Little to celebrate on Africa Day

Mmegi Editor | Friday May 27, 2016 08:52

The continent is still stuck in armed conflicts in Burundi, Mauritania, Niger Delta, and other remnants of political instability in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Mali, and Libya among others. Repressive regimes are still the order of the day while corruption is growing every day in every corner of the continent.

Unemployment, poverty and disease continue to rule our lives in the continent despite it being part of the global village where partnerships with advanced societies should be at the forefront of fighting these social ills. All these go back to the type of leadership we have in our beloved continent, which is driven by greed, selfish interests and lack of vision. We still have people put in prison for exercising their freedom of expression; we still have presidents who disregard their constitutions to extend their stay in power, and even worse, leaders who think that the voice of the international community should be ignored.

The abduction of 260 or so girls in Chibok State in Nigeria cannot go unnoticed as we celebrate Africa’s birthday, as well as the war in South Sudan, Africa’s youngest state. We shall continue doing all to ensure that the ceasefire signed recently is sustained.

It should be noted that Africa is counted as a number one continent with a high population of young people, and therefore, the AU should make sure that each of its member states make an undertaking to provide education for these youths. It is high time we transform from being a consumer continent to being a producer of processed goods, rather than the status quo in which we export millions of tonnes of raw materials abroad, which we later buy at a very high price as processed goods.

We consume luxury goods such as phones, vehicles, clothes, jewellery, even beverages, yet we produce very little for ourselves. While it is commendable that the AU has put a strategy in place – Vision 2063, it is our view that the 50 years may be just too long and may invite complacency, which might impact on achievement of the goals. Perhaps the AU should go back to the drawing board and split the Vision 2063 into 10-year strategies and share with the constituents.

Nonetheless, we should take this opportunity to wish the continent more prosperity, peace and stability in the years to come.

 

Today’s thought 

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” 

- Chris Grosser