"Trickle Down" is a MYTH.

Sometimes I don't want to say some of the thoughts running through my head for fear of appearing petty, stuck up or, quite simply, a B!+ch! 

Sometimes I don't say anything not even for those reasons. 

Sometimes I don't say anything because I don't think you'll (nonspecific) get it. 

But i'll say something gosh darnnit!!

There is a serious void that needs to be filled back home. "Home" in this case is wherever you [dear reader] may be from. Yes most of the time the focus is on the politicians. Boy aren't they the perfect scapegoat?! After all, they are the ones that make up the laws that govern us - us being diaspora and our friends and relatives we left behind. Politicians are the ones that represent our countries to the rest of the world and supposedly make the decisions. They are the ones we turn to when things are going wrong like the fighting currently going on in Jos, or the mudslides in Uganda, or the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, or the 4+ months powercut on the island of Zanzibar, or .... I could really go on and on and on.....and on, but I won't. The lowered expectations and standards we have for each other, whether as leaders or not, is allowing for much bigger problems like the ones i "or"-d above. Improvement, for Africa can not and will not happen from the top down. Neither will it happen from the bottom up. It has to happen on both sides of the issues until we all get to the core hopefully at the same time. The distance between the leadership and the "governed", the businessman and the customer, the master and the servant, the rich and the poor is much too large. There is a disconnect.

By focusing only on the leadership and their faults and neglecting the day to day operations of service and infrastructure, it will not matter if the leadership does miraculously change, because there will be nothing worthy of their governance. If the mess they inherit is larger than they are as an individual or a cabinet it's not a wonder they opt to feign good governance or governance at all. They find other things to keep them busy like personal business pursuits, mistresses and shopping. Even if they whole-heartedly want to make a difference, what lies before them, in the time alloted in a single term ((not that that matters)), cannot be fixed unless people on the ground are already progressively working towards the same goals. 

I'm trying to think of a somewhat hypothetical example here......

Ok. Take a city. 

One might look at a city and see everything that is wrong and blame it on the mayor. The dirty streets, bad roads, crime and lack of entertainment for examples are often blamed on him or her. Rightfully so - to a degree - because s/he is supposed to be making sure that the people responsible for doing that are funded and managed properly. Looking from the bottom up, if the street sweeper has no sense or standard of professionalism, there is no way the end result of his work will be good. If s/he only picks up litter until whenever it's too hot and s/he proceeds to sit under a tree with 5 other workers and chat because there either is nobody supervising or they don't even know what exactly they are supposed to be doing.  One level up, if his or her boss also doesn't have a standard of professionalism in which to behave in a managerial position and doesn't know how to decide if the street sweepers have done a satisfactory job that doesn't help either. This cycle almost repeats itself up the ranks until it reaches the top. STANDARDS are LACKING at the BOTTOM so is it a wonder they are ABSENT at the TOP? In instances where the leaders went from the bottom to the top, haphazardness, lack of standardization and accountability, and posing have characterized the journey up.

Something as basic customer service is something i'm sure most of us can attest is a problem on the continent. For those of us that come from countries whose economies rely heavily on tourism can even testify that we have seen the same useless nincompoop ignoramus security guard (*really a gateman because let there be a actual need for security - he will RUN) or waiter suddenly become articulate and overflowingly useful at the sight of a muzungu/murungu/mukiwa/boer/oyinbo (miscellaneous and colloquial terms for "white man"). That in itself is subject for another rant - as in a whole other post. But the point should not be missed that the problem is not just the "leadership" we often attack. Leadership happens at so many levels and if all those levels, however high or low they are, are slacking the system will be and is SHODDY. 

A big part of what is missing is US. The Diaspora - myself included yes, no pots calling kettles black here. When we go home we see all the things that are wrong. We shake our heads, get irritated and sometimes laugh about it. We come back to "civilization" and tell stories of all the funny things that were wrong to each other and tell non-Africans about our drivers, chefs, beaches and emphasize the things that are the same here as there like clubs, malls, etc. Stop the faking. Once we get back we return to the routine of work, shopping, school or whatever it is we do taking for granted the fact that things just WORK in America. Most of us know the workings of corporate culture in America and absolutely love the convenience provided by great service and technology in our lives. So why, with all the money waiting to be made and our elite educations, are we not teaching others back home. Everybody wants to go back and be president or minister or at the very least governor. On what grounds are you qualified to be a leader that high up? ~~We can't all be captain, there's gotta be a crew.~~ I feel like there's a certain sense of entitlement that some of us with western educations are all guilty of. Just because you are educated in America does not necessarily make you know what's best for your people. We would be most useful in lower positions of leadership were we are more directly involved in the betterment of our people. Let's teach and train our relatives some of the professionalism and accountability models we learn at work. If we just started there we would see a huge difference in the quality of our day to day life that we might not even get so frustrated with the leaders at the top. 

Basically, that whole trickle down effect we think will happen and everything will be alright and better in our countries just because the leaders change is a MYTH. We need to STOP that. It will NOT. That is not foolproof. Changing the leaders will not necessarily ((please note "necessarily")) bring electricity, roads and running water to a city near our relatives. There are many other things involved. 

I hope by now you are packing your suitcases and looking up one way tickets back to your country. Even those of you that were born here - myself included. Going back immediately is unrealistic, but i'd give myself a deadline within the next 6 months. There are so many reasons and things for us to stay here. But things are all those are. Yes your job, mortgage, car note, fear, friends, but unless YOU go back and fix whatever it is that bothers you, no matter how petty, when you go home that same thing will ALWAYS bother you. It will NEVER change. 

**2010*** is supposed to be a big year. Don't let it waste away. I know i've gone from a rant into motivational speech mode, but wouldn't it be good to say that *2010* was the year i decided i'd had enough and changed everything in my life. I took it into my own hands make a change where CHANGE was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Let's GOOOOOOO!!!

always, With Love :)

.afropolitaine.