ayodeji Balogun's "Come Closer" featuring Drake has been a mega hit beyond African shores for instance. Our 'Dashiki' is now being worn all over the world. NO grand frere, this generation is a million light years ahead. My optimism is well grounded, I think!"
Tino Foy:
"And who makes the most money from the dashiki we made popular? Our biggest Afropop artists are signed to who? - Sony, where do they shoot most of their videos now? - outside Africa . Gifted mom is not proprietary technology so it doesn't count. It also gets funding from the west to continue with the rhetoric that we can't do anything by ourselves . Most of what you list as examples here constitute hobnobbing which never served any good. I will go on forever but I'll need to sit down for this when I get home. Let's not get caught up in what I can call the GDP syndrome- much activity with little productivity. We can't be proud we finally got a house slave.Our optimism should be guided by courage which we have very little of."
Conclusion
When most of our value stems from being accepted to dine with the white man, we continue to sell ourselves short. We have made much progress but compared to the rest of the world, we are still the ones behind on our potential. We have increased our speed by 2km/h while the rest of the world is has done so by 50km/h. As a continent, we own 40% of the gold in the world, and our hydroelectric potential is at 42% of the world's total. We cannot afford to pace our needs, our development, our security in the manner in which we do now. Our belief in gradualism is trumping our need for rapid evolvement. We cannot repeat the tale of the army general who after a battle gathered his men and drank to stupor in celebration of their victory. In the night as they lay wasted, the enemy attacked and wiped them out.
P.S
We will be posting kwame Nkrumah's 1963 speech in a another article. That is a speech that should be read by every African - in fact it should be a tested part of every curriculum.