How I long for a day that
an African (who resides and works in Africa, not relocated to other
continents) or African firm could start a scientific revival that
will be praised and heard overall the world. Historically, Africa has
never witnessed or been involved in a scientific research at first
hand and that statement can be proven by taking a look at written
history record to date to confirm it.
But all along, Africa has
been known for the wrong reasons in general and it is the purpose of
this piece of work to highlight some of the 'famous for the wrong
reasons' the continent of Africa and its people are known for. May I
state that, experimental researches conducted on African have not
been put in account when writing this article, because those
researches used African as tools or experimental objects, not as
brains engineering the research.
On the 4th
of June, 2014, a British newspaper carried a story of a Ghanaian
watch doctor claiming to have caused footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's
knee injury. The watch doctor who is believed to be so influential in
his line of operation, is believed to have planned the injury four
months ahead, because his native country Ghana was to face Portugal
at the world cup. The story was a 'big shot', but a joke in the sense
that, it exposed Africa’s weakness in not wanting competition and
people's finger were crossed with curiosity of wanting to see what
the end results of the game.
Therefore, after
weeks of speculation, on the 26th
June, 2014 Ghana was beaten by Portugal by 2 goals to 1 and to
everybody's amazement the 'bewitched' Cristiano Ronaldo was on the
score sheet with the decisive second-half winner goal. For now I
believe readers out there can agree with me that sometimes, African
are made famous for the wrong reasons and I am willing to prove more
on the topic at hand.
Furthermore, in line with
the above topic, not long ago, the Malawian's Weekend Nation
newspaper carried a story that made a shocking revelation on the 16
of August that led to some people being arrested as a result.
According to the revelation, it was believed that some local brewers
are producing traditional gin known as 'kachasu' by fermenting maize
husks with antiretroviral drugs (ARV).
More to that, it was also
discovered that chicken farmers too were part of this scam of feeding
their chickens with the antiretroviral drugs (ARV) meant for only HIV
positive patients. This revelation is so shocking and sad because
most parts of Malawi and Africa at large have been experiencing a
shortage of this much-needed drug commonly known ARV for patients.
And in my own analysis, this story does not only qualify to be on my
list of 'famous for the wrong reasons' countdown, but I believe this
story exposes the ignorance and drug insecurity in our hospitals.
And at this point I
believe this article is incomplete without mentioning some of our
leaders such as Idi Amin or Mobutu Sese Seke. To cut the long story
short, Idi Amin indeed is famous son of the continent, though he is
famous for the wrong reasons. It is believed that, during his reign
they kind of leadership was characterized by corruption, nepotism,
political oppression, tribal persecution and economic mismanagement.
Despite his brutal
attitude and lack of humor, at least Idi admin was once famous for
his official state claim of being the uncrowned King of Scotland even
though he was an African who knew less about his beloved kingdom of
Scotland and I will be considered a failure if I went ahead writing
this article without mentioning his official title which is, 'His
Excellency, President For Life, Field Marshal Al Haji Doctor Idi Amin
Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of
the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and
Uganda in Particular', a beautiful title that signifies strengthen
and maturity, but Mr. Dada lacked the responsibility of his title.
Yet again, I must say
Africa as a continent has won itself a crown 100 times in a row or
even more, for being famous for the wrong things in 2014. With a
population of 1.11 billion, Africa has done it again in 2014, not
only did we have Ebola the second biggest epidemic from the
motherland after AIDS. Terrorism and economic security made headlines
with two groups Al-Shabaab flaming east Africa while Boko Haram
bombarded West Africa Nigeria in particularly. This in all aspects
was a crisis because the image and potential of the continent was
damaged.
In a nutshell,
Africa has potential to be a global powerhouse, if only the African
people realize their worth and endure a positive change that suits
the 21st
century and empowers its young hungry generation, then the concept of
'famous for the wrong things' will be eliminated completely.
Compliments of the season, a special thank you to all the readers of this blog, you are the inspiration behind every article written on this platform. May God richly blessed you. Have a Happy Merry Christmas and a Happy new year. Thank you for reading and supporting this blog.
Yours
Sishumba Musanda
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