Poverty, corruption and violence: How did Africans get it so wrong?
President William Ruto and his wife Rachel at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi, during his swearing-in ceremony.
Last week, I chanced upon a blog by a Nigerian journalist which was both eloquent and thought-provoking. The piece of Afro-pessimism titled “What’s wrong with Africans?” by one Tochukwu Ezukanma cites German philosopher Friedrich Hegel, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the last president of Apartheid South Africa, Pieter Botha. These four gentlemen, two centuries apart, had one thing in common: None had anything positive to say about Africans in general.
According to Hegel, “Negroes have an extreme lack of consciousness of personality… which is why they allow themselves to be made slaves so easily.” They also have a marked affinity for human flesh, he said.
One can excuse the philosopher for these pieces of prejudicial folly brought about by ignorance about other races and insularity of thought, for he merely reflected the conventional wisdom of the 19th Century. However, for a person reputed to have been the father of human rights consciousness, this contradiction is quite baffling.
On his part, Jefferson is said to have owned hundreds of slaves and even sired six children with one of them. Even then, he wrote that people of African descent are inferior to whites in mental aptitude.
Considering that this is the same man who co-authored the famous preamble to the Declaration of Independence which says that all men are created equal and are endowed with unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is clear that the black race did not feature anywhere in his conception of “all men”.
These are just a few of the noteworthy individuals the blogger cites to prove his point that there seems to be something wrong with the African race, but nobody has actually put a finger on it. He vehemently rejects the idea that “inferior” genes could be the source of our problems, dismissing discredited genetic theories. On this I agree emphatically, for nobody has scientifically proved that the black race has a lower intelligence than other races. So why have blacks, specifically Africans, never overcome the slave mentality?
The blogger believes that the problem is with our attitudes. “The differences in social accomplishment and human development between races, for example, White and Black, are more cultural and attitudinal than genetic”, he writes, arguing that when the Greeks and Romans lorded it over the universe, they considered most European tribes to be barbaric. Indeed, even in modern times, Europeans in general are still regarded as unreconstructed barbarians by modern-day representatives of the ancient civilisations of the East, Japan and China.
But perhaps the most haunting diagnosis of our problems belongs to Mr Botha who allegedly made a scorching statement in 1988. It is troublesome because judging from what has gone on in this continent, there could be an element of truth.
“Black people” he is supposed to have said “cannot rule themselves because they don’t have the brain and mental capacity to govern society. Give them guns, they will kill themselves. Give them power, they will steal all the government money. Give them independence and democracy, they will use it to promote tribalism, bigotry, hatred, killings and wars.”
Whether Mr Botha said it or not, the last three sentences clearly resonate with many Africans. Look at what is happening in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Libya and others riven by internal conflicts.
Indeed, almost everywhere in the continent, there is violence, mainly caused by the illegitimacy of governments, selfish struggles for power, quests for ethnic supremacy, terrorism financed by outsiders, and basic failings of leadership.
As for our leaders stealing government money, why does this sound so familiar? One of the greatest failures of African societies and governments is that corruption at every level has become a way of life. Indeed, in too many African countries, winning an election is equivalent to winning a lottery — most politics is about making oodles of money fast, while service to the people plays second fiddle, if at all. Is it any wonder that 22 of the most corrupt nations in the world are to be found in Africa?
It is also clear that too many African countries still administer the ritual of periodic “democratic” elections, but these become meaningless when blatant rigging denies power to the winners. Indeed, in some countries, the opposition is bludgeoned into submission long before elections.
The result is, indeed, “the promotion of tribalism, hatred and killings” when the oppressed are not allowed to express their feelings peacefully. This happens all the time when governments suffer from self-inflicted insecurities.
Right now, we in Kenya are in the throes of a revolt that is giving many ordinary people and those in government very difficult times. A more sensitive government could have forestalled this ugly moment by listening to the counsel of the more level-headed citizens. Let us hope that the situation de-escalates and life returns to normal because at the moment, everyone is in a no-win situation. People don’t risk their lives protesting in the streets because they have nothing else to do. They do it because they have lost hope.
Mr Ngwiri is a consultant editor; [email protected]
