Gays Are Not the Problem In Africa

It seems that the recent interest in targeting gay people for annihilation in some African countries is intended to draw attention away from the serious issues with which these countries need to grapple. Of all the analyses of the issues that are dragging us to the ground, hardly has the presence of gay people been cited as one of our pressing problems. Yet, following the prominence that the issue has gained in the West, many African leaders have turned their attention to it. Thus, bills prohibiting gay people from being part of society are being revived and enacted all over the place. That our children need decent classrooms, that our wives need to give birth without the threat of death hanging over their heads, that famine does not need to be visiting us every year, that our roads need to be paved, are hardly seen as pressing issues. That robbers passing for leaders are looting the coffers of our countries and perpetrating the marginalization of our people is hardly seen as pressing. In fact, the robbers themselves are the ones busy diverting attention away from themselves to gay people. It is time we see the current fascination with gay issues in Africa for the diversion that it is. Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, and other African countries persecuting gay people need to know that this diversionary tactic will not work. Our problem is not the gays; it is the corruption and the stagnation that is cutting the life expectancy of our people. The last time I checked, gay people were not responsible for these problems.