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Africa Top 10
Problems: Not the ones You were thinking
about!
Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN
First published Saturday, March 9th, 2013
Africa is not poor. Africa is a rich
continent inhabited by poor people. Once we
fix the people problem, everything else will
fall into place.
In this post, I share what I consider to be
the top 10 problems affecting the people
ability to fix themselves and subsequently
take control of their destiny.
1. The Poverty Porn
Humanitarian organization like UNICEF,
Doctors without Borders, and alike have done
more damage to Africa than the marginal
positive impact they supposedly have had.
In order to raise money for their
operations, they have engaged into a
“poverty porn” depicting Africa with the
most degrading, and humiliating images.
African people dignity is not something they
cared about. The huge billboard and
magazines photos showing Africa at its worst
now fill the mind of billions of people
around the world, and unfortunately those
people can’t help but think about Africa
only trough those images. (In the same time,
those medias won’t show the photo of a dead
American or English soldier, because it’s
shocking and doesn’t respect human dignity)
Underwear-for-africa
The worst consequence of this “free
publicity” is the way it has deeply impacted
Africans self-perception and self-image.
For example, It’s common in France for
African immigrants who are having problems
with their teenagers to threat them “If
you’ll continue to behave that way, you’ll
be sent back to Africa”, meaning “We will
send you to the hell you have seen on TV or
in the Newspaper”.
The “Poverty porn” of the NGOs, the
humanitarian organizations, and Western
medias is the problem number one because it
sabotages Africans self-image, weakens their
sell-confidence and resolve, and contributed
hugely to the hate and racism Africans face
all over the world.
Swedish minister in ‘racist cake’
2. International Aid
If foreign aid would develop any place,
Africa will be the most developed continent
in the world.
International AID is now doing more harm to
Africa than good. It became the main tool
used by foreign governments and
organizations to corrupt the African elite,
and get them to behave so irrationally
toward their own populations and the basic
interest of their countries.
Aside corruption and the criminality,
International Aid is the root of the 5 Stars
colonization disease that cripple the
African elite which dislike the
responsibility and the self sacrifice that
comes with being in control of a nation
destiny. As far as they enjoyed the status
offered by their positions, they never liked
the responsibilities demanded by the jobs,
therefore they use international aid
programs as substitute to their
responsibilities.
If Africa needs any aid, the most urgent one
is to get rid of the 40 billions corruption
industry (called International Aid) that
shackles its youth and elite, cultivates and
maintains the beggar mentality.
How would you develop any country when the
dream of the majority of its youth and elite
is not entrepreneurship, innovation,
education and self-sufficiency, but the
dream to have a job with a humanitarian
organization or to get their project
financed by some International aid Agency or
proxy.
3. International Medias
A friend of mine recently told me that the
“Global Lying System” (referring to the
western medias covering African news) is one
of the biggest threat to peace and
development in Africa. African tribes are
created in London, Brussels and Paris by
journalists.
The colonial heritage of those journalists
(unless they are instructed to do so) makes
them to see Africa only as a collection of
tribes and focus their coverage on what they
call as tribal issues. They create new
realities like “People from the North”
compared to “people from the South” or
“people from the West”. They invent new
divisions with creative imagination, like
the Belgians falsely created the “Tutsi” and
“Hutu” tribes in Rwanda which ultimately
lead to the genocide in 1994.
The western medias seems to follow an agenda
of further dividing African nations and
populations with their constant framing of
Africa through fight between tribes,
religions, geography, etc. This must stop
before African could unite to fight their
way out.
The influence of western medias in Africa is
very negative, and could be considered as
part of Africa problems.
The second most negative effect of the
western medias in Africa is that they tend
to focus their attention on what the
Europeans or the White people are doing in
Africa or for Africa, and how they are
saving Africa, therefore continuing to
create the false impression that Africa is a
hopeless place with lazy people that could
be saved only by the white man.
What you often see is a white man helping
African or an outsider making change in
Africa. That’s bad, and perpetuate the
feeling that Africans are incapable to solve
their problem by themselves, and reinforce
in the mind of the young people and
generation “the white man as a savior”
mentality. Very Bad!
Panel of experts on Africa development –
Africa Without Africans
4. The Colonial Borders
The current African countries borders are
nonsenses. A study done in the years 70s
showed that African nations had less trade
between themselves than before colonization
(How Europe Underdeveloped Africa). The
situation has not change much since then.
There is no immediate solution, but
initiative like the African passport or Visa
would greatly improve the movement of people
and increase the potential of intellectual
and commercial exchanges.
