Africa—A Continent Of Bullying, Cheating And Defrauding, Skewed Towards The Young And Poor!

As the heading implied, our continent (Africa) is filled with these traits, only to label it as 'love and respect'. I would like to highlight all the concerns one by one.

Slavery/Bullying

One definition of a slave: 'one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence' [Merriam-Webster]. In Africa the young are obliged to serve the grown-ups. Consider the family setting. For instance, in the rural communities, the young are supposed to wake-up early (while the matured and strong will be relaxing on bed), clean the home and surroundings, fetch water for the entire family, and in some cases prepare breakfast for the entire family. It is very fine to at least, fetch water for your parents for their hard work in providing food for the family, but that responsibility of serving all your grown siblings is an act of slavery.

The intriguing part of the family setting is, anytime there is sharing of money and assets, then it must be shared with reference to age, with the aged taking the lion share. But when it comes to family dutiesnot talking about parental support(labour), in most instances the young are expected to take the lion share of those duties.

Does this not amount to 'slavery' and right to bullying?

Discipline (Corporal Punishment)

The least transgression by the young is replied with 'corporal punishment', the lucky ones are slagged. The matured, with a complete understanding of 'right and wrong', commits a serious crime, only for him/her to be admonished. The grown-up sees it as unacceptable when being brutalised by the various forces (Police, Army, Prisons and Prisons) for failing to obey orders, but it 'very acceptable' to whip the young.

The question any 'rational being' will ask is, the young and the matured who deserves to be 'severely punished' for committing an offence? This does not rule out the institutionalisation of the appropriate punishment for offenders, because anyone who transgresses the law should be punished.

Making the matter worse is the approval of such 'heinous punishment' by our educational authorities to the Senior High School level, whiles workers of the (Ghanathe writer being a Ghanaian) Education Service (GES), are not whipped for similar offences like, reporting to school late, violating school statutes, not doing homework,....

The question to ask is, cannot the (Ghana) Education Service bring out any appropriate punishment to be meted out to school deviants with all the power vested in school authorities? The children and the parents (guardians) whose wards are in these educational institutions should be made aware that, the school as an institution, is run by 'laws', so anyone not ready to obey the school's statutes cannot be entertained in the school. The last resort could be to dismiss recalcitrant students after repeated warnings.

Cheating /Defrauding

Our society condone many acts of cheating, the person who does not submit to these acts of cheating/defrauding is labelled as a 'wicked person'. It is usual for an artisan or professional (like a tailor, shoemaker, ) to take your money (and may be some raw materials) for services, but in some instances will not render the services paid for, return the money nor the raw materials taken. These are common practices in our society, which are usually done by very familiar people.

What is so surprising is that, many of one's family members and friends 'claim the right' to take one's assets or money without the person's consent, which makes some of these people (family members and friends) even more dangerous than unknown thieves and robbers, because the thieves and robbers bolt away when they are about to be seennot even to be arrestedeither by the society or the police.

I personally have experienced and witnessed many of these cheatings (claiming of the right to steal or defraud) both at my former workplaces and at informal settings.

Insincerity and Hypocrisy

In the 'usual African cultural setting', a matured African is not expected to tell the truth (publicly), especially if doing so will bring shame to him/her. Paradoxically, the matured (aged) expects the young to tell the truth, especially when dealing with the matured or aged. The well-known adage, 'leadership by example' is well known too in Africa, but least practised.

Lies and hypocrisy are a norm among the aged (matured) in Africa. The aged does something, and instructs and expects the young to do the opposite. For instance, in most work places, the superiors try to reduce their workload, report late to work, and find means of siphoning company's wealth, but expect the subordinates to be hard working, report early to work, and be very sincere to the company.
Hypocrisy at its best! We sow,pepper seeds, and expect to harvest 'garden eggs'.
In fact, anyone who pays his/her debts willingly on time or ahead of time is seen as a 'misfit'.

Lack of Trust and Pride

Because we know of our own traits, we don't trust ourselves. Many inventions or started projects fail to make it through, because of lack of cooperation and continuation by others. People who conceive ideas refuse to let them fully known by othersbecause of fear of betrayal. Coupled with it is the lack of enforcing of made copyright laws.

Making the matter worse is 'pride and enviousness' on the part of those with high formal education. People with higher formal education find it difficult to accept ideas or inventions by those less educated. People's inventions or ideas are just brushed off by the educated who control some of these research or approval institutions.

For instance, in Ghana we have highly skilled 'kente weavers', auto mechanics and auto electricians, herbalists but our society has failed to tap the know-how of these people and polish it for the benefit of the society and the globe as a whole.

Ghana had had a bunch of herbalist since time immemorial, but it was just some few years ago when one of our public universities (KNUST) started a Bachelor Programme in Herbal MedicineI doubt even if any knowledge from our practising herbalists had been thought to be beneficial to the programme.

Cruelty

Many of our leaders enjoyed free education or moderately priced education for which even subsistence farmers were able to educate their wards. Education was virtually free in many African countries during the early years of independence. But it is these same people who enjoyed free education (current leaders) who are pushing for paid or cost-sharing (between government and students) educational system, just because they are better-off now and can cater for all their wards.

It is so sad when you compare the lives of African politicians to lives of the people they rule, especially those living in the rural (farming) communities. Most people living in the rural (farming) communities can hardly afford a decent daily meal, do not have adequate shelter, mediocre health facilities, , but these are things taken for granted by our (African) leaders.

A whole entourage of a president, a minister, ,and his/her convoy will journey to a deprived community just to commission a finished project (may be a primary school block). The interesting part is, the fuel and other resources spent by these politicians to and from these deprived communities will be equal in value or more costly than the project they went to commission. Someone will ask, what are the priorities of the African?

Cheating, insincerity and hypocrisy gradually sow seeds of envy, greed and cruelty in the minds of the young, and they grow up to display such qualities, to the point of being unaware of possessing such qualities. This has resulted in all these problems in Africa. The question one may ask is, had it been our culture from time immemorial or some generation(s) started it?

Two renowned personalities from Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor (the second President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana) and Kwabena Frimpong Boateng (physician and cardiothoracic surgeon who established the National Cardiothoracic Center, Ghana and the Ghana Red Cross Society) had complained bitterly on several occasions about African Leadership (style). In my opinion, it all traces back to our culture. Our leaders/grown-ups enjoys so much impunity, to the point that many go away even with the crime of murder.
Since they make the laws, all the laws are skewed to their favour.

The aged or matured enjoys all these impunities in the name of 'RESPECT' and 'Love'.
Any young guy who complains about these negative cultural practices is branded is 'DISRESPECTFUL', and dissident. Protesting will result in a huge societal demonstration against you (the youth).

Until these negative 'norms' are done away with, Africa will be wallowing in a state of underdevelopment and confusion endlessly.

These are my personal observation as an African, criticism are welcomed from any African who disagrees with these facts.

Writer: [email protected]