Africa’s Governance Problems lie in the Lack of Political Subjectivity.

Allow me to rip my beloved continent bare, to unravel the not so cryptic governance of poor governance in the continent. I have been inspired to write this for so long a time but ensuing the last few have spurred me to dip my feather in ink and scribble reservations with a flawed political culture that ‘is the bane of our (Africa’s) governance problems’ as I perceive them. A few days ago I commented on a status update on one of the major social media platforms. The ensuing comments thread was interesting to say the least and an unbridled revealer of the state of the continent, well at least when it comes to Africa’s social-economic and political state. To begin with I voiced my reservations explicitly about a presidential aspirant my friend was supporting (Raila Odinga). My Facebook friend call him John replied, stating that he could decipher from what part of Kenya I came from and thus I could not support his preferred presidential aspirant. He continued ranting about how his preferred presidential aspirant had acted as king maker and installed our current President (Kibaki) as the country’s head of state. I replied in kind stating in no uncertain terms that Raila was not the only major political leader that endorsed Kibaki’s election for the 2002 elections. Kijana Wamalwa and Charity Ngilu had trooped in with their endorsements before Raila. I challenged my friend to moot out the merits of a Raila presidency on a purely ideological/policy basis as I would counter his arguments, but he was not forthcoming. Anyway I found the idea that my friend could decipher my political preferences from my ethnic name a little unnerving and disconcerting, but hello this is Africa and at times in Africa truth might be stranger than fiction. Whereas the above social media encounter might be so small an encounter to make sufficient inference on the state of affairs in Africa, I am afraid it is a microcosm of the state of Africa. In Africa ethno-religoius jingoism is a big determinant political decision making. In the USA and other developed lands election season attracts phrases like; neo-conservative, liberal, conservative, social democracy and what a view in Africa key determinants of electability include; which region does he come from, what tribe does he come from, from which family/tribe/ clan has he married into, how/where does he worship. For evidence you could always refer to the profanities and hate mongering on social media. Apart from a few upwardly mobile urban middle class who have a real grasp of the real issues that beleaguer the African continent, myriads of mass populations in Africa are in the dark as to what the panacea of; socio-political, and economic limbo is. Unless we take steps to; educate, re-educate ourselves and our brothers and sisters we shall forever remain shackled. For the single magic bullet that we so much for is plain and simple; ‘Political Subjectivity.