Instability

Instability — this particular word is so familiar to the continent at different levels that you don't need two words to describe Africa. Dating as far back as the slavery and slave trade era, which was characterized by brutality and gross inhumanity, brotherly communities largely lived in fear and mistrust of each other, leading to a breakdown in social cohesion and economic cooperation between kingdoms. Even after its abolition, former African slave traders had already adopted the culture and continued some of their activities like bribery, corruption, kidnappings, livestock theft, and looting. Such activities only went a long way to create tensions and sow seeds of self hatred among Africans, and as time went on, it gave birth to some of the bloodiest and dumbest interethnic conflicts the continent's history has ever witnessed. And I can just imagine how many centuries that alone and the impending emergence of Napoleon-type power-mongering warlords and kingdoms would have lasted if colonization hadn't taken place, which at least turned Africans' attention from self destruction to one common enemy — 'the colonizers'.

The sporadic declaration of independence and self-rule — ridiculously without autonomy and sovereignty in francophone Africa though — inflated the African political elite with so much hope and big dreams that they made unrealistic promises to people during political campaigns – so much that the ills of the past (slavery, colonialism, and other systems, like apartheid) were almost forgotten. Post independence Africa knew very little about world history and the devastating effects of conflict versus stability and development through investment in infrastructure. Dreams gradually became illusions as the realities of poverty and stagnation emerged through opposing parties, armed radical groups, military regime changes, recurrent labour strikes, and civil savagery for another half century – depriving the entire continent of the proceeds or at least the meaning of statehood. Even when different governments come to power and peace treaties and democratic reforms are reached, significant progress is hardly noticed because resources had been destroyed, exhausted, or abandoned during conflicts.

From the blood-soaked ruins and deserted bullet-riddled walls of Liberia and Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda — the list is long, one can easily conclude that the most painful injury is that which is self-inflicted. This is why blaming the West for all of Africa's current problems will always fall short. The rest of the world is built on ruins of conflicts. Africa and the Middle East have practically indulged in the same activities to resolve differences instead of learning from it. How do you lick your own wounds and expect to compete with the rest of the world at the same time?

Given that peace and security achieved through compromise always lead to stability, followed by economic growth, it is hard to disagree with historians who argue that Africa's current underdevelopment is a result of collective instability that has not only put the countries involved but entire regions of the continent on its knees. This has led to slow or no growth at all due to loss of human capital, destruction of fixed capital, high inflation, famine, and general volatility. Not even reconstruction and reinvestment is easy in such countries because of scepticism among investors, while some leaders may take advantage of the confusion to embezzle and illicitly move public funds into secret accounts. You never really know if conflict is over because there is always such difficulty in shifting attention away from war and, most importantly, in reintegrating men who are former militia programmed to use machetes and machine guns, who can pick up arms at any time to force their demands to be met.

A country's history of statehood and infrastructural networking and human capacity building is the conditioner of its current development. Unlike when former colonies were administered as part of Europe and had all resources milked off, self-ruling governments only emerged in the 1960s and have not yet accumulated enough reserves for infrastructural development while some African countries are yet to have functioning governments even in the twenty-first century. Characteristics of statehood could be seen with communities (see development in pre-colonial empires) that had centralized institutions which succeeded more in artisan trade and development, education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Up till now, it is still such kingdoms — now engulfed by colonial territories — that assist in governance, maintain stability, and contribute in attracting local and foreign trade and investment. Their level of success can be seen in the relative peace and prosperity they enjoy.

Unless you're not born yet, at least remain hopeful that your would-be parents will have a blueprint on how to own oil fields and gold mines one day if such resources were not sold to greedy corporations in exchange for foreign aid. Better wish you were not born at all than to embark on a suicide journey to the 'green lands' of Europe.

Man on the Run

When and how can people trade, build homes, and educate children when they won't settle in one place and call it home?

