It is that time again when African leaders find themselves in New York in the name of the United Nations General Assembly (Unga). Unlike their colleagues from the developed world who attend these meetings to establish mutually beneficial relationships that help them maintain their power, our often make these trips to take a break from the problems back home. Above all, most of them see this gathering of nations as an opportunity to beg and to undress themselves before blue eyes.
Just a week into Unga, there is a meme circulating on social media. The post only becomes a meme when one reads into its ridiculousness. Otherwise, it was meant to be news of triumph. It was a post announcing that, after successful deliberations with the presidents of South Africa and Kenya, the government of Ukraine has agreed to set up grain hubs in Kenya and other African countries in order to tackle food insecurity. The irony in this is just too blinding. Ukraine, a country that is at war, is ready to save African countries, that have been at peace since independence, from hunger.
But African leaders don’t see anything wrong with this. They cannot even take time to consider how privileged they are unlike Ukraine, which is sweltering under the breath of Vladimir Putin. That is just how we have decided to waste our lives as Africans – we are in constant search of white saviors instead of searching from within for solutions to our problems. We have blamed most of our problems on the West and yet we continue to look up to these people for salvation. It is somehow imprinted on the minds of African politicians that the West is their only hope, and yet for decades now, Western aid has failed to uplift Africa from the jaws of poverty.
To talk about home, the Tonse Alliance administration seems to be in the same stagnant waters that other regimes before it have tried to swim. To say the truth, three years after been given mandate, there is nothing unique or ingenious that Chakwera and his team have come up with to make this country a better place. It has all been talk, and since we have seen their inaction, anything that comes out of their mouths now is no longer inspiring. Malawians had hope that, by now, we would be moving out of the list of world beggars, but that will not happen. The Tonse alliance wants to maintain the status quo, and so far, they have been doing a good job at that.
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There are some “experts” who have praised President Chakwera for his speech at the 2023 Unga, in which he called for debt cancellation. The president is, in essence, begging rich countries to forgive the debts that poor countries like Malawi owe them. He thinks this is one of the most effective ways through which the world can achieve Sustainable Development Goals while on equal footing, and the experts in support of him agree with this line of thinking. It is like your neighbor, who owes you a lot of money, coming to your doorstep to tell you that you must forget about the money because you are rich. Forget about it and let’s start all over.
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The folly in this appeal is that the poor countries asking for mercy have never shown any seriousness at improving themselves. There has not been any serious effort by the Malawi government to see an end to its begging. We accumulate more debts to service current debts and never even account for the money we borrow. Most people agree that corruption in this country is worsening by the day, and yet no high-profile corruption case has been successfully concluded to bring the culprits to justice. We are not talking about your uncle’s case – the one who misplaced K50,000 at a poultry company and was jailed.
It is ridiculous to see leaders who fail to put in place effective systems of checks and balances in their countries begging for mercy from their Western counterparts. It is, in fact, insulting for somebody who has borrowed your money and drank it, to be asking you to forgive and forget. And this person will come back the next day to beg again – a new beginning of yet another toxic cycle. African leaders must be ashamed for leading the world in begging.
