“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.” – Frantz Fanon
In my last paper, I inferred that Africa is in shambles. The highlight that that there is something wrong with governance in Africa begs the question who should bear the responsibility of challenging the status quo and restore social order to the way it is supposed to be.
The good thing about the social and political unrest Africa is facing today is that we are not the first ones to go through it. And so, we can draw from past experiences of generations that came before us: generations, during colonial times, that fought for black youths to have jobs, but before that, to have access to education, to only name but a few. Now, not so many youths are educated because of exorbitant fees that are charged only to be looted later by our corrupt regimes. And if you manage to go to university, you graduate only to become a home defender.
And because the youths are mostly affected, the responsibility to fight for a new order automatically becomes theirs. Here is how today’s young people can learn from youths from the past.
In France, which became the archetype of democracy the world over, the famous 1789 French Revolution was spearheaded by young people like Maximilien Robespierre and later Napoleon Bonaparte (who became the 1st French emperor at the age of 30, not to speak of when he joined the army to campaign for a better France). They did this in their tender ages, and now their movement became a legacy which lives on today, democracy. General George Washington led the American Revolution. If history is right, George Washington did not have extraordinary experience in leading huge and conventional armies.
Now let’s bring it home. This month, the month of June, South Africa celebrates Youth Day. This is a commemoration of a group of youths that said enough is enough to the colonial government. A layman would say the 1976 youths were only rebelling against being taught in Afrikaans, I would say they were rebelling against the whole system of Apartheid, which through language stripped natives of their identity, culture, and values. But before that we have had great men in Africa, yet youths of that time, like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, Josiah Tongogara of Zimbabwe who took lead in liberating the continent from Western siege. This is a generation of youths that were not happy with the order of the day and decided to not just fold arms but took it upon themselves to create the kind of order they dreamt of.
Also, from the biblical times, in the famous story of Israeli liberation from Egyptian slavery, Moses, who was only 40, led the people of Israel and later passed the button to a young Joshua. It is not because there were no older people, but there is something about the youthful energies, talent, and creativity in coming up with strategies that are fit for the purpose of the day.
There is wisdom behind preference for youth to take responsibility in shaping the future that they deem right for themselves. It is only rational that people make decisions whose consequences and results they would live to see. It cannot be justified that in most leadership positions, we have old men that are not fit and proper to make decisions that they will probably not live to see to fruition. Do not miss the point here. I do not mean to say that old men are incapable, but the youths must be more actively involved in discussions and activities that shape their future. We must have more young people as CEOs, and members of Parliament and Cabinet, and as presidents too.
My point is we need more youths to take charge of their lives, to sit on the table where they can make decisions that affect their future, decisions whose fruits they will live to harvest. I believe more in the power of youths taking charge. Whatever you set your heart on when you are still a youth, you have time and strength to make it a success. That is why those that have been in powerful positions for a very long time do not want to hear this. They know that as soon as youths realise what they are capable of, their chance to stay in high places and manipulate whoever they want to get slim. And this is why our history has been distorted for us to think that people like Rhodes, that I mentioned earlier, stepped here for the first time as teenagers, they want you to think that only those that reach as certain old age are capable of turning things around. Think about biblical heroes, think about African liberation heroes, think about heroes of democracy from ancient times, think about the tender age at which they decided to take care of their lives to challenge the system, imagine if they had believed that they were too young to make a difference and imagine whether we would be in a better place than we are now.
It is funny that in one teapot shaped African county, the leader of the opposition was despised by the ruling party because he was only 40 years in 2018 when he ran for presidential election, against the leader of that ruling party, who is arguably 79 years. What is ironic about this situation is that the particular leader of this ruling party forgets he they went to the war of liberation when he was only 13 years of age, attained independence in 1980 when he was now 38. So, for me, age is just a number, young people are capable!
Most African states are holding gene5ral elections in the coming 2 years maximum, for example, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Congo, Gabon in 2023, and South Africa in 2024, the first step to make a difference as a youth is to go and register to vote and appear on the ballot box on the voting day in the upcoming general elections.
Here is what I want to leave to the youths,
“do not let anyone despise you because you are young, but set an example in speech, conduct, love fait and purity.”The Bible
