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!
