Emmanuel Konde
All civilizations are produced by wealth. Societies that have not mastered the methods of wealth accumulation and strategic deployment of wealth have remained perpetually primitive, poor, and have never played any significant role in world history. African societies seem to fit this bill and, by implication, so the African collectivity. Why this is the case I cannot tell. How to alter this primordial state of affairs, however, I propose to offer some valuable suggestions.
Our problem is not a lack of ideas or will; our problem is lack of trust and confidence in one another. This problem is cultural. It is derived from our culture of poverty, rooted in the absence of wealth, knowledge about how to accumulate wealth, and the fact that we are contented with little. Few Africans can boast of a substantial inheritance because the societies from which we issue do not understand the significance of inheritance. Our male ancestors competed with each other over how many wives they married or kept and the number of children they could beget. Few, if any, cared about the amount of inheritance they will bestow on their numerous children. Given this situation, it is perhaps safe to infer that our forebears bred to populate the world for useless pride, poverty, and to transfer their responsibilities to other people. This practice of having numerous children has continued into our times and has set me wondering: “If a man or woman has no means of caring for a child from birth to early adulthood, has no money to educate the child, what is their reason for having so many children?”
Lest I be misunderstood, I should here point out that there were times in our not-so-distant agrarian past when the requirements for raising children were minimal. The entire family made its livelihood from tilling and cultivating the soil, and eating of the abundant wild fruits that grew in the forests. Life was simple. Life was short. Much was not expected and little was gained. In those days young men married when they were between 18 and 20; girls married between 12 and 15. By age 30 the family, if monogamous, could boast of six children or more; if polygamous, perhaps 10, 15, or more depending on the number of wives. The preferred and only residence the family could afford was a mud or bamboo hut, with the largest belonging to the village headman. Even our royal palaces consisted of compounds of huts. By age 50 the master of the hut was old and near expiration. When he finally expired at 55, his horde of children was left penniless. The forest became their field of gold, and there they competed with lower animals to mine sustenance.
That was then, and now is now. Now is our time. We must endeavor to alter the nothing that we inherited. We are privileged to have the means to make a difference and that we must do. We must first understand that inheritance is the key to wealth accumulation. Where there is no inheritance, the culture of poverty persists, expands, reproduces itself. Each new generation starts from nothing, leaves nothing, and the next inherits nothing. The end product is nothing, and the life of a particular species of humankind is rendered not much different from that of lesser animals. Think of domestic animals like dogs and cats. What is the difference?
I understand that we must all take pride in what we have accomplished. A brick-walled school house with no amenities to facilitate learning in the 21st century; a village well whose water can cause great harm; sponsorship of a series of brothers, sisters, and cousins, etc., etc. These are charitable and philanthropic endeavors that have been in place since the coming of the white man.
What pride is there if the buildings the Germans erected in the 1880s and 1890s still serve as government offices? Many of the senior service club houses the colonialists established between the 1920s and 1950s, including furniture and toilette facilities, are still being used even though these are in deplorable condition and unfit for human use. What is holding us back from changing these things?
Self-criticism is perhaps the best method of confronting and expunging our personal and societal demons. This conforms to what Socrates had enjoined his followers: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” My critique of certain cultural trappings of my people should therefore be understood as self-criticism. I am criticizing myself, you, him and her. I am saying unabashedly that our slothfulness stinks.
Yes, we do not trust one another, especially when it comes to dishing out the rare commodity called money. And we are justified in this fear because it is irrational to entrust wealth to the care of the poor, and dangerous to entrust same to the uncaring rich. That’s why I am suggesting that instead of entrusting your money to a poor person you do not trust, instead contributing $100 or $200 or more to various charities annually even though you do not know how your money is used, invest a substantial sum that you are guaranteed to recover at the end of any 12-month investment cycle. If 100 of us invest $5,000 and $10,000, a total investment portfolio of between $500,000 and $1,000,000, at 4% interest, our investment will accrue between $20,000 and $40,000. If there is an urgent project we wish to accomplish, our banker will willingly advance the annual interest to us. In exchange for out million dollar investment, we can receive $40,000 up front from the bank.
How many of our charities raise $40,000 annually with their capital investments intact? We drain ourselves of our community wealth by giving away our money as only non-economic and non-rational beings do. What a waste! Wealth is maximized when it circulates within. The power of wealth is increased a thousand times by organized numbers of people. And here the magic is revealed: The capital that we invested, the $500,000 to $1,000,000 is in fact an inheritance for posterity. Our children and grand children will always have that initial investment in their names and might choose to use the interest as they please. If they decide not to fund charities, they might re-invest the interest in other profit-making enterprises. This would enrich them and create stronger bonds within the community.
Lastly, how do we insure that our $5,000 and $10,000 investments are not pilfered by some unscrupulous feyman? That’s simple. Talk to your banker. We all need to do some research before embarking on any mission. The beauty here is that this project can be executed without our usual lengthy meetings full of bickering, a lot of loud music, dancing, drinking, and eating.

Chicha, you have some good ideas, as long as you keep out of politics and ethnocentric rantings. Keep this up.
Posted by: Ma Mary | Thursday, 07 May 2009 at 05:45 AM
The first problem here is the admittance from yourself that the History does not exist. Is this from the context of Europen archeologists? Have you or any other africans raised awareness of the necessity to find African remains from earlier civilisations.
Wealth does not only mean material things.The present outlook on what wealth is was given to us by the Europeans when they came to Africa.We had our own perceptions of what wealth is. The only reason we seem poor is because poverty is relative.Those who live in the villages and are comfortable walking and going about their usual business without machines are happy in themselves hence wealthy. If africans had the guns first we would have conquered the world and we would have been the wealthiest.
My point here is that poverty is relative.What you dont know you dont miss or wish for.If i like walking to the river to fetch water and you like watching tv why are you more wealthier than i am when i do not pay taxes and you do.
Maybe we need more archeologists to dig up the african grounds for remains. We can start tomorrow.
From
Shali Otoo
Posted by: Shali Otoo | Friday, 15 May 2009 at 03:30 PM