The “sh*thole” saga – A wake-up call to all Africans – My take

Well, what a few days it has been. President Trump has once again got the whole world talking. The myriad of responses – vloggers, bloggers, professional and non-professional writers and commentators have all been busy at it – majority of whom have condemned it. Great. It is undiplomatic, unbiblical and unhelpful to say the least.

But firstly, have we responded well? I have seen some really unsightly images of President Trump in the social media, and I’ve asked myself – are these people (those designing and sharing the images) any different? Have they thought about the fact that they’re dragging themselves into the same mud that President Trump may have dragged himself into by making such derogatory comments?

I write as an African – one thing we’ve being taught and continue to teach our children is the issue of respect. Has all this gone down the drain because of this comment? Instead of lifting our heads up high and reacting in a way that will shame the person, we seem to be falling into the mud with him. We may not respect the man as a person but we are duty bound to respect his office – a small sign that even though we may be coming from a “sh*thole” part of the world to his mind, we can teach him a few things.

But more importantly, let’s pause and think more deeply about this. Generally, if we’re all being honest with ourselves, either as Africans or not, what are the connotations of “Africa” today? Wars, starvation, power grabbing, corruption – to name a few. Can anyone deny this? So yes, we may be more diplomatic than President Trump not to use such a word in official meetings but we sure know exactly why he said that. It’s easy to be swayed into the heated arguments and not think twice – but this is a wake-up call. Using my own experience, I went to Ghana with my family two years ago – I was so excited because I hadn’t been for a while, my first son who was born there but left at the age of about eight years old hadn’t visited and was now an adult. My second son had no real clue of his home country apart from photos and what he talked about at home. But what happened to my excitement? I came back rather disappointed on many fronts, and if I’m being brutally honest, the same word President Trump used may have crossed my mind not once but several times during the visit based on my personal experience. So, whose responsibility is it now to change this image so that the next time we hear President Trump speak about Africa, we’ll hear a better word that has positive connotations and just perhaps he’ll be willing to have immigrants from that country move to the United States.

Generally, we all have to change our mindset - but let’s talk about our leaders first – Yes, we have to start with them. How many times have we not seen or heard African leaders unwilling to give up power when it’s time to go? How many times have we not seen our leaders willing to see their own citizens die as a result of political unrest mainly based on their fixated resolve to stay in power at all cost? How many times have we not seen leaders lead lavish luxurious lifestyles with the peoples’ money while citizens can’t even afford one basic meal a day? How many times have we not seen leaders fly out of the country to seek western healthcare at the country’s cost while citizens die of simple sicknesses that nobody would die of in the west? Which part of the world are politicians the richest people in society before businessmen? It’s time to speak truth to the powers that be. Stop running our countries like family businesses. Stop corruption within your governments, have a heart, think of the people, address corruption in a fair way, irrespective of a person’s political lineage, leave when it’s time to leave, knowledge is not only in one’s man’s brain.

Now, what about businesses? Many times, we all look up to the government to do everything. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of the government being able to do everything. I remember while in Ghana, I passed in front of a very profitable business on a rainy day and could not believe what I saw – the “road” in front of the factory in an area which is supposed to be one of the posh areas in Accra was in a rather bad condition. Could it be called a road? Deep potholes, untarred with delivery vehicles getting stuck and drivers struggling to get the vehicles out of the hole. And this is one of the many realities out there. Why can’t this business tar a road in front of its factory where it’s making money? Why spend so much on repairs of their own private and company cars as a result of the bad road they use on a daily basis or at least five times a week. Do they really have to wait for the government to do this as well? Play your part, support the communities you operate in for example through road construction at least within your vicinities, build hospitals that residents who live in the area can afford to go to. It’s all part of CSR.

What about the ordinary citizen? Do your part. Set your priorities right and there’re so many, but just to pick on only one thing, don’t go asking for favours from politicians because you voted them into power. They will honour those favours because they want to be voted back into power. But do you know the cost? Most of them aren’t rich and even if they were, a few will use their own money to help us out. The result? They’ll fall into the trap of corruption to honour those financial/business favours. And who suffers? The country. Which leads the likes of President Trump to call it a ”sh*thole” country, because the money that is to be used to build infrastructure or any other policies they have to create jobs and boost the economy will be channelled into private pockets.

Is it nice for our beautiful continent to be described in such derogatory terms? Absolutely not. So, let’s get to work and maybe in a few years, our leaders wouldn’t be compelled to summon yet another US Ambassador to their castles to explain exactly what we already know; seek an apology which may never happen and the whole world wouldn’t waste time on vlogging, blogging or reacting in whichever way about such an unfortunate situation and certainly, let’s show respect in our reactions in order not to fall into the same trap.

Rita Acquaah