The Foolish African: The Journal of Cameroonian Writers

The epilogue by NKwetatang Sampson Ngueki

All what the African decries is that he was dehumanized by slavery and slave trade, that he was callously colonized, and since then till today, his land is still the harvesting ground of raw materials for western industries. All the African prides himself with, is that he has benefitted from western education, from western civilization, from western camaraderie, and from community development at home. All these notwithstanding, I categorise the African should know that he is the most foolish homo sapient who has ever live on the surface of the earth. The African is foolish to depths unmeasured. I am an African myself. And unless I know that I am foolish, and unless I stamp out that foolishness from my body and soul, I will never be proud to be an African. Never!

The following are some very depressing slogans which you can hear only in Africa and in no other continent in the world no matter how backward it may be. Some of these slogans include, ‘The number of wives and children one has determines his wealth’, ‘Nine children are better than two’, ‘My grand children are my legacy’, ‘A chieftainship title gives someone much respect in his community’, a PhD or a professorship is the climax of education’, ‘That man is successful man he has three children in Germany, two in Belgium and one in the United States of America’, ‘In Africa you are in hell while in Europe or in the USA you are in paradise’, ‘The civil service is the best employment because in your old age, you enjoy your retirement benefits’, “Two heads think better than one’, ‘Building houses and putting them on rents is the best investment’, ‘Life is short’ etc.

Even if I were to stand before God who created me, I would tell Him without shuddering that the African is How can one be proud of the sophisticated infrastructure in other people’s countries rather than in his own country? Such temporal pride is only enjoyed by renegades. If someone settles his success in life on the number of children he has overseas, and they send him  hard currency every month, then, that person is certainly out of his mind. And such a person must be no other than a foolish African. If someone defines his pension as retirement benefits, then, he is certainly a foolish African. Retirement does not have any material or financial benefits. It only has spiritual benefits and the African cannot see them because he is blind. If you show a beneficial project to an African, believe me; you have shown it to a sheep.

foolish to immeasurable depths. How can the number of one’s wives and children determine his wealth rather than his talents and his technical know–how? What other legacy is handed down to grand children in Africa than abject poverty and despicable misery? What pedigree of respect can a chieftainship title gives someone? What bearing does a PhD and a professorship have on education?

Who deceived the African that two heads think better than one? God creates every human being individually. Two people don’t think; since the one can never know what the other is thinking. Only one person thinks and proposes what he has thought to other people who refine and polish it with their own thoughts. All paramount ideas which have changed the world were thought by one person. No doubt, Africans are counted at the bottom when inventors on earth are being counted, because they don’t know that only one head thinks at a time. Consequently, their intuition of initiative is compromised. How foolish they are!

Since the African does not know that investing in the mind is the best investment, why will he not settle on the manual labour of building houses and putting them on rents as the best investment? Since the African cannot create employment for himself, why will he not conclude that the civil service is the best employment because of retirement benefits in his old age? Since the African does not have anything meaningful to do with his life, why will he not console himself that life is short? Foolish African!