A Continent of Little Scruples

Just wondering. How does it work. Most governments. African governments precisely. Spend more than half of their budgets on non-essentials.
Presidential jets. Imported high-powered luxury cars. Three at least for each minister. A Mercedes Benz for cruising city roads. A 4x4 for the neglected rural roads. Another for picking up kids from school.
Again, just wondering. What is sensible. Easier. Cheaper. To use millions to repair the neglected roads that wear down the cars. Or to spend millions buying cars that will be worn down by the neglected roads?
More is spent on over-bloated ministries. Minister. His deputy who cannot act when the minister is away. Cannot even attend Cabinet meetings. A permanent secretary. A deputy permanent secretary. An under-secretary. A host of directors. And their deputies.
Another wondering. If a deputy minister (in most cases and many African countries) cannot act in the absence of a minister, what is their job? Are deputies not supposed to be in charge if their bosses are away?
An oversized, lazy and ineffective civil service. A graveyard. Of talents. Skills. And ambitions. Big as the administration is, and many as the directors are. Their deputies. Permanent secretaries. Their deputies. Under-secretaries. And their immediate subordinates. Most civil services in Africa remain cold. Unmonitored. Insensitive. Indifferent. Incoherent. Nobody seems to know who is doing or not doing what.
In this maze of confusion, the State bleeds. Nothing much is left for skills training. For well-equipped and better staffed schools. For happy, well-fed teachers. Nothing is left for the village clinics. No medicine. No nurses. No ambulances.
And for this shortfall, African governments will beg the Chinese for development funds. Roads. Bridges. Storage tanks. Investments. And job creation.
Of course, the Chinese will build. Roads. Bridges. Storage tanks. But roads that do not lead to the nearest clinic. Or school. For they don't care about schools. Hence no China schools. Or China clinics. Nor China hospitals.
They will build roads that lead to the nearest Chinatown. For they know where the money is. Market for their cheap goods. Containerised shipments from the homeland. Most of it smuggled. Counterfeit even. Abibas. Not Adidas. Halvin Ylein. Not Calvin Klein. Niek. Not Nike. Guggi. Not Gucci.
Even the money too. It goes out the way the goods come in. Externalised. Smuggled. From millions of small Chinese shops scattered all over the continent. Untaxed. Unaccounted for. Just lots of money siphoned from the continent.
Of course, there are jobs. But for the modern day slave. Low wages. No benefits. No respect. The Chinese master can even defecate in a plastic shopping bag and ask the desperate African labourer to cart away the stinky parcel. No recourse. No complaints. All this on the motherland.
Yes, they will build roads but those that lead to a Chinese-owned mine. The nearest oil field. Or land they own. Create more jobs. Most for their indigent kinsfolk. Those rescued from the jaws of grinding poverty in deep rural, remote China. Ordinary guys. Passed as experts. Bricklayers. Carpenters. Cleaners. Drivers. Useless people in China. Unemployable even. But experts overnight once on African soil. Taking up exported jobs.
And some leaders complain. Have complained. Castigate. Threaten. But their voices die amid promises of low interest rate loans. Next we hear how China is an all weather friend. Coming a long way from the years of the struggle.
African governments also beg the US and the UK. For medicines. ARVs. Mosquito nets. Circumcision clippers. Monetary donations. Expertise. Textbooks. Schools. And bursaries.
And the US and the UK will give all these. Send their people as voluntary corps. Create bonds. Establish forums. Call for conferences. The US-Africa Infrastructure Conference. US-Africa Business Forum. UK-Africa Investment Forum. US this and that. UK this and that. With Africa coming second. Always. And our African leaders smile. Broadly. Carelessly.
But the US and the UK will set conditions. Their enemies become your enemy. If they sanction Iran, then you too must sanction Iran. If they fight anyone, that too must be your fight. Never bite the hand that feeds you. Lest the food is taken away.
Whenever the 'gifts' come, the whole country is supposed to stand still. Eyes lifted upwards in gratitude. Arms clasped in reverence. What's the choice? A mortgaged people.
And our African leaders make grand entries. Sleek. Gliding in black limousines. Hiding behind darkened windows. Sirens wailing to announce their arrival. Fake smiles and gratitudes. Just to inaugurate a road donated by China. To receive books bought by the UK or US government. With no scruples.
Just wondering. How would it be if they put the people first? Forget the Mercs. Forget the jets. The 4x4s. One good road at a time. That will surely rid the burden of buying 4x4s. One or two schools per region first. A clinic here. A hospital there.
How does it feel to always inaugurate foreign-funded projects? How heavy are their conscience? And when they glide in the sleek limousines, do they ever feel shame? Remorse? Like real leaders?
What leader keeps their pride when their people are beneficiaries of foreign aid?
Until when.