Where 2 or 3 Africans are gathered, conversations about our countries are sure follow. And the conversations haven’t changed much for decades. We’ll ask ‘who is to blame for Africa’s lack of progress?’ and answers will range from colonial masters and their legacy, to a global conspiracy by the West, to African leaders and more recently followership.
We seem to intuitively understand that someone has to be responsible for the job of moving society forward and our current crop of leaders have failed to rise up to the occasion of real leadership.
So who is to blame for Africa’s failure of leadership and development. The answer is simple. But it might not be who you expect. Africa is failing because Africa’s INTELLECTUAL CLASS has failed to rise to the occasion of leadership.
“The tail wags the dog”. The dog doesn’t wag the tail. This is a phrase that is used to underscore the fact that often in societies, a very small number of people control the whole society. These people have undue influence on the fate of the collective. The values and effectiveness of this small set of people offers determine the outcome of group. Now back to Africa’s intellectual class…
All great nations grow on the back on an effective intellectual class who organize, manage and steer the affairs of their nations (the tail). They are astute students of history, philosophy, economics, sociology and the sciences and are able to firstly on a fundamental level, determine the values by which a society should function, secondly steer the course of political affairs through laws, policies and force, and third are able to set an economic agenda to ensure the development and prosperity of the nation (the dog).
Effective intellectual classes possess a set of ideals the society need to aspire to, they set the moral compass of the society. They are also highly industrial, building factories, businesses, media, financial institutions on a global scale , which empowers them to influence the politics of their nations from a position of power. An effective intellectual class is also highly political, acting are guardians of the political realm by ensuring that highly principled emerge in positions of power. They’re also equipped to utilize force to keep the overall system stable.
Unfortunately, Africa’s intellectual class has been found wanting. They are unempowered, lack industry, lack vision and have accepted a fate where thugs, ex-fraudsters and drug dealers out muscle and out maneuver them to attain power. They blame leadership for Africa’s failure. Failing to realize that a nation is only as good as its best and brightest. If you intellectuals can’t organize, strategize and lay a vision for the next 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 years, then the wilderness journey will continue in perpetuity.
It’s no surprise that while global educational institutions are becoming billion dollar entities, Africa’s universities are constantly going on strikes because their favorite piggy bank (federal governments) haven’t released funding. These institutions with Africa’s top professors to me are reflective of our intellectual class. If these are our best and brightest, then I’m afraid to say, I don’t see where help is coming from.
If Africa is to move forward, it will start with the fixing and reorientation of the intellectual class. Only when we wake up is there going to be a chance for a future on the continent