Page 47 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 34

Community
No one alive is without the ability to rise
beyond every limitation that they face. Same
way, no nation in the world, especially in
Africa is without the intellectual abilities, and
natural and human resources needed to raise
their heads above the waters of limitation and
degradation.
As Africans, we are not short of Western and
European ideologies that constantly create
narratives about ‘backward and poverty-
stricken’ African nations. We hear it every
day, so it’s a stale story whose demise is long
overdue. Even some of our own intellectually
lazy and morally deficient African leaders
join the derogatory remarks and talk against
their own people. It’s like they keep giving
meaning to the African proverb that says
“when the hyena wants to eat its own
babies, it will accuse them of smelling like
food”. And this trend we have seen in the
way they prey on the resources of their
people while going to foreign nations to beg
for money.
But this faulty thinking of some of our
leaders and the foreign narratives that fuels
this foolishness is not what this article
is about. This article is about the power
within each one to rise above the various
limitations that have created a lame-duck
idea about our beautiful African people.
I believe it’s enough with the negativity that
African nations have been painted with. But
like always, we cannot expect the people
who created the narrative for their own
selfish interests to come and undo it. They
will never do that. Instead, the onus falls
on every African to shift the narrative from
that of poverty to that of wealth; from the
narrative of laziness to that of strength, from
shame to majesty, and from backwardness
to innovative thinking that puts the interests
of the African people first.
Subliminal manipulation
Have you ever found yourself in a space
where you suddenly realized that there is
something you strongly believe to be true
but you can’t point to one single event that
created that belief or why you never for
once thought of questioning the belief? Let
ISSUE 34 | FEBRUARY 2025 47