'My parents reactively migrated to this remote area because these cliffs served as a security barrier against Warafi attackers. This is actually our third settlement after the first two came under frequent attacks. The fear and uncertainty that reigned at the time even discouraged us from cultivating food crops because a successful harvest was never guaranteed. They were either burnt, looted, or we had to abandon farmlands with crops and move to another area. We were so alert that all we wanted to hear was the sound of a town-crier's horn from top of the cliff, and we'd run for our lives and hide under rocks and thick bushes when Roman Catholic converts/missionaries, who came to lure us to acquire Western education, were mistaken for invaders. Besides, the nearest mission schools were either situated in the attacker villages or our brothers had to go live and study in Bichati village-fifty kilometres away. Abductions and killings were rampant, so our parents wouldn't risk that much to have us educated. The white man's education didn't have that much value to us at that time anyway,' said my granny after I had questioned her about the inaccessibility of our village, which is situated on a small plateau almost completely surrounded by giant cliffs, and why only a few villagers (only males) were educated.

These sporadic tribal attacks took place around the mid twentieth century when most African communities were moving from mud-and-thatch houses to European-style ones with bricks and corrugated iron sheets. It must have taken a family their entire life's efforts to construct such houses three times since they were largely in peasant villages. No doubt my grandparents left no livestock for my parents to inherit — just teasing. If one were to take into consideration the total number of internal displacements and resource dispossessions of people around former conflict areas in present-day Africa, we can only fear how many more generations will live through poverty caused by forced migration within Africa and the Middle East.

'Sub-Saharan Africa is also a region characterized by high numbers of forced migrants ... before 2008, more than two-thirds (16 million, excluding undocumented figures) of all migrants from Africa migrated to other countries within the Sub-continent. It has the world's highest concentration of internally displaced persons and hosts approximately twenty percent of the world's refugee population' (Bonn International Center for Conversion document for Migration and Displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa conference).

In most cases, it is difficult to distinguish between reactive and proactive migration in Africa because mass movement is very common within and beyond a country's borders. People in conflict zones might not necessarily flee from threats during the conflict itself, but the long-term effects eventually catch up, leaving especially the youth with no choice but to leave their places of birth to look for a better life elsewhere. Such decisions have never been easy to make; as such, people would have to give up everything they've worked for, including property, families, and friends to pursue uncertain paths often marked by untold suffering and submission to gross human rights violations and cheap deaths.

As much as forced migrants may become a burden (more like sand in a tight shoe) to receiving communities because of the low skill levels and other differences that may repel easy integration, I take it that authorities in such countries like Botswana and Equatorial Guinea – Africa's bliss islands don't understand what it means to push a vulnerable child on to a lawless, 'jumping' castle when they consider rejections of fellow Africans in need of safety. It takes time to jump at a particular spot in order to make a safe landing. But if that child gets pushed, even accidentally by another child, you guess what happen when a helpless child falls.

Most great nations of the world were built by migrants anyway. Given today's extent of social, political and economic instability and the speedy effects of globalization, I find it morally compelling that humanity should always give each other a helping hand and make life worth living for the injured. Arguably, migrants tend to spot or even create more opportunities than the citizens of receiving communities do because they're always willing to let go of pride and settle for less or start from the bottom. It is said that he who shuts his door on a troubled neighbour during a storm risks sending away a benevolent god. Migration trends from troubled regions can last for up to thirty years after the end of conflicts, and developed nations always bear the greatest burden in one way or the other. It still doesn't dismiss the fact that such trends could reverse in future, due to changing circumstances and people's choices. Africans may be emigrating now but Africa has the potential of becoming the rest of the world's destination over the next few decades. I guess when Nigerians and other Africans were expelled from Ghana in 1969, little was known that the same misinformation and stereotyping would lead to Ghanaians packing their backs out of Nigeria, following the early 1980s economic crisis. The "Ghana must go" slogan boiled over to Cameroon and even primary school kids would chant it with so much enthusiasm, it felt like a liberation song.

We can only get used to meeting and living with different people at any given time in our lives. 'Throughout the history of mankind, there has always been migration. Looking for work, fleeing from war or persecution, natural disasters, searching for a good place to live, the desire to enjoy freedom of worship and association — there are many reasons why people leave their homelands' (Dr Michael Stuckradt).

The Market Square

    When landlords become mobile tenants,
    Blue skies turn to grey,
    Swallow birds retire from hay,
    Thunder strikes without rain,
    And when it pours, land masses drain.
    The angry sun rises at noon.
    Behold, there is no hunters' moon.
    Children are weary from hunger.
    Mothers' tender hearts bow to anger.
    Bedtime foreplays become worthless
    Because silly things lay motionless.
    The signs are up to no good.
    A man mourns his manhood.

