Remittances: An African Culture Spurring Economic Growth

Like some cultures around the world, Africans are expected to help members of their families financially in times of need. This is expected especially of family members who are seen to wealthier than other members of the family. A member of the family who is seen to be wealthy but who fails to help the needy members of the family is said to be seriously anti-community. Those with good jobs, for example, help the kids of those family members who are less well to do. This can be sometimes extremely burdensome and may lead some to unholy activities to help members of their family.
However, some of those Africans who have migrated to other places around the world and who have found better lives than some of their family members back home have not forgotten this element of their culture. Thus, they have been sending money back home to help needy family members and sometimes even to start businesses. Now, economists are beginning to say that this activity is helping the African economy more than foreign aid. This could therefore be seen as an element of African culture that is contributing significantly to the economic development of the continent.
It would be nice if African leaders could recognize the potential for this tradition and apply in on a broader scale. They could see the people of their countries as members of their families whom they need to help and work for policies that enhance this vision. It is rather unfortunate that many African leaders see their people as sources to be fleeced rather than as people needing help, thus helping to crumble their own economies rather than grow them. At a time when we are in need of robust economic development, it is strange that those Africans outside the continent seem to be more interested in this outcome than their leaders back home.

African Leaders and the Race Card

Sitting at the headquarters of the African Uniion in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, some African leaders have been sounding as if they have been suffering persecution from the hands of the West, all because the International Criminal Court (ICC) has decided to try one of their own, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, current president of Kenya, and has been holding Mr. Charles Taylor of Liberia and other war criminals from Africa. These leaders have even gone as far as speculating that they are being targetted because of their race.
They seem not to be concerned that these people who are being targeted by the ICC are those accused of having committed real atrocities against the African peoples - African leaders generally do not seem to be concerned about atrocities committed against their own people because they now see it as a way of life. Granted, the ICC should probably not be the body holding African leaders accountable for their crimes. However, to claim that African leaders are being targeted because of their race is to imply that the misdeeds of these leaders actually to not merit attention, especially from the West. The fact that the West has historically had a racist attitude toward Africa does not mean that African leaders should cry racism now. The actions of African leaders against their own people could be perceived as more racist than the actions of the ICC. One can make a very good argument that the machinations of African leaders have killed and deprived more Africans than the racism of the West. It is time these leaders take responsibility for their actions rather than hiding behind claims of racism.
It is quite interesting that as they were railing against the racism of the West, they were at the same time praising the magnanimity of China. As if China were less racist than the West! The difference between China and the West is that China currently does not care about the atrocities of African leaders, as long as they get the raw materials and the market they need in Africa. This is not to say that the West cares about these atrocities. The colonial and postcolonial history of Africa is littered with Western cooperation with African leaders to fleece the continent of its resources and slaughter its people. The relationship which the West and China have with Africa is based on racist assumptions - that Africans do not deserve better than they have. Sadly, the ill-treatment which African leaders have given their own people also indicate that buy into this racist assumption. Consider the luxury in which all African leaders live and the hardship in which many of their people live!
African leaders have no moral basis to claim racism from the West because they themselves manifest racist tendencies towards their people. They sit high above their people and do whatever they wish because no one can hold them accountable. However, they must not be allowed to run away with their crimes. If they cannot be prosecuted in Africa because they have rendered the laws useless, they should be prosecuted at the Hague.

Revisiting the Case for African Unity: A Thoughtful Reflection

African People Should Demand African Unity

The idea of African unity that is being remembered in Ethiopia today by African politicians who are not even interested in the idea is one that has captured the imagination of many Africans in the last fifty years or so. Even though this idea was spearheaded by politicians, especially Kwame Nkrumah, the idea has also been tacitly and vociferiously opposed by African politicians, especially by many presidents who are attending the ceremony currently taking place in Ethiopia. For many African presidents, the idea of African unity is threatening to their own well being. The idea is threatening because it will place them under increased scrutiny and limit their ability to exploit their countries as their personal properties. It is also threatening to the foreign masters in Europe, America, and Asia whom they serve. A united Africa is poised to make the continent less fragmented and so less prone to the machinations of foreign interests around the world whose goal is only to exploit the resources of the continent. None of these African politicians and their allies love to see an Africa which can be less exploited. Thus, left to these politicians and their allies who are currently meeting in Ethiopia, there will be no united Africa.

That is why the African people need to demand and work for African unity. Ordinary Africans need to cross the artificial borders that have been forced on Africans and preach the importance of African unity. African unity, as Kwame Nkrumah saw, would be a potent means for Africans to begin solving some of the daunting problems they face today because it would be easier to gather resources together and pursue bigger visions which the smaller countries we have today cannot pursue. There would be challenges but the challenges should not keep Africans from pursuing this vision. Those who are against the vision are the ones who often point to the challenges rather than the opportunities of the vision. However, Africans should cross the artificial borders that now exist and begin to work with each other to bring the vision of a more connected Africa that brings its vast resources together for the benefit of its people rather than the current fragmented Africa whose resources are meant for the benefit of warlords, strongmen and international interests. Africans should plan to meet the challenges of a united Africa as they arise rather than waiting until it is clear that such unity would bring not challenges. We would do nothing worthwhile if the expected challenges stopped us from taking action.

Funeral of Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe's funeral took place in his home town of Ogidi on Wednesday, May 23, 2013.

