SHAME ON ME, SHAME ON AFRICA!

By Momar Mbaye, mbayemomar@yahoo.fr

The Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah seems to be right when asserting “the beautiful ones are not yet born”. In this novel published in the sixties, he laid emphasis on the way African leaders managed to banish the word “hope” from their vocabulary. He tried to demonstrate as well, how Africans are immature and refuse to change and take their destiny within their hands. I am unable to find the adequate words to express my disappointment this week when I bumped into a press article entitled “Africa: the 29 presidents or leaders assassinated within 40 years”. It seems to me that this kind of news occurs nowhere but in Africa, this land we dear so much. There isn’t the slightest doubt that Africa is the continent where democracy suffers most. After about fifty years of independence, African countries still lag behind, unable to look forward, as far as the implementation of democratic principles is concerned.