5. Ignorance of the Books of Machiavelli,
Hegel & Darwinism
The western elite that currently rules the
world has 3 majors intellectuals influences:
Machiavelli (How to rule over people with
cynicism and deception), Hegel (using the
Hegelian dialectic of history they consider
the western civilization as the end of
history) and Darwin (the Survival belongs to
the fittest, therefore the white race should
stay at the top and rule over other races).
Anyone who wants to understand the
intellectual principles that are shaping our
current world, should deeply understand the
above 3 authors and their influence on the
western elite.
Maya Angelou always advise the
African-American elite to read The prince of
Machiavelli, because, she said, without a
proper understanding of this book, you won’t
understand the western elite. The Prince is
their bedside book. it contains the main
principle all imperialist applies: “If you
want to control the people, separate the
people and you can rule them. Divide them
and you can conquer them.”
The ignorance by the African elite of the
principles by which the western Elite think
and act is a major cause of their permanent
naivete and incompetency.
6. The Rich Subaltern Mentality
There are two kinds of people in Africa,
those who can’t make a living regardless of
how much they put in, and those with lavish
lifestyle and privileges regardless of how
little they contribute.
The first group is made of those who has not
contact with “white” people, and the second
is made of people who has contact with
“white” people.
If you live in Africa or know some African
people, make a list of 10 people you know or
have heard about who have a “good life” and
social privileges. You’ll quickly find out
that 90% those who have a good life are
people who work for the “white” or with the
“white”. They serve foreign-owned or
controlled companies, organizations or
foreign NGOs in Africa. They have big
houses, nice cars, home servants, and enjoy
high social status and privileges.
I call those the “Rich subalterns” or the
“Selected subalterns”. (“White” in Africa is
used for “European”, “Chinese”, “Lebanese”,
“American”, etc. In the context of this
article it could be easily replaced by
“foreigners”.)
What is the problem?
The problem is that you can’t develop a
country or continent where the majority of
people who have the potential to become
leaders are raised to be “good subalterns”
to be successful.
Young people aspire to emulate the most
successful models in their society, and now
the only visible and tangible model
available is the rich subaltern model.
There will be no problem with the rich
subaltern model if this group of population
was not made mainly with “non-productive”
people working in middle management
position. Middle managers in office don’t
create companies, they don’t create value,
they don’t create jobs, they don’t invent,
innovate or act in leadership position with
the power to change things.
7. Lack of Domestic Leadership Education
Africa is not poor, Africa has a leadership
problem. For any society to prosper it
should have a endogenous system of
identifying, training and coaching its
future leaders. Some countries do it through
their military services, some do it through
elite schools, and some others do it through
informal coaching and assistance
organizations or secret societies.
The main issue about Africa leadership is
not the quality of its individuals, but the
quality of the group of individuals.
Individually there are lot of brilliant
people, but collectively they fail to work
together harmoniously on long term vision,
and commit with integrity and loyalty to
their country or long term vision.
The reason behind this failure is that most
the so called leaders are trained outside
their country and context, by people who has
no knowledge of the context in which their
leadership skills would apply. Additionally,
the heterogeneity of the systems in which
they have trained make it difficult to make
them work well together.
Domestic leadership education systems and
programs that raises in the same place and
context for a long period of time a whole
generation of new leaders is the way to go.
8. Lack of Science & Engineering Education
A study done few years ago at the Stanford
University (I’m struggling to find my
source) demonstrated how colonial powers
tend to drastically reduce the study of
science and engineering in the countries
they have occupied. They would favor
literature and subaltern studies that would
make the graduates just good enough to
assist them in running the colonies or the
occupied countries.
Results, Africa has a lot of “talkers”,
people with oratory prowess. Now, We don’t
need more of those lawyers, sociologists,
philosophers, but more scientists and
engineers.
9. Lack of International Intelligence
network
Africa knowledge of the world is very
limited. I’d agree that most of my fellow
Africans have very little idea of the world
they are living in, specially the forces and
trends that are shaping it.
This lack of intelligence is bad, because it
leaves the continent unaware of events and
shifts that could affect it.
10. The Crab Mentality
If you put several crabs into a bucket, and
if one of them begins to crawl out, one or
more of the other crabs will put it back
down and prevent its escape. It’s called
Crab Mentality.
This is a good metaphor for us as Africans
to Unite and create strong networks that
support each other, while avoiding the Judas
goats.
About Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN
Mawuna Koutonin is a world peace
activist who relentlessly works to empower
people to express their full potential and
pursue their dreams, regardless of their
background. He is the Editior of
SiliconAfrica.com, Founder of Goodbuzz.net,
and Social activist for Africa Renaissance.
Koutonin’s ultimate dream is to open a
world-class human potential development
school in Africa in 2017. If you are
interested in learning more about this
venture or Koutonin’s other projects, you
can reach him directly by emailing at
linkcrafter@gmail.com
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