The Bitter Truth: Real Change in the Continent Will Not Come From African Leaders or Governments
Using Kenya's Ongoing Drought as an Example
As of December 2021, 2.8 million Kenyans needed humanitarian support. As the drought worsens, that number continues to rise, and it is now edging towards 3 million.
The situation was so bad that President Uhuru declared drought a national disaster in September last year.
Last week, the major media outlets in Kenya featured a child who died of malnutrition in Wajir. They further reported that 9 other children were in danger.
Drought, malnutrition and extreme weather conditions have become typical in the recent past because of worsening climate change.
What is not typical is that 20 years after the government of Kenya realized that drought in arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya was a recurring problem, happening almost every year, they are yet to come up with sustainable solutions to ensure food security.
Where Did That Number (20 years) Come From?
As early as 2004, arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) in Kenya had started experiencing fluctuating seasons. In 2006, for instance, Mwingi District, which is part of ASALs, had a total crop failure of maize, peas, beans, sorghum and millet because the short rains failed.
That information is available in public records and was used to justify the Kenya Adaptation to Climate Change in Arid Lands (KACCAL) project in 2010.
The project involved borrowing 6.39 million US dollars from the World Bank to “improve the ability of participating districts and communities in the arid and semi-arid lands to plan and implement climate change adaptation measures.”
As is often the case with such projects in Africa, they never quite achieve their objective thanks to corruption, mismanagement, lack of in-depth understanding of the problem and general lack of genuine concern from leaders.
Corruption is particularly rife, with Kenya losing a third of its budget to graft. That is approximately 6 billion Kenya Shillings per year or 1.98 billion Kenya Shillings per day.
With such widespread graft, do you think money earmarked for projects would be spared?
Here is an evaluation report courtesy of the World Bank. Go ahead and judge the efficacy of the 6.39 million US dollars KACCAL project.
African Leaders are Failing Miserably
Leaders who hail from ASALs in Kenya intimately understand their constituents’ issues. Yet, in 20 years of changing leadership, no leader created solutions to solve food security during the dry season. Why?
What’s worse is that during the rainy season, it will flood, and again people will die. No leader has figured that out either.
The situation is replicated across so many regions in Africa. Leaders capable of doing so much for their people, but they do not.
That is why Africans are willing to fight and die in Ukraine. At least, most conclude, they have a chance of citizenship after the war. It will give them access to better leaders and opportunities.
One Nigerian was interviewed about why he wanted to go fight in Ukraine. He answered, “at least I will not be in Nigeria.” That is the level of despair, anger, and disillusionment with African leaders.
Does that mean all hope is lost? No.
Africans Can Drive Change Through the Private Sector by Leveraging Technology
The change Africans so desperately want has to mushroom from the private sector. Not because that is how it should be, but because there is no choice.
See, African leaders do not come from space. They are not a unique breed.
Similar to every Kenyan and African, they are a product of their environment. Most Africans grow up not believing in their capacities. Many have an inferiority complex, and the majority grow up corrupt.
You might be tempted to deny, but yes, most Africans are corrupt.
In Kenya, for instance, the average city dweller pays up to 16 bribes per month. In Nigeria, 30.2% of Nigerians paid a bribe to public officials. Across the continent, 1 in every 4 people pays a bribe in Africa.
So why would Africans imagine that the leaders they elect are better than a typical African? They are just as corrupt. They will get leadership positions and start giving and taking bribes at a higher capacity.
They will become leaders, and instead of trying to solve the problems, they will continue to look to the west for aid. Why? Because they do not believe in the capacities of their fellow Africans and they have as much of an inferiority complex as the rest of the population.
I started this newsletter(not to toot my own horn) because I wholeheartedly believe change begins with the private sector—driving change through the private sector by leveraging technology.
If Africans can start solving their problems as a people and as a society, then the next generation of leaders will know African solutions for African problems work. They will be more inclined to drive community solutions that work.
But it has to start with society. It has to be a bottom-up approach because if Africans continue to wait for a top-down approach to work, I’m afraid the continent is doomed.
It sounds so cliché. How long have people said Africans need to rely on themselves and solve their problems?
But hear me out. Technology is a game-changer; it is the difference-maker! Africa’s greatest resource is the talent and ambition of its founders. That is where the advantage lies.
Young Africans are already leveraging technology to solve problems. Consider these excellent solutions.
Mpesa gave the majority of Kenyans access to financial services and is the mother of mobile financial services in Africa.
Apollo, a startup based in Kenya, allows farmers to get more value per acre of farming. At a larger scale, Apollo can help improve food security by enabling farmers to increase yields.
Andela, worth $1.5 billion, connects developers and software engineers with global companies. It is doing its part to solve unemployment in the continent.
Flutterwave, based in Nigeria, provides top of the line financial services.
The list is endless. Is it, therefore, a stretch to believe that tech can also help solve food insecurity in the continent?
Solutions geared towards agriculture and the environment can go a long way in grappling with climate change and increasing yields for better food security.
The beauty of living in this age is that Africans do not have to reinvent the wheel. At least not yet. They can replicate what others have done and tweak it to fit the African market.
Israel is a desert, but they export agricultural products. How? An area like the Negev desert in Israel that receives less than an inch of rain and has 355 sunny days is now home to over 250 agricultural settlements. They have used tech to figure out how to grow crops from salty water and sand in search of food security.
It is doable. What’s funny, even Africa’s corrupt politicians know it is doable. They have gone to these countries for benchmarking. Till tomorrow, no one has seen the results of their benchmarking.
In the absence of leaders who take responsibility, it is up to citizens to take the initiative. Eventually, it will circle back up.
Thanks for reading Not an Afterthought, where we lead the conversation on using technology to drive visible change that makes the continent, not an afterthought.
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Also, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. For a more intimate conversation or if you have any feedback (we love constructive criticism) shoot me an email at nafterthought@gmail.com