Opinion
The season of Africa
It is this self-confidence that will enable us carry the battle against helpless dependence on foreign aid to the next level. And it is this self-confidence that will empower us to push out useless leaders through the ballot-boxes.
Ghanaian economist, George Ayittey, has spoken eloquently about a “Cheetah generation” that will transform the continent – “Africa’s salvation rests on the back of these cheetahs,” he says. He contrasts them with the “Hippo generation” – who are “not going to reform the economy because they benefit from the rotten status quo.”
We can argue about the degree of “simplistic-ness” of that binary perspective, but the underlying message should be taken to heart: this continent requires new kinds of thinking. The tactics and methods that brought us where we are cannot take us into the future we deserve, and aspire to.
One of these new modes of thinking has to do with: BigManism.
In Stockholm, the final minutes of the launch event featured a short speech by Swedish Finance Minister, the utterly cool (he wears a ponytail, and earring) Anders Borg. I found it very fascinating, the way the organizers squeezed him into a slot at the end of the event. “You have five minutes,” the moderator told the Finance Minister.
And he obeyed her; there was no fuss to it. I couldn’t help thinking of Nigeria, where government officials saunter into events hours late, disrupt the program with their overly large entourages and then expect to be given as much time as they want, to mouth a toxic mix of platitudes and outright lies.
I say it again: we urgently need to demystify public office in Nigeria and across the rest of the continent, dispense with all the BigManism and BigWomanism rubbish that we hold so dear.
It is this untoward deference to authority – the common argument is that it is “African culture and nature” to “show respect” – that allows all our Big Ogas – whether in government or in the private sector to get away with everything else. If they get away with hijacking public events, they will get away with misusing public or company funds and abusing public/shareholders trust.
We really need to stop all that nonsense. If Africa is to stay rising, amongst the many things we need to do will be this: Taking bulldozers to all the Big Egos that have helped trample the continent into this misshapen form.
