by Keniwuru Merutepiaou

There is this African proverb that teaches that “when two brothers fight, a foreigner will inherit their father’s property.” Like many other proverbs from the Motherland, this speaks directly to the truth of our situation in Africa today. The unending unrest we are witnessing has left us unable to build ourselves and each other while former colonial powers and other foreign interests continue to exploit Africa’s resources with ease. Simply put, the children of Africa are losing their inheritance because they do not  realise that while they keep fighting each other, someone else is looting what is supposed to be theirs. 

It is becoming a familiar pattern for African leaders to blame foreigners for everything that is going wrong. External forces are real, but we must also recognise that, at this point, poor leadership is one of the greatest contributors to the continent’s current predicament. Our so-called well-educated leaders have been well groomed for corruption, nepotism and self-interest. They operate on the idea that as long as they and theirs are living a good life, others do not really matter. This is an unfortunate departure from the principles that traditional Africa stood on. Consider Ubuntu, that principle of collectivism through which we understood that no one in a society should be left behind, that we can only go further if we walk together. Where this value system has been abandoned, the proverb is fulfilled: the brothers fight, and the outsider quietly takes their inheritance.