A Preamble: Why Africa Does Not Develop

There’s no doubt about it: These young people did an amazing job. They took a simple concept, built it and wrote it in their terms and defined it for the rest of the world to see. And Uganda was left spinning! It was like the country had been tagged and now had to be ‘it!’ But I am neither a cynic, an apologist nor a pessimist. One has to give credit where credit is due. And vituperative as this might seem, the Government of Uganda ought to have had a much better response to the public relations debacle! To make it worse, not only have they [the Ugandans], thus far [a few days after the video and campaign were released] not come up with an equally powerful response: The issue is still being defined by social media and a different generation of people. The official government response is a little frustrating to watch … and one feels that the Ugandan Government likes to have its supper eaten for itself!

Which brings me to the heart of the matter: Africa cannot develop or progress under these circumstances. No. Issues need to be defined as best and by those that can toot their horn as efficiently. While they claim not to be in the business of communication [the U.S. only recently developed a tourism strategy], African governments need to really step up their crisis communication units. Interestingly, a great many of them hire public relations firms to do their bidding and to respond to international media on this or that issue. However, the essence of public relations is not to window dress. Again, no. Public relations in the age of social media and all that it comes with depends on the spin around the meat. Spin needs to cloak a modicum of truth. Actually, in the past, you just had to have a few things – a semblance or even a whiff of fact to get away with crime. But these days, this is not so. If one looks at the credibility Invisible Children has lost in the past few days, there’s real danger to being a flake. The new video from this organization was slick and cool … However, it was not balanced and as a result, obloquy will follow it over the rest of its [the video] natural life. But again, to whom much is given, much is expected. And the African governments I am talking about here have, honestly, botched their overall responsibility.

How could the Ugandan government not be held accountable for all that has happened in Northern Uganda for the past 25 years? For those who have seen the video, there was not a mention of who was culpable for all that happened during the Kony Years. Bear with me while I make this argument: Either the expectations were too low to warrant a mention or the makers of the world wide sensation around Joseph Kony 2012 were afraid upset the powers that be. Either way, there is fecklessness in the Ugandan government. The people in power are supposed to be responsible for each and every child. Joseph Kony is a thief in the night and cannot be held responsible for crimes against humanity. He can actually be considered as criminally insane as those men in the U.S. who mislead people into a cult and then sanction mass suicides. Of course, if they catch him, he ought to face the highest courts of law. But where was the Ugandan government in all this? Did Mr. Museveni not swear an oath to protect all Ugandans and what is theirs? Again, this is at the core of why Africa does not develop: The World has such low expectations of what the governments THERE can do that they’d rather avoid them all together.

But there is more to this. And this will be continued next week.

Dennis Matanda,
Editor – [email protected]