Page 46 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 29

Community
our developmental agendas and priorities, to
specifically target their needs.
So, in a continent where poverty, the lack
of investment in youth, the availability
of foreign and locally funded militias,
kidnapping gangs, and human trafficking
empires have become sources of quick cash
for young Africans, we need to make up our
minds quickly about prioritizing their needs
before it’s too late.
The continent’s problems are not solely
the result of external factors, but rather a
combination of internal and external factors
that can be addressed through our collective
action. But to begin to talk about what to do
by way of solution, we must first take a look
at the various key challenges.
Key Challenges:
1. Bad Governance: One cannot
overemphasize the importance of good
governance. Corruption, nepotism, and
mismanagement of resources serve as major
obstacles to development. For every nation of
the world with a working economic system
or political system, we must remember
that it does not work because the sun that
rises and sets on them is different from the
sun that rises and sets on the other nations
whose systems are not working well. It takes
humans and the creation of purpose-oriented
systems to make a nation or a continent work.
And in as much as it is ok to call Africa “one
nation” of people, Africa is a collection of
fifty-five or fifty-four countries, depending
on who you ask. And what that means is, for
Africa to work through good governance,
it cannot start from AU’s headquarters and
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some overpriced conferences. It must start
with good governance in the countries that
make up the AU. We cannot keep giving
positions of power to those who are not fit to
run those positions nor can we give political
positions as rewards for political support.
As a form of solution to bad governance:
some put much emphasis on the importance
of democratic governance, transparency, and
accountability to ensure that resources are
managed equitably and that citizens’ voices
are heard. And this is ok. But we all can tell
that democracy alone without the moral and
political will to do the right thing will simply
become another institutional machine for the
manipulation of geopolitics and control of
the sovereignty of less powerful states. Take
for example, there is a democratically elected
government in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, but we all know that much of the
chaos in that country is caused by foreign
powers who use the chaos as a distraction for
stealing natural resources. So, of what use is
a democratic system of government if it does
not serve the purpose of the people? Or if
it’s used for manipulation of internal policies
which subject the people to the horrors of
foreign puppeteers? I would choose the
non-democratic government of Thomas
Sankara which put the people at the center
of all national policies rather than support a
democratic system that does the opposite.
2. Environmental Degradation:
I do not see climate change as something
standing on its own or an action that is self-
propelling but as a consequence or reaction
to our wayward use of the environment.