Letter from America
By Ken Mufuka
I know one of the United States Republican candidate's reasonable well. Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich was very generous with his time when I was writing my book on Africa.
He contributed a chapter on the Congo, the subject of his doctoral dissertation.
The connection with this letter is that Gingrich made a feisty summary of his dream which he calls: To Renew America. "Yes, I am grandiose, our country is made up of a great people, we must dream big dreams, we must go to the moon, and so forth." Dreaming and enthusiasm are the hallmarks of Americans, and we commend them for that.
I awoke from my own African dreams when I read in Zimnews (UK) the story of Zambian Brother Field Ruwe, a doctoral student in the US. "It is amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die, get up and do something about it." A white man sitting next to him on a Boston flight scolded. "You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. That is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for resale and I wept. I said to myself, where are the African intellectuals?"
"Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher or a simple water filter to purify well water for those villagers? Are you telling me after 37 years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a simple stone crusher or a simple water filter for those poor villagers?"
Many years ago, I applied for the position of Vice-Chancellor in the University of Zimbabwe. When I surveyed the scene, the toilet in the senior common room (the professor's pride) had not been working for five years, and one could smell the stench from outside the door. At the school of engineering, there was a marshy place surrounded by a thicket of bamboo growth. A pipe had been running there for years I am told, and I thought an alligator had taken possession of the marshy ground.
My family has a real estate business in the US, and I am the practical guy who inspects the rentals. I have been able to put roofs with my nephews, have laid out pipes for sewage and connected them to city lines. Why was it that with five professors of engineering, nobody had the stamina to do their own engineering at U-Zee? There was also a shortage of water. They asked for a grant from the United Nations (or whatever) to dig wells for them. What do those engineers do?
I of course wrote some suggestions for self help and my application was buried in the sand. "Monoziva kuti Kenny anopenga," an insider told me. To rub salt to the wounds, the trustees were very proud when a 24-year old white boy from the United Nations told them how to lay water pipes. "We received a grant," the insider told me. What a shame.
Corrupt thoughts
I was saddened to hear that the Zimbabwe government is still listening to the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund. The latest advice by the WB was that teachers and civil servants, who earn less than US$150 per month, should not be given a raise. The same bank then advises that Zimbabwe should pay its loans to that organisation.
The amount is more than US$700 million, first installment. I researched the salaries of World Bank officials in Zimbabwe. The chief operating officer receives more than US$100 000 per year and expenses paid, including room and board. As an international civil servant, he pays no taxes.
This individual advises that Zimbabwean teachers are over paid. The problem has come before. Julius Nyerere was faced by a similar problem in 1973. He asked the official: "Should we let our children starve while we scrounge to pay what you say we owe you?" In our case, the loans owed were either borrowed by the colonial regime, or the money was indifferently used by our brothers. "We do not know where it went and how much it was," replied honest Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia.
Briefly, Zimbabwe is not going to be allowed back into the WB system soon until it has a pro-western government in place. By that time, all our resources will have been pledged to them.
"As long as you are dependent on me, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior," the American told Ruwe. The intellectuals are not entirely to blame. The politicians have not changed in thirty years of independence.
Zimbabwean parliamentarians have borrowed money to build a hotel for themselves. Is it difficult to see that Zimbabwean chefs do not pay their hotel bills and that that hotel will go broke in less than one year? Besides sisters of the night will be hanging out there, and Brother Commissioner Chihuri will be called to arrest them for indecent exposure.
Show/Hide commentswritten by max, February 12, 2012
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written by runga zhou, February 10, 2012
very sad ..... zimbos are better than most africans in that we are such hardworkers. the politican environment is what pulls us down. the decisions that our policy makers impliment and deem important are so short termed in nature. they kill the dreams, they destroy the mindset and make us have inertia..... we need a m*re enabling political and economic environment !!!!!!!!!! lets think 20 - 50 years ahead as a nation.
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written by indabahr, February 09, 2012
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written by C Frizell, February 05, 2012
There is certainly no lack of intelligence because Zimbos of all races do very well outside the country. I think the reason for that is twofold - first those who leave have m*re initiative and second they are not bound by cultural restraints in their new land.
Many years ago I was involved in the Chitungwriza rail project. I had previoiusly worked as a consultant for Rhodesia Railways so I did know something. I worked out that we could build the line for about $6 million. We would use rail recovered from the NRZ track upgrade, that could be bought at scrap metal prices, the locos and carriages would be made locally and all that needed to be imported was the signalling equipment. However, "the government" wanted to employ Consultants and came up with their figure of around $300 million! This was based on the high-tech line from Zurich to Baden in Switzerland. I a*sumed kickbacks were involved.
It is this lack of initiative and self-confidence that bedevils the country. It is OK to fail, as long as you did your best, because the way one learns is through failure. I also think that many black Zimbabweans remain "mentally colonised" and believe some foreigner is bound to know m*re than us locals. I saw this happen time and time again with the employment of foreign "experts" who in fact knew just about nothing
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written by Gehena Wa Harinamoto, February 05, 2012
"All I need Gehe, is the right gradient and a reservoir...." he told me with that affable grin of his.
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written by Primrose Chisango, February 04, 2012
What we need in Africa is an extensive educational programmes of tolerance and distancing ourselves from self hate and intolerance of anything different. We need to learn to accept one another. We can not continue to blame the white man for the things we are doing wrong. How can we continue to suppress our own people worse than the white man
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written by Blessing Ruzengwe, February 03, 2012
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