Ebola and Africa – It Tells Us Who and What We Are By: Madi Jobarteh It is a couple of weeks now since that deadly sickness Ebola broke out in West Africa, jumping from the Congo where it first emerged more than 50 years ago. In its wake so far, hundreds of people have been killed in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria, with hundreds more still sick with the disease. Amazingly, the American citizens that contracted the diseases while helping out in these countries, and flown to the US fpr treatment have now been released from hospital and declared to be recovering! They were provided a trial vaccine, which was coordinated by the Centres for Disease Control of the US. This is a national health research and treatment institution that has been leading the mission to ensure the health of American citizens. But in Africa, if it is not Doctors Without Borders helping our people, it is WHO or the Red Cross or some other Western public, private or civil society institutions or organizations coming to our aid! Sadly, we cannot just help ourselves, shamelessly! What does this tell us about ourselves? It is needless to list the numerous resources and the huge potential that the Almighty God in His or Her infinite kindness bestowed on the Africans. But what have we come to make of it? It is utterly unacceptable that for 50 years of nationhood Africans have to contend with such generally poor and backward standard of life. Where are our governments and leaders, and what have they been doing about us? Yes, we are very much aware of the intrigues and practical efforts by the West to eliminate well-meaning leaders like Cabral, Nkrumah, Toure or Lumumba. We are also aware of the fact that leaders such as Mobutu, Eyadema, Bongo and Patasse among others have been literally imposed on their people, and maintained by the West and the use of State violence. However, the onus lies with the Governments in Africa to plan, lead, manage, organize and control the affairs and resources of the continent for the benefit of its people. Thus what the current outbreak of Ebola tells us is that Africa has yet to have a government that can be described as a government. Whether it is HIV/AIDS, terrorism, natural disasters, civil wars or the provision of basic social services such as education, health care, food, community development, utility supply or creation of public policies, one will find that the African Government remains blatantly incapable but firmly behind foreign expertise, ideas, institutions, and resources in various forms. Our failure to chart an independent course of development based on our own consciousness and ideas, and through our institutions, expertise and resources manifests the intolerable lack of leadership and failure of the intelligentsia to place Africa on a path of good governance and sustainable development. If America could develop its CDC, or the British could have their MRC or the French could have their Institut Pasteur among similar institutions in various Western and Eastern nations, how come in Africa there is no single country that has created its independent national systems and tools to address the particular needs and rights of its citizenry? The height of our shame could be seen in Nigeria, our largest economy where, thanks to poor leadership a cancerous group like Boko Haram has emerged within a long history and broad environment of political violence in that country. Yet it has to call on the West for support simply because all this while, even with military men as leaders most of time, the Nigerian Government is incredibly unable to develop and maintain something called a professional army! Thus this Ebola outbreak must not be perceived any differently from the growing unemployment rate among the youth and the excruciating poverty that exists in Africa, which combined are also feeding into terrorism. Because of the high level of hopelessness, voicelessness, and powerlessness of the African masses, it is no wonder therefore that there is a concomitant growth in foreign intrusion into Africa, whether this is legalized economic exploitation euphemistically labeled foreign direct investment and divestiture, or the emergence of dangerous and criminalized religious ideology, among others. What all of these manifest, is the utter failure of governance, and therefore the pervasive fragility of the State in Africa that has ultimately become hostage to a very minority elite otherwise known as Government, who are guided by nothing other than self aggrandizement at the highest speed possible, with the use of terror where possible and necessary. Ebola tells us that as a people we are useless, unthinking, dishonest and backward. There is absolutely no excuse, even with the weight of the effects of slavery and colonialism, that Africa must endure such a devastating experience 50 years after independence. Because, even without Ebola, the average African child, woman and man are still contending with unacceptably high rates in malaria, infant and maternal mortality, several childhood illnesses, low life expectancies, sleeping sickness, river blindness, among many other preventable diseases that are still widespread and ravaging communities across Africa. From another perspective, Ebola can be compared to the largely lack of basic social services such as utilities supplies or infrastructure. It is the same in terms of economic and political safeguards for our people who have been contending with high cost of living, high taxation, abuse of human rights and disregard of the rule of law. The people of Africa must therefore begin to think very hard with the Ebola outbreak as an eye-opener about the very quality and nature of our lives. Such consciousness should lead us to ask the fundamental question, which is, what is the purpose of the Government in Africa? Where is the Government in Africa? If you still find it difficult to figure out the purpose of Government, or to appreciate the quality of governance in Africa, or better still to understand the nature of our lives, find here some basic facts to help out. These facts or rather the state of affairs will indicate to any African that indeed the life of an African person is insecure, undignified and unworthy. 1. The vast majority of the people of Africa live in poverty, subjected to high cost of living and exploited through high taxes and official corruption because of the failure of the States in Africa to develop and manage a well functioning economy; 2. Increasing number of the African youth are so eager to leave Africa by any means because they find almost no hope and future in Africa; 3. Provision of basic social services in all African countries are generally poor, erratic, expensive and not available to all; 4. No African government has established a well structured system of quality and efficient service delivery in health, education and utilities among others; 5. As always Africa looks towards the West and now the East for solutions, help and provision of basic goods and services especially in times of natural disasters, social crises or political upheavals; 6. The spectre of terrorism, both by the State and armed groups continues to grow while national capacity for peace building or reconciliation is either absent or hugely limited; 7. Vast majority of Africans continue to have their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights being violated with impunity by mainly the State which up to now fails to either develop or submit itself to existing and well-meaning accountability mechanisms as per their national constitutions; 8. Governments in Africa remain economically weak, politically incapable and technically unprepared to effectively address the various crises that hit the continent such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, corruption, crimes against humanity and climate change; 9. Governments in Africa continue to demonstrate poor leadership and results in ensuring peace and security, and democratic governance founded on the respect for human rights and adherence to the rule of law and empowerment of the citizenry; 10. In 50 years of independence, governments in Africa could not still ensure adequate food security, create adequate jobs and generate a massive wealth creation despite the unlimited availability of natural resources, huge human resources and proliferation of science and technology around the world. Are we therefore surprised at the speed and pain that Ebola is causing? Even when Ebola goes away and most likely to come back again, always remember that the Africa community has to contend with malaria, HIV, poor services, abuse of rights, and high cost of living because of Government failure!
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:30:11 +0000
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