The people of old Ghana often observed, “The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.” That wisdom resonates still. While Africa has endured countless external blows — conquest, extraction, partition — the greatest dangers now (just as in the days when the Portuguese tricked Mvemba a Nzinga and shipped off his own kin) grow from within. They grow in our casual acceptance of incompetence; in the nervous laughter we offer corrupt men to stay safe; in the small moral shortcuts we take to avoid inconvenience. They grow when citizens surrender vigilance and allow incumbents to convert temporary mandates into hereditary privilege.
The people of old Ghana often observed, “The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.” That wisdom resonates still. While Africa has endured countless external blows — conquest, extraction, partition — the greatest dangers now (just as in the days when the Portuguese tricked Mvemba a Nzinga and shipped off his own kin) grow from within. They grow in our casual acceptance of incompetence; in the nervous laughter we offer corrupt men to stay safe; in the small moral shortcuts we take to avoid inconvenience. They grow when citizens surrender vigilance and allow incumbents to convert temporary mandates into hereditary privilege.
#LamentAndSatire
Africa is backsliding into oppression