O Africa...

...the Government is too corrupt...
...As a business person, you can't make much progress unless you have connections...
... this person and that person are into Aristo shows...
...I'm moving my family to the States because all this wahala is becoming too much for me....
...God will punish those armed robbers................

As an African, the fragments above sound all too familiar. You've either included one of the above fragments in at least one of your conversations or you've heard some other African say it. There are numerous problems that plague the African continent (not country, as one of my classmates said today) - piracy on Somalian waters, child soldiers, AIDS , corrupt governments, unstable political systems, lack of proper health and education infrastructure, lack of jobs for post-secondary governments ... when will all of this end???

Some say "one day, e go better...". In the case of some countries, that's been said for over 40 years. WHEN exactly will the continent of Afríca be promoted from a status 'under-developed'/ developing/ 3rd world' to 'developed'

Should governments' solely bear the responsibility of making the much-needed improvements or should the citizens' take charge. I'm of the mindset that mass change is likely to be more effective through a top-down approach .i.e. government's are responsible for their citizen's lot.

First, change is expensive and governments' not individuals have the ability to foot the bill.

Second, though the structure of the government (federal, state and local government), it will likely be faster to implement change nationwide. Very few individuals/organizations, if any, have an established network in place to implement nationwide changes.

Third , if governments don't have expertise on a certain issue, they have the resources and clout to attract top talent from anywhere in the world. Not many citizens can do that.

I'll stop at 3 reasons for now.Once these top-down changes start to occur, then citizens can begin trusting the efficiency of their government and aid in implementing changes at state/local levels.

Let me know what you think, is it solely the responsibility of the governments' or the citizens' or is it a shared responsibility? If shared, who bears the majority of the burden?


Photo credit: www.worldaware.org.uk

*I'll follow up in a future post in a discussion about strategies that I THINK a number of African politicians take when assuming office, and the effectiveness of these strategies*