The cardinal archbishop of Nairobi and president of Kenya’s episcopal conference summarized today the overall problem in Africa, saying the continent “continues to thirst for good governance.”
Cardinal John Njue said many African nations “struggle under bad governance where unchecked hunger for power has led to impunity, corruption, manipulation of people, and other similar social political evils bled from human hearts in need of conversion.”
And, he observed, “This is what has impoverished the people across the continent.”
“Bad governance,” the cardinal asserted, “[…] by and large can be termed the cancer of Africa.”
“This synod gives us a special opportunity to reflect on the cancer that is eating up our continent,” Cardinal Njue said. “Good governance is not only a priority but a must. I can as well add that politics in Africa is so important that we cannot leave it to politicians alone. […] The time to act constructively is now!”
Good for Cardinal Njue. One is left to wonder which stage of cancer the prelate thinks most African nations are in, i.e., whether the bad governance is terminal and advanced (stage 4), or something less dire. Hopefully the latter, or the call to repentance is meaningless.
The UN’s Human Development Programme recently released their annual index, ranking the level of human development around the world in areas such as health care (longevity), education (literacy and school enrollment rates), and income (gross domestic product per capita). Alas, it provides a grim confirmation of just how impoverished Africa is, compared with the rest of even the poor world. Of the 182 countries surveyed, not one African nation made it into the top 50. And 19 of the bottom 20 most underdeveloped countries were in Africa.
It seems that even Kenya, the “pearl” of East Africa, has been tarnished. It’s former president, Daniel Moi, was notoriously corrupt. But sadly, he was merely typical of African dictators.
In nearby Kampala, Anglican archbishop Henry Orombi, recently blasted the Uganda government, and Ugandan society as a whole, for the endemic tribal conflicts that were made so evident in the September riots in and around the capital city.
Of course, whether these sorts of plaintive, prophetic calls for political and social reform will have any real effect remains to be seen. But at least the Christian Church is acting as the conscience of society, which is commendable.
David Handy+