The Vermin Among us

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).

For several years during the 1980s a mental illness charity in the United Kingdom ran an advert which said, “A mind is such a terrible thing to waste.” That is what has happened and is still happening to millions of people on the African continent – darkened and wasted minds, minds that are comatose, and until such a time that we turn on the lights of our minds; we shall continue to wallow in misery, poverty and ignorance and fall at the receiving end of the worst jokes in the world.

Even by the usually gloomy African standards, Monday, 29^th November 2015, will go down as a day of infamy for the continent. That was the day the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) aired its Panorama programme on “The Secret Bribes of Tobacco.” The programme showed cabinet ministers and other senior civil and public servants in Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Comoros Island and Rwanda selling national confidential documents, mostly draft legislation on toughening the manufacture, distribution and sale of tobacco products in our part of the world.

According to a 2013 American Cancer Society report, “Africa is poised to become the epicentre of the tobacco epidemic. The report warns that the number of adults who smoke on the continent could climb to 572 million by 2100, from 77 million today, unless the leaders of the continent take steps to curb the current trend.”

The report highlights several reasons for the increase in smoking rates:

• In Africa, 9% of boys and 3% of girls smoke – both rates are high compared to other developing regions of the world.
• Africa’s population accounts for 12% of the world’s population – it is set to climb to 30% by 2100. As a result, Africa will have the highest number of smokers of any region by 2060.
• If the economic growth rates of the 2000s continue into the future, more people on the continent will have money to spend on tobacco.

World Health Organisation reports note that globally, tobacco use killed 100 million people in the 20th century, much more than all deaths in World Wars I and II combined. It is estimated that tobacco-related deaths will number around 1 billion in the 21st century if current smoking patterns continue. Among middle-aged persons, tobacco use is estimated to be the most important risk factor for premature death in men and the second most important risk factor in women (following high blood pressure) in 2010–2025.

It is an established fact in medical science that tobacco use increases the risk of death from many diseases: cancer, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and stroke are the most common ones. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, killing about 1.4 million people, including passive smokers, globally in 2008. At least 80% of lung cancer deaths are attributable to smoking. Apparently, smoking just 10 or fewer cigarettes per day reduces life expectancy by about 5 years on average and raises the risk of lung cancer by up to 20 times higher compared to non-smokers.

The good news is that in general, most African countries remain in the early stages of the tobacco epidemic, with overall tobacco use relatively low compared with the rest of the world. Thus, there is time to put prevention strategies into place that could have a significant impact. In fact, researchers estimate that if African countries put appropriate policy interventions in place now, the region could avoid 139 million premature deaths by 2100.

It is in line with these findings that the World Health Organisation has been campaigning for African governments to strengthen their legislation on tobacco products, their manufacture, distribution and easy availability, especially to minors. Unfortunately, it is this effort that so-called leaders in many countries of Africa have been undermining by taking peanuts from foreigners, in order to influence decisions in some of the most vulnerable countries.

On the Panorama programme, it was not difficult to see the utter contempt on the face of this barely literate former Irish soldier announcing to the whole world on camera how he paid what amounted to “crumbs from under his table,” to so-called leaders of Africa, to influence important national legislations that were aimed at cutting unnecessary deaths in their own countries.

“I can show you the draft legislation for $5,000 but changing it to incorporate British American Tobacco’s views will cost you $20,000”, this pot-bellied Ugandan PhD holder proudly announced on the secretly filmed clip. He got the money and BAT got its way alright.

In Kenya, the former minister of Trade got a Nairobi-London business class ticket for his wife, in exchange for confidential documents of rivals, as well as official state policy documents on tobacco manufacturing companies, to British American Tobacco.

In Burundi, the “fixer” demanded a measly $3000, to change the draft legislation on tightening the sale and manufacture of harmful tobacco products just before the president signed them into law! A mere three thousand dollars into an individual’s pocket so foreign companies can have their way. Harm to fellow citizens, what harm? The nation, even the World Health Organisation can go hang.

And this nauseating spectacle is being played out in various forms all over the continent. Some collude with foreigners to evade taxes; some help them to secure unjustifiable judgements awards, while others simply steal the monies (including loans and grants), that are meant to help cater for the most disadvantaged in their countries. According to World Bank figures, Africa lost $1 trillion through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) over the 28-year period between 1980 and 2008.

At the end of it all they go begging bowl in hand to the very people they have helped to keep the continent in its current sorry state, to ask for hand-outs and budgetary support. Of course, much of whatever is placed in the begging bowl is still stolen at the end of the day. It is an unending vicious cycle of deprivation, begging and stealing.

In the process, these so-called leaders have kept the majority of their own peoples poor and ignorant for political purposes. For those countries where some kind of sham national elections are permitted, come election time, these despicable roaches use their ill-gotten gains to buy off their poor electorates, who also unthinkingly accept pitiful cash and other material incentives, to maintain in power the very people who have been responsible for their plights in the first place.

Is it any wonder that all Africans, in fact Black people in general, are held in contempt by all races on earth?

We need to start fighting back and the war must start with the incompetent, clueless and corrupt rogues who call themselves leaders on the continent.

I shall return with my beaded gourd, God willing.
Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected] , or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.