by Afeez Adeyemi Adisa | |
Published on: Jul 31, 2003 | |
Topic: | |
Type: Opinions | |
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1697 | |
Africa today is seen as a continent where wickedness, maladministration, injustice, selfishness, corruption, poverty etc. govern. Many nations in the whole world (mostly the Europeans and Americans) have been involving themselves in helping Africa nations from moving backwards, and yet, we are nowhere to be found in term of meaningful development. Why has this happened? Who are those responsible for this backwardness? Why must we remain or consider ourselves slaves (or those that need to be helped by other countries) in the 21st Century? If I had to be specific, my answer to above questions should be our so-called leaders. Yes, because from South to North Africa, from West to East and even Central Africa, no good leader has ever been produced in the last 20 years. Then how are we going to survive when our leaders are just there to make money for their use? Honestly, our existence as a continent has been impaired adversely by the so-called politicians that paraded themselves as the people’ s choice in various African nations. Taking a look at the situation in Africa, one will indisputably agree that the root of all the hardships, tribulations, and traumas people are confronting is the result of leadership problems. The images of many Africa nations had been aggressively destroyed, tarnished and soiled by those that want “power” by all means. They killed and maimed innocent souls before paving ways for themselves. Why must we do this to ourselves? Why must these ugly incidents continue in Africa nations? In Angola, many civilians were brutally killed in civil war that engulfed the country, leaving the whole geographical entity in a perpetual trauma caused by the so-called power seekers. Also identical, is the predicament in Ethiopia where some villages seem to be replaying the grim images of 1984, when over 1 million people starved to death. Now, the situation is aggravating day in and out, as infants with pot-bellies suck the emaciated breast of mothers too tired to wave away flies crawling across their lips. Inclusively, civil war has seriously ravaged nations like Congo DR, Sierra Lone, Somali, Burundi, Rwanda and presently, in Liberia, leaving many civilians unbalanced as a result of the trauma they went through. Many are still homeless and confronted with malnutrition problems. They are to feed themselves with whatever they can lay their hands upon never mind perhaps it’s good for their health. No wonder many are stunted, physically, intellectually and physchologically derailed. Poverty now seems deepen and unavoidable while coping mechanisms become weaker on a daily basis. No longer can a neighbour lend cash, or a cousin give surplus maize. Under this situation, children are dropping out of school --- almost half never see the inside of a classroom-ensuring that the next generation will be as badly educated as the previous generation was. African youths supposedly posed as the leaders of tomorrow are under the threat of inadequate education, and I wonder without a good education, how tomorrow will look, if not bleak and cloudy? I hope these leaders are not sleeping. « return. |