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As macabre winds continue to blow leisurely over the continent of
Africa, conscientious Africans spend sleepless nights pondering
remedies to our myriad maladies.Our continent continues to be (mis)
governed by a bunch of avaricious self-seeking lumpen bourgeois who
have never invented powder nor compass to parody the celebrated Aime
Cesaire of Martinique. These petit-bourgeois are skilled
at "apemanship and parrotry" to quote another illustrious son of
Africa, Ngugi Wa-Thiongo.The struggle to achieve development is too
serious to be left in the hands of  mischievous nitwits! Meaningful
development in Africa requires commitment by Africans at home and in
the Diaspora. This presupposes jettisoning the status quo
characterized by a culture of subservience shoved down the throats of
restive masses.

By their very nature radical change, call it revolution if you will,
is defined by the degree of involvement of people determined to seize
the initiative of change.The struggle to liberate Africa from
imperialistic neocolonial bondage calls for the involvement of our
intelligentsia from all walks of life. It makes no sense to stand
hands akimbo gazing into a vacant sky while your house is ablaze.

The intellectual must be distinguished from the academic who is
neither a man of action nor a change agent. Thandika
Mkandawire,buttresses my stance when he postulates:"The role of our
intellectual should be to enhance the capacity of the continent to
mobilise the vast human capital(diasporic and continental) and natural
wealth in order to eradicate the endemic poverty and stagnation that
have become our stock-in-trade for so long.

In a nutshell, the onus is on our the intelligentsia of subsaharan
Africa to face the challenge rather than bury their heads in the sand
like the proverbial ostrich. We have got to work in tandem with the
masses back at home in a bid to achieve the lofty goal of African
integration set forth by NEPAD. I wonder what your take is on this
issue.
PETER VAKUNTA

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