One of the greatest obstacles to development in many African countries is not the absence of resources, talent, or potential. It is the heavy burden of excess luggage in leadership and the deep mental bankruptcy that comes with it.
Too many African leaders have become excess luggage: heavy, unproductive burdens on the very nations they are meant to serve. They offer their citizens little beyond waste, corruption, and the reckless plundering of public funds. Instead of investing in healthcare, education, infrastructure, and job creation, they empty national treasuries to finance private medical trips abroad and stash stolen wealth in foreign accounts for themselves, their families, and loyal associates.
These so-called leaders are not in power to serve; they are in power to steal. Governance has been reduced to a criminal enterprise, where public office is merely an entry point to large-scale embezzlement. While they wallow in obscene luxury, millions of citizens are left to endure poverty, hunger, and despair.
What kind of leadership is this so heartless, so clueless, and so detached from human suffering? Leaders who cannot build functional hospitals at home but rush overseas at the slightest health challenge. Leaders who preach sacrifice and patience to the masses while looting billions without remorse. Leaders who view the state not as a sacred trust, but as personal property to be stripped bare.
They are excess luggage because they contribute nothing of value. They inspire no vision, build no institutions, and leave behind no meaningful legacy only broken systems and wasted generations. Africa is not poor; Africa is being robbed, systematically and deliberately, by those entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding her future.
This is the real development crisis confronting the continent. And it is a tragedy deep, painful, and entirely man-made.
Written by Festus Edovia, anipr, ficm.