Dying for Holy Water in Ghana

What is it that makes people die in quest of holy water? Is that a salutary faith? Listen to the interpretation below and tell me what you think.

An African Mother's Painful Story for Mother's Day

This is the story of an African woman whose real name is Martha. Martha became a mother when she was about fourteen years old in circumstances not of her own choosing. In fact, Martha is now an unmarried mother of two sons. This is how it happened.

Martha was an intelligent girl entering her teenage years and was about to complete the primary school in the small village of Owe in Cameroon. Even though she was about to graduate top of her class, her parents informed her that her marriage to a young man who was about twenty-six years old had been arranged. Martha was devastated and in spite of her protestations, she was forced into the marriage. She became pregnant shortly after and gave birth to a boy. Not long after that, her husband died of tetanus infection and Martha became a widow. But, as tradition demanded, Martha was to become the wife of the brother of her dead husband. And so she was handed over to the dead husband's brother as wife. She had another son with her new husband in just within a year of the new marriage. After about two years, however, the marriage failed and Martha returned to her parent's home with two sons and a hopeless future.

Currently, Martha is about thirty-three years old and about to graduate from high school.

Martha's story is a true story and I know about the story because Martha is my sister.

As we celebrate this Mother's Day, let us remember the Marthas of Africa and around the world - those women who suffer under the weight of patriarchal traditions that make them mothers against their wishes. Let's continue to think about how to evolve traditions that actually dignify motherhood and make it a joy, indeed. I am not quite sure how to say "Happy Mother's Day" to Martha.

A Gift to Africa's Mothers this Mother's Day: Cut the Birth Rate!

Many African women give birth in very trying circumstances, to put the matter mildly. Some of the worst maternal and child mortality rates are found in Africa. And even for those mothers and children who survive birth, life for many is sometimes a constant struggle. Now, there are many reasons given for why so many still struggle so much in Africa today. However, in this short piece, my main argument is that one of the main causes for such constant struggle is that so many mothers give birth to so many children. In short, there are too many people in Africa. The population is over one billion now! One of the ways, and by no means the only way, for us to begin to address our current situation is to cut the birth rate. This will not only make it possible for us to have few mouths to feed but it will also limit the waste on the bodies of our mothers. Now, that will be a great gift for Mother's Day!

Whenever the issue of reducing the birth rate in Africa is brought up African traditionalists, Christians, and Muslims all rise up in arms. These are very strange bed fellows but one thing that brings them together when we talk about this matter is the view that children are a gift from God or a blessing. Since children are a gift from God, it is better to keep on having them. After all, why reject a gift from God? Talk of birth control are therefore often seen as nefarious. And so men keep forcing women to have many, many children these men cannot support. Because of their inability to support their own kids, they start relying on aid from others, be it their family members or foreign aid organizations. Thus, in addition to wearing out the bodies of our women, we hand our kids over to the mercy of foreign donors, subjecting ourselves to the humiliation of perpetual dependence.

Do not misunderstand me - kids are a good thing. They are, in fact, a gift from God. But we should have just the number of children we can support. There is no good reason having five children if you are not able to support them all equally. Even more, the rate at which some of our children die at birth suggests that we are wasting children. And if we believe that children are a gift from God, then we are wasting God's gift to us. To have so many kids we cannot take care of wastes the bodies of mothers and the talents of kids. In fact, in many cases, one can make the case that it is better not to have come into being than to have done so, as one insightful South African scholar has argued in a book which I would recommend for careful reflection. It is a challenging book which, I think, would make a good contribution to the population debate in Africa. Let's cut the birth rate for the sake of our mothers and the future of our continent. Happy Mother's Day!

Vintage Cameroonian Makossa

I was beginning to mourn the demise of makossa in Cameroon. But people like Douleur and Romeo Dika give me good reason to hope that the best is still to come. Watch Romeo Dika in "Janjo l'Asu" here.

Douleur: Cameroon's Mystical Musician

From the time he started his musical career, the Cameroonian musician, Douala Alexander, popularly known as Douleur, has maintained a mystical aura about him. Concealing elements of his identity has been a critical part of his mystique - until now. Now that his visage has finally been exposed, he has reached into the depth of his being to generate a number that glides far from the superficiality that is characteristic of Cameroon's current musical landscape. He reminds me of why he is my best musician in the whole country. His stuff is not for the faint of heart. He speaks of hope in the treacherous terrain of global despair. With the narcissism that is characteristic of show business, few musicians carry the burden of the world in their being, even as they celebrate its beauty. Douleur is one of those beings who never lose themselves because they are grounded in something deeper. Watch this, slowly.

Roman Catholic Priests Should Be Married: A Ugandan Priest Speaks Out!

That many African Roman Catholic priests have babies is no news. What is news is that at least one Roman Catholic priest is openly acknowledging the situation and is urging that priests should be married. Insisting that priests should be married is an indication that the matter is widespread. See more about the story in the Huffington Post.

In Search of a Middle Class in Africa

This is a very interesting article from the blog Africa is a Country.

Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate: Masters of the Musical Art!

Listen and enjoy! It will take your breath away - not literally, of course.

She: For the Women and By the Women of South Sudan

See more here on the new magazine written by the women and for the women of South Sudan, the newest African country. Well, men would also benefit from reading the stories in its pages.