“They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly
slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy,
torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute,
poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished. In this demesne, as they call
it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is
the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that
flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And
because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many
more remain decapitated by the day”.
The above citation is
culled from an article titled YOU LAZY
(INTELLECTUAL) AFRICAN SCUM!
Dear Africans, as you read this piece of mine, I can imagine your anger and frustration regarding the
words of the author. However, before you crucify me or the writer of
the article, of course in solidarity for your dear continent, Africa, let me
plead with you to apply the brakes.
I urge you to open your mind, beam your searchlight on Africa, and carefully, gather your facts before exercising your right of anger. On this
note, let me thank you for heeding to my appeal.
Now that you have settled to gather your facts,
it makes sense to hear more from the writer. He says:
“I spent three years in Africa in the 1980s,” “I wined and dined with
Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly
intelligent Africans.”
Notice
this, as contained in the article: "I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He
smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a
shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor,
the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”
With this opener,:
Iet me now ask you, do you think he has said anything reasonable, something that could
be of concern to anybody that truly love Africa, a food for thought sort of?
While you’re
thinking about that, please permit me to proceed. This time, I won’t bother you
with any question. I will instead, humbly request you to do something for me.
If you consider it necessary, share your findings with other people, but find
how you can address one or two issues that follow.
My request is very simple. Please, take
a deep look around you, consider the number of people that have died in your community. If
you’re done with that, may I ask you, how many of this number do you think died
out of hunger, starvation and poverty? Similarly, how many died of curable
diseases, denials or neglect? As a
matter of fact, how many of the women among them died during child delivery?
It may also interest you to take a close look at
some other issues and as a matter of fact, reflect on them also. Would you like
to spare a thought, about news headlines on the media, reporting achievements and
huge amounts of money expended on projects that hardly serve the needs of the
people? Do you think it is necessary to reconcile the reports by visiting any
of the public schools, in your dear continent, Africa? Take a field trip to
assess the public schools in your own community? This request is for those who
will pretend that they do not know about the condition of the public schools, this
on its own speaks volume.
While you are
thinking about the above and probably preparing your defense, I wish to assist you with another information released by the authour of the cited work. this is what he said:
“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the
next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I
work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government
owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka (Africa)
to offer your president(s) a couple of millions and fly back with a check
twenty times greater.”
Challenged by his arrogance, somebody close-by,
quickly conferred with some "patriots", fellow African’s, you may know them; and they said,
our President, His Excellency, Chief, Dr. General… is incorruptible.
Would you like to know what the authour wrote?
Please read on:
He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who
has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”
I almost jumped out of myself, but the cry of a dying
neighbour, brought me back. It reminded me of the state of your hospitals. It brought
to my mind the stark truth that most of your hospitals lack of equipment.
instead of resolving peoples medical cases they complicate them.
That notwithstanding, I picked my car key, and set
off with the dying neighbour to the hospital, but the state of the road was
something else. At a point I wondered, was I truly helping the sick or causing
more problems for him? You can’t belief
it, the roads constructed not quite long, after billions in different currencies
were expended, have become death trap, yes unmotorable.
At the hospital, ordinary routine drugs were not
available. The few medical team present referred patients to their own Private
hospitals. The elusive drugs have found their ways into the Private hospitals.
The laboratory tests that were conducted were done with government equipment,
at no cost to the practitioners. Yet, the patients pay exorbitant fees for such
services. Report has it that anytime an attempt is made by the government to check
such practices, the threat of strike by the Doctors heightens.
You can imagine my frustration when in this state
of mind, I suddenly saw what the writer wrote:
At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and
urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles. “Isn’t that beautiful,”?
“That’s white man’s country,” he said. We discovered the bulb, and built this
aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Africa.”
Luckily there was a
very brilliant African around. He truly showed the stuff brilliant Africans are
made: “Grinned. And in a bid to belittle the writer, said: “There is no Lake
Africa.”
Reacting to the
response of your intelligentsia, the author wrote:
“That’s what we call your country (continent). You guys are as stagnant
as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your
minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs.
That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta
is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are
the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what
lazy people get, Africans, the entire Third World.”
Did you note that? One
would have expected that he will stop there but he did not. Continuing he wrote:
“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy”. “When you
rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called
African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those
poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”
Going by this development,
I can imagine the mood of “your” African intelligentsia. However, he struggled and
presented a protest, saying: “That’s not a nice thing to say”.
This time the writer
did the unexpected, he wrote:
“Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated
Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka
markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling
away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to
myself where are the African intellectuals? Are the African engineers so
imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water
filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that
after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering
has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines
for mass use? What is the school there for?”
My dear esteemed
reader, not minding your shenanigan and unsubstantiated anger when you came in
contact with this write-up, something tells me and boldly too, that you
are by now finding it difficult to maintain your balance. I have the belief
that sentiments have started give way to reality. But in case, I am wrong, please
forgive me. As a matter of fact, I am in the know that most Africans are shock
absorbers.
Please wait a minute, there is a newsflash, on the
television screen, it reads “Billions in
various currencies stashed away by African leaders discovered”.
Please bear with me, I will go back to the news
later. I just saw a passage in the article that reads:
“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars
quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka
Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic
graduates. African intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening
drinking.
An African,
obviously disappointed, quipped from a distance, what of your own
intellectuals? To this the author replied: “We
don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”
Thank goodness,
there was an African intellectual on board the plane. The authour wrote:
“And you flying to Boston and all of you Africans in the Diaspora are
just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country
and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama,
and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of
neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own
cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and
are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this
and that—PhD my foot!”.
On the strength of
the above, the African, quickly asked: what should we do? Remember, you can educate a person, but you can't make him think.
To this end the author
wrote:
“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby
passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams
from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories.
All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your
country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with?
They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China,
India, just look at them.”
On this note, a passer-by challenged me to tell him
when the public tap in my area ran last. He also raised the issue of electricity
supply, which I boldly told him has increased tremendously in the city where I
reside. However, he challenged me to prove my claim. I out-rightly told him
that it was long I heard people shouting NEPA (the acronym for the National
Electric Power Authority), the government organ responsible for electricity
supply in my country, Nigeria. The shout of NEPA is synonymous with power
outage, and occurs regularly.
He reminded that the name NEPA has changed. There and
then a voice rose in support of me. He told the inquisitive man that
electricity supply has improved. When the other man demanded to know, the impact
of that on their businesses, he replied “the voltage has been very low, competes with the
candle light”.
My Dear, lover of
Africa, what do you make of all these.
More importantly, are you still annoyed? If you are, I wish to know. Is it
with the authour of the cited piece; with African leaders; with yourself; with me, with all Africans? Beyond any sentiment, me think the problem is with us, in us, in Afri...
To the article writer, I say, bravo, thank you, "imela", "nagode", "oshie" for your reawakening thoughts, for your unflinching belief in Africa, for caring for Africa, my continent, far more than myself, my leaders and other Africans.Truly, we need this kind of push from time to time.
(Please note: the italicized
portions of this article are culled from an article written by Field Ruwe, a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. Again, some of
the potions you see “Africa” were originally
Zambia).
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