By Honourable Saka
Our beloved continent, is currently dominated by a generation of noise makers: a people who can talk almost all the time, but don’t act. It is very annoying to hear some “experts” giving speeches over the radio, while reserving the real action.Africa has many scholars with PhDs and Master’s degrees in agricultural science, yet many of them will never set foot on the farm. Many of our scientists are probably very good at teaching, but never good at inventions and innovations.
Our beloved continent, is currently dominated by a generation of noise makers: a people who can talk almost all the time, but don’t act. It is very annoying to hear some “experts” giving speeches over the radio, while reserving the real action.Africa has many scholars with PhDs and Master’s degrees in agricultural science, yet many of them will never set foot on the farm. Many of our scientists are probably very good at teaching, but never good at inventions and innovations.
I
have always wondered where our mechanical engineers have been hiding,
as we continue to import motorbikes and even bicycles. The taxpayer is
often told: “Plans are far-advanced for the implementation of this
project”, the other project is “in the pipeline,” the implementation
phase comes “in 4 years,” and so on.
Our
scientific researchers, religious leaders, academicians, scholars and
politicians can perfectly demonstrate exactly what ought to be done in
any given circumstance, yet once in power, such ideas always remain
either on paper or at best be held “in the pipeline.”
Instead of
taking action and making things happen in a swift and decisive manner
for the benefit of our people, it is rather very sad that even those
tasked with such responsibilities are good at making speeches, while
pushing the actual action onto the future generations.
So far, it
appears a few of those in the built environment are physically making
impact, while the majority of the other professions especially those in
the manufacturing fields remain to be seen. The media, which ought to
bring such topics for discussion, has always been focusing on
politicians and their frustrations while ignoring the lack of action.
Years
back, there were only a few “scholars” in Africa. At that time, the
majority of the people had not received “formal education” as we often
call it. Many had neither been to engineering schools, polytechnics nor
the university. There were only a few tens of people who had the benefit
of receiving “formal education”.
In
spite of this, Africans were producing soap, shoes, body cream,
different kinds of cooking oil and their very effective and powerful
local African medicines. They cured almost every major disease by
relying on their local medication and eating organic food, which was
very rich in vitamins and nutrients.
As
a result, many of them lived long, averagely beyond the age of 90
years. It was common to see many of our parents living beyond the age of
120 years with good eyesight. Most importantly, many of our
grandparents never wore glasses.
Ironically, today we call ourselves
“intellectuals”. We live in “hygienic environments,” eat “balanced
diet” and use “modern medication”. Yet, many of us are dying below the
age of 40 years! Today, millions of children at age 10 are wearing
glasses! As if that is not enough, several hundreds of incurable
diseases are currently threatening our very survival.
How
many of our forefathers died of malaria? How many of our grandmothers
were infertile? In fact, there are many reproductive health-related
diseases in modern Africa than there were in the pre-colonial era
despite the so-called advancement in medical research.
Isn’t it time
we took a critical look at the quality of our food today? But of
course, many will consider this to be some “conspiracy theory”. After
all, once you successfully discredit legitimate concerns such as the
above, it becomes easy to ignore the need to take action.
Even
though Africa boasts of millions of scholars and other professionals,
one wonders the whereabouts of these experts as almost everything we use
in Africa is imported from elsewhere, despite having all the raw
materials here at home.
Forty
years ago, Africa was importing a sizeable amount of matches, sugar,
cooking oil, roofing sheets, steel, cars, bicycles, shoes, wristwatches,
typewriters and others. Africa did not have the expertise to
mass-produce some of these items. Unfortunately, after 40 years,
nothing has changed despite the fact that mother Africa has millions of
intellectuals who currently hold the relevant qualifications.
After
many years of importing mobile phones, computers, electric generators,
sound systems, radio and television sets, fluorescent lamps, electric
cables and many other electronic gadgets, there is no indication that
this trend will change any time soon, though there are millions of
African experts who have studied the production of these things.
Elsewhere
in the Middle East and Asia, ordinary students are sending satellites
into space. University researchers are actively engaging with their
students in the production of mobile phones, digital tablets, computers
and cars.
Their physical results can be seen everywhere.
Unfortunately in Africa, our studies are characterised by reading
theories, looking at diagrams and observing images with little or no
practical demonstrations. The educational system, instead of teaching
our people “how to think” and solve problems, is teaching young ones
“what to think”.
Today,
one can write over a thousand pages of research, yet this research may
not have a single practical input. One can perfectly describe how to
move a car, but it takes continuous practice to be able to practically
drive the car. Is it a wonder that many of our mechanical engineers
therefore cannot even fix a car?
Our
universities are overpopulated with political and social science
courses. The technical schools and polytechnics are still reserved for
students with poor academic backgrounds. Many
of our electrical engineers, mechanics and technicians out there did
not learn their profession from schools. Many of them were school
drop-outs who learnt their profession as a “trade” and by the “road-side
technicians”. When the scholar’s car suffers a mechanical breakdown,
the individual will rather look for a road-side mechanic to fix the
problem.
Many
of these local technicians do not have any academic qualifications at
all, yet they’re better at solving real-life problems than many of our
so-called professionals who have acquired a number of degrees. Isn’t
this a shame?
Our tertiary institutions are increasingly producing intellectuals who talk too
much, but lack the skills to personally contribute to problem-solving.
Many of our intellectuals only make noise, but push their real
responsibilities to the man on the street.
Such
acts of negligence must stop if Africa is determined to make any
progress. African intellectuals must live up to their responsibilities.
They must be part of the solution to our many challenges. It is time to
be proactive.
Real
leadership is demonstrated, not lectured. We’re tired of talks,
seminars and workshops, which have become the hallmark of our current
batch of intellectuals who ought to bear the responsibility of taking
the action. As long as our intellectuals continue to look up to the
layman to take up their responsibilities, Africa will never make any
meaningful progress.
Our destinies must be in our own hands. Long live the African intellectual! Long live Mama Africa!
Honourable Saka
The
writer is a Ghana-based political analyst on African affairs and a
social commentator on Africa. He is the founder of the Project
Pan-Africa (www.projectpanafrica.org), an organization established with
the sole purpose to help liberate the minds of the African people from
colonial bondage. He can be reached on Email: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk
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