    Animals are slain for sacrifice; the blood isn't
      pure.
    Tree backs are burnt for inhalation; it is no
      cure.
    Puzzled by the taboo, the oracle incants in
      straits dire.
    But the gods are mute in ire.

    'They without land have no market square.
    They without a market square have no shrine.
    They without a shrine have no ancestor.
    They without an ancestor have no future.
    Quick! Quick! Quick!' a cuckoo sings from
      a peace plant.

Land is any part of the earth that is not water. It is the ground area that somebody owns, especially when you think of it as property that can be sold, bought, or cultivated.

An economic dictionary defines land as "... a primary input and factor of production which is not consumed but without which no production is possible. It is the resource that has no cost of production and, although its usage can be switched from a less to a more profitable one, its supply cannot be increased. The term land includes all physical elements in the wealth of a nation bestowed by nature, such as climate, environment, fields, forests, minerals, mountains, lakes, streams, seas, and animals. As an asset, it includes anything on the ground (buildings, crops, fences, trees, water). It includes everything above the ground (air and space rights) and under the ground (mineral rights) down to the centre of the earth."

In young and emerging economies, one can never underestimate the importance of land to any people in any part of the African continent or the world today and tomorrow. The last fifty years or so have witnessed rapid population growth and movement from rural to urban towns for different reasons. This led to increased demands for food, living space, and agricultural land.

The impact was so significant that countries like Cameroon became involved in farming with state-owned corporations, like SOCAPALM, CDC, UNVDA, SODECOTON, etc., before shifting their attention to oil production later on. Small-scale and young farmers also migrated to different parts of the country to cultivate specific food and cash crops — cocoa in the Southern Region, coffee in the Littoral Region, and fruit gardening and rice farming in the West and North-West regions. Even women who previously had no land rights and ownership in the traditional land system benefitted from land reforms and became a driving force behind the mostly peasant communities. Presently, men don't have the guts to compete with women in their various farm departments even though their traditional system of farming, which is largely characterized by burning down forests and the soil before sowing, hasn't really improved yields per land area.

The growing problem of land shortage led to sporadic grazing-land conflicts between the Mbororo (mostly cattle-herding minority group whose livelihood risks being eradicated due to increasing land shortage and a lack of improvement in cattle-farming methods) and local crop farmers. Chiefdoms attacked each other and burnt down entire villages with the intention of occupying the weaker village's land if they migrated. See the conflicts of Bali-Kumbat versus Bafanji in the 1990s and Bali-Nyonga versus Bawock in 2007. That was when even I knew the difference between the two Balis.

The above-mentioned tensions epitomize just how much people value land. To a great extent, there can be no peace (mental calm, not necessarily the absence of war), social cohesion, and stability in any country if its citizens do not feel that they own their country by owning land and its economic extensions.

Folks may love to hate the fearless Robert Mugabe for 'ruining' the Zimbabwean economy or wish he didn't exist to reignite the land restitution question. If you lack the zeal to compromise, you will always think of him that way. And the questions about what black people will do with land are both naive and unrealistic, because I know there is nothing impossible with humanity. Such questions should rather be directed towards short-sighted systems which were engineered to dispossess and turn away black people's attention from the farming culture. While my view is advocating for equal opportunities and the development of new avenues for the economic emergence of the under privileged, and not a call for the powerful to be weakened in order to empower the weak, I'd rather mock my own gullibility to Western influence and hail Mugabe's vision around land and indigenization in general. Some mistakes may not be corrected but are meant to be learnt from. A true captain always has to do what he has to do if he finds his ship stuck between Frostland and Iceland. No big tree is felled in a forest without knocking down smaller trees either.

Talking about lessons, question marks keep flooding my mind about what is pulling our feet backwards as native South Africans droop in misery while fertile yet empty grass fields idle in the countryside. Thanks to my 'wrong turn' southwards — maybe a right turn now because it expanded my perspective in life — I had the opportunity to witness people seeking refuge in a newly 'liberated' country. I mean, if all people have freedom (sometimes too free to be free that wrong becomes difficult to differentiate from right except that of land ownership, of course), then how and why should a people call a country theirs when all they have are their most treasured identity cards to secure social welfare services for survival, while the eligibility criteria might require them to cripple themselves first? What power do they really have to govern their own lives, if they're not destined for poverty, correctional services, drug abuse, alcoholism, prostitution, and generational family disintegration?