- Nov 2, 2009
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Full Article @ http://allafrica.com/stories/201210190028.html
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Our beloved continent, is currently dominated by a generation of noise makers: a people who can talk almost all the time, but don't act. It is very annoying to hear some "experts" giving speeches over the radio, while reserving the real action.Africa has many scholars with PhDs and Master's degrees in agricultural science, yet many of them will never set foot on the farm. Many of our scientists are probably very good at teaching, but never good at inventions and innovations. I have always wondered where our mechanical engineers have been hiding, as we continue to import motorbikes and even bicycles. The taxpayer is often told: "Plans are far-advanced for the implementation of this project", the other project is "in the pipeline," the implementation phase comes "in 4 years," and so on.
Our scientific researchers, religious leaders, academicians, scholars and politicians can perfectly demonstrate exactly what ought to be done in any given circumstance, yet once in power, such ideas always remain either on paper or at best be held "in the pipeline." Instead of taking action and making things happen in a swift and decisive manner for the benefit of our people, it is rather very sad that even those tasked with such responsibilities are good at making speeches, while pushing the actual action onto the future generations. So far, it appears a few of those in the built environment are physically making impact, while the majority of the other professions especially those in the manufacturing fields remain to be seen. The media, which ought to bring such topics for discussion, has always been focusing on politicians and their frustrations while ignoring the lack of action.
Years back, there were only a few "scholars" in Africa. At that time, the majority of the people had not received "formal education" as we often call it. Many had neither been to engineering schools, polytechnics nor the university. There were only a few tens of people who had the benefit of receiving "formal education". In spite of this, Africans were producing soap, shoes, body cream, different kinds of cooking oil and their very effective and powerful local African medicines. They cured almost every major disease by relying on their local medication and eating organic food, which was very rich in vitamins and nutrients. As a result, many of them lived long, averagely beyond the age of 90 years. It was common to see many of our parents living beyond the age of 120 years with good eyesight. Most importantly, many of our grandparents never wore glasses.
Ironically, today we call ourselves "intellectuals". We live in "hygienic environments," eat "balanced diet" and use "modern medication". Yet, many of us are dying below the age of 40 years! Today, millions of children at age 10 are wearing glasses! As if that is not enough, several hundreds of incurable diseases are currently threatening our very survival. How many of our forefathers died of malaria? How many of our grandmothers were infertile? In fact, there are many reproductive health-related diseases in modern Africa than there were in the pre-colonial era despite the so-called advancement in medical research. Isn't it time we took a critical look at the quality of our food today? But of course, many will consider this to be some "conspiracy theory". After all, once you successfully discredit legitimate concerns such as the above, it becomes easy to ignore the need to take action. Even though Africa boasts of millions of scholars and other professionals, one wonders the whereabouts of these experts as almost everything we use in Africa is imported from elsewhere, despite having all the raw materials here at home.
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Our beloved continent, is currently dominated by a generation of noise makers: a people who can talk almost all the time, but don't act. It is very annoying to hear some "experts" giving speeches over the radio, while reserving the real action.Africa has many scholars with PhDs and Master's degrees in agricultural science, yet many of them will never set foot on the farm. Many of our scientists are probably very good at teaching, but never good at inventions and innovations. I have always wondered where our mechanical engineers have been hiding, as we continue to import motorbikes and even bicycles. The taxpayer is often told: "Plans are far-advanced for the implementation of this project", the other project is "in the pipeline," the implementation phase comes "in 4 years," and so on.
Our scientific researchers, religious leaders, academicians, scholars and politicians can perfectly demonstrate exactly what ought to be done in any given circumstance, yet once in power, such ideas always remain either on paper or at best be held "in the pipeline." Instead of taking action and making things happen in a swift and decisive manner for the benefit of our people, it is rather very sad that even those tasked with such responsibilities are good at making speeches, while pushing the actual action onto the future generations. So far, it appears a few of those in the built environment are physically making impact, while the majority of the other professions especially those in the manufacturing fields remain to be seen. The media, which ought to bring such topics for discussion, has always been focusing on politicians and their frustrations while ignoring the lack of action.
Years back, there were only a few "scholars" in Africa. At that time, the majority of the people had not received "formal education" as we often call it. Many had neither been to engineering schools, polytechnics nor the university. There were only a few tens of people who had the benefit of receiving "formal education". In spite of this, Africans were producing soap, shoes, body cream, different kinds of cooking oil and their very effective and powerful local African medicines. They cured almost every major disease by relying on their local medication and eating organic food, which was very rich in vitamins and nutrients. As a result, many of them lived long, averagely beyond the age of 90 years. It was common to see many of our parents living beyond the age of 120 years with good eyesight. Most importantly, many of our grandparents never wore glasses.
Ironically, today we call ourselves "intellectuals". We live in "hygienic environments," eat "balanced diet" and use "modern medication". Yet, many of us are dying below the age of 40 years! Today, millions of children at age 10 are wearing glasses! As if that is not enough, several hundreds of incurable diseases are currently threatening our very survival. How many of our forefathers died of malaria? How many of our grandmothers were infertile? In fact, there are many reproductive health-related diseases in modern Africa than there were in the pre-colonial era despite the so-called advancement in medical research. Isn't it time we took a critical look at the quality of our food today? But of course, many will consider this to be some "conspiracy theory". After all, once you successfully discredit legitimate concerns such as the above, it becomes easy to ignore the need to take action. Even though Africa boasts of millions of scholars and other professionals, one wonders the whereabouts of these experts as almost everything we use in Africa is imported from elsewhere, despite having all the raw materials here at home.