Could Africa be negotiating a sharp corner

By Regina Wokabi

If you think that what we have had to go through the past : terrorist attacks ,tribal wars ,killings like those of Tana Delta ,Baragoi and the ongoing in Maralal, Laikipia, Kenya  was bad, then you can’t imagine what the future holds for our children.

“What is happening now, is merely a dress rehearsal of what is going to happen in Africa over the rest of the century,” observes Howard French, a professor at Columbia.

The population of Africa is growing rapidly, but not growing in prosperity. Our governments have become lousy at planning and taking care of the people and our environments changing for the worse, losing the capacity to support this growing population.

Research on Africa’s population has is that at the turn of this century, it’s population will be two billion, more than the current population of China and India combined.

Nigeria, an unstable country where militia are slaughtering innocents will have, let us say double its current population.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, whose government has never quite succeeded in imposing authority on its vast territory, will be a country of more than 200 million lingala-singing souls, up from the current 71 million.

Finally, the Sahel region; that is Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso which has roughly 71 million of the most illiterate and poor on earth, will have tripled the population.

The issue of concern is that if the governments can’t take care of 71 million people today, by what miracle of transformation will they be able take care of 400 million? What do we see in our countries today ? So by what miracle does a country which is suffering state failure hope to take care of a population even twice it?

It is a warning to governments which are thinking short-term and which are not investing in the stability and endurance of national institution.

Let’s borrow a leaf from China, a nation that has a population of a billion and a half. Controlling them keeping order, maintaining a positive attitude of patriotism, unity and keeping them marching in one.