Pan-Africans say “Africa for Africans” and “we can take care of our own”. I have not seen the AU (African Union) in the vanguard of this Ebola fight anywhere neither have I seen any African leader taking the lead or attempting to lead the fight.
The UN General Assembly held a session in New York a couple of weeks ago, and the African leaders missed the opportunity to lay out their ‘Ebola plan of action’ there, when the whole world was listening. Was there a plan of action in the first place? I heard a lot of ranting about other issues there though.
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been in the news lately bragging about being feared by the West, and talking about how other African leader are cowards and afraid to stand up to the West, but nothing about Ebola. I believe Ebola is a more pressing issue. Has Mugabe sent any doctors or nurses to help fight Ebola in Liberia or Sierra Leone? Instead, he’s contemplating recalling his soldiers that are part of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Liberia.
Paul Bayi of Cameroon and Yaya Jammeh of Gambia are subscribers to Pan-Africanism too, but have they sent any doctors or nurses to the Ebola affected areas to assist? Where is the sense of urgency for Los Pan-Africanos? How come they are not using the media to talk about Ebola and their plans to contain or eradicate it?
I have seen others scrambling to send personnel and equipment to the affected areas, but nothing in the form of personnel and equipment from the Pan-Africans. Is Pan-Africanism just talk and no action? Africa for Africans and we can take care of our own?
With the help of the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, Malaria still kills over 500,000 a year in Africa. I recently read an article listing the 10 richest African leaders and the billions and millions they have accumulated. How much have they contributed towards malaria research? Ebola is collapsing the fragile health systems that exist in the affect countries, and the Pan-Africans are nowhere to be found.
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