Africa Mymotherland XIX

By A. Abeku Haywood-Dadzie

According to an old Kenyan proverb among the Kikuyu people, the grass tends to suffer when two elephants fight. so that when strong forces clash, those killed in the fighting are not the ones who began it in the first place. This wise saying, which may have been said thousands of years ago, is just as important now. The motherland is in the news once more, and?this time, hunger is staring us in the face even as we are yet to?fully recover?from the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, we are in the news this time not because two black elephants are fighting in the motherland, but because two white elephants fighting far from the continent.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased food and fuel prices, creating an "unprecedented" crisis for some countries, said the UN. According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Africa imported wheat worth $5.1 billion from the two countries between 2018 and 2020. Again studies show that 15 African nations buy more than half of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, while at least 25 African nations import a third of their wheat from those two nations.

But why should this happen to my "mymotherland"? The motherland is deficient in virtually everything, despite having an abundance of almost all natural resources. Why are we always begging for nearly everything and becoming professional beggars and "dregs of humanity"? According to statistics, we are surprisingly the richest continent in the world. In addition to other natural resources, the continent has 50% of the world's gold, most of the world's diamonds, chromium, and cobalt, 40% of the world's potential hydroelectric power, 65% of the world's manganese, and millions of acres of tilled farmland. But one pattern emerges from a content study of regional newspapers: "We are a continent of grants and aids."

"Mymotherland" has evolved into a continent of abundance and deprivation, a paradox of lack amid plenty. Bob Marley perfectly encapsulated our predicament when he said "In the Abundance of Water, the Fool is Thirsty,"