Page 89 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 15

Leadership

(Author) “We have so much to inspected’: Years ago, I had a conversation with
say…inequality in “fortunes” broad- “I think we keep missing the point someone who (laughingly, but from
ly defined should not mean our of what’s going on in the ‘global a place of pain) shared with me their
voices are unequal, in my view.” dialogue’ on development. It is not interpretation of what it is like not
(Reply) “Please give an example of a ‘global’, has never been. There are to have a voice at the table and to be
statement. I am curious. The world groups of countries deliberately totally discounted, simply because
runs on realpolitik and interests.” included, and others deliberately one does not have money. Their
(Author) “1. Climate change is real excluded and this has been going on voice was not considered to have
2. 1.4 Bn people in Africa need to for a long, long time. Afrika perpet- any weight to lend to the conversa-
be represented in discussions at the ually finds herself on the ‘excluded tion and they were cast aside, as it
G20 (other than through SA). There but do as we say or else’ list along were, to hold their peace until the
is a Yoruba proverb that says you with some others. Disregarded, ones with the ‘ability’ had finished.
cannot shave a man’s head in his considered only as useful for her It’s similar to a leader in the Somali
absence. (His/her) modern slave labor and her resourc- community in Kenya who said that
3. Africa needs to develop (in an es. There is no interest in giving her those who have the most (and best)
appropriate and cost-effective way) a seat at the table. Here’s why that camels are the ones who will make
and will use a mix, including tradi- is a good thing: we get to create our key decisions concerning sensitive
tional fossil fuels, gas and renew- own path. We get to erect our own matters that affect individuals and
ables. This has already been agreed. table and sit at it, bringing our brains the community at large. Both of
4. Investment is required in tech- to work for the good of the con- these examples are Afrikans dealing
nology and know-how to accelerate tinent. For Afrika to really change, with Afrikans. Both groups believed
the pace of adoption. For example, we have to really crop ourselves out that one’s value is based on their
solar, Africa cannot continue to of the loop of backwardness that capital or capital-equivalent – not
rely on importation of panels and we have been subjected to. Why is on their spiritual or mental or other
storage but must be able to manu- it easy for Afrikans to help build reservoirs.
facture locally. How can we unlock other nations outside of the conti-
the commitments made to financing nent but get stuck when it’s time to To the west and the east, Afrika has
and investment? build theirs? We definitely need a big no voice because she has (they lie)
5. There is more, this is your turf “Cropping” to take place, one where no resources to speak of, and is a
my brother and the discussion is we crop out the mindset that we constant drain on theirs. That is the
great. We need to educate, motivate have to fit in with the global agenda public claim they make, all the while,
and accelerate discussants and the and ways and to finally do things the Afrika has abundant resource that
discussion.” way Afrikans do. With excellence, has, for more than 2 centuries, not
(Reply) “I see a terrible and ter- compassion, brotherhood, wisdom only been funding the economic
rifying analogy between multiple and sensitivity. It’s time to take back growth of the west and the east, but
nation-states dealing with Climate our path.” has been blatantly and mannerlessly
Change and dealing with Covid.” exploited, to the detriment of Afrika
(Author) “both are terrible threats; Time for an Afrikan Policy on – all the while, the nastiest and most
I see climate change as existential. Afrika vile propaganda campaign has been
So are the inequalities that threat- Afrika has to stop waiting for the run against the beautiful continent.
en peace and stability. There are world’s permission to join the
many nations vying for leadership. dialogue, when it is evident that the The worst part is that shameless
Perhaps direction will emanate mean boys and girls of the world lies of the west and the east that are
from one of these. Nonetheless, I neither want Afrika to join their used to deny Afrika an opportunity
also believe that African leaders, so game nor sit at the table to discuss to participate in decision making
beleaguered by today’s challenges, matters that affect them or partake concerning her own place and role
have not also spoken effectively, and of their own bounty. The narra- in this world are embraced as if
(asked politely) that the game must tive has always been that Afrika they were true by Afrika’s so-called
change. Africa has demographics on does not have the same level of leaders. They sit there and agree to
her side, and cannot continue to be resources that the rest of the world be categorized as poor nations that
excluded.” has and yet is constantly in a place are vile and futile in their thinking
where she is receiving aid and being and in their ways, while they beg
My reply, which got me ‘silently rescued from one crisis or another. for loans and aid. Between the two

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