The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has inadvertently revealed the need for Africa to rethink and readjust its self-sustainability seatbelt. Looking back at what has happened since this virus surfaced four months ago, a lot of politicking and blame game has been rife to the detriment of the very efforts to stop its spread. A fortnight ago, a couple of French doctors declared on a global TV channel that the maiden vaccine for Covid-19 should first be tested on Africans. This inevitably was met with ire from Africans on the continent and beyond, some reminding the French that Africa isn’t a testing lab and calling the whole approach a racist and white supremacy driven narrative. Others wondered why the testing would be done on Africans yet the continent is still the least affected by Covid-19 compared to others. Shortly after the alarm on this bell went silent, another one emerged, a section of American and European politicians called for the resignation of the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom to quit. They accused the Ethiopian national of all sorts of things, including being “a proxy” for the Chinese and being complicit in their alleged misleading of the world on the death toll inside China. To this, Dr Tedros gave a short and clear response. He cautioned that they refrain from politicising the virus unless they’re looking for more body bags. This unfortunate call was followed by a decision by American President Donald Trump to suspend his country’s financial commitments to WHO, in the middle of a global pandemic which the global organisation has a central role to combat. All said and done, it’s time for Africa to rethink of their strategy for self-sustainability in times of uncertainties such as these ones. Although COVID-19 has levelled the ground for human race and reminded us of how as humans should be thinking on how we unite against common enemies such us disease, climate change and so on, it’s also a good reminder to the people of Africa that we alone are the main source of solution to the problems we face. Africa has all resources at its disposal to deal with any humanitarian problems. The only missing link between the problems and their solution is the political will to facilitate this transformation. It’s time Africans realize that there is no race or skin colour with the monopoly of wisdom and prosperity. Covid-19 is a lesson good enough as to why we should never continue to believe that our survival will depend on good Samaritans. A Pan African practical response is paramount to problems facing this continent. We have had a lot of theories relating to Africa’s renaissance. Questions such as what should be done for Africa to be on a global decision making table have been asked severally? But the big question remains. What makes it unattainable up to day? Talking of the current Covid-19 pandemic, what if Jack Ma was not generous enough to support African countries with medical supplies? What if some powers did not disburse financial support? What if other main sponsors of WHO activities followed in the footsteps of Trump’s decision? It all goes back to Africa getting its priorities right and the realisation that the survival of Africans is not dependent on the will of others. However, there’s a need to first clear our backyard. Africa shall never achieve unity and prosperity when some governments have to first seek guidance from the western masters before making key decisions. By the way we have never been short of brilliant ideas to meet our desired goals. One of them is the establishment of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which entered into force on 30 May 2019. It is supposed to be a game changer in leading Africa to greater heights of economic independence but, as it has always been the case, some member countries are still dragging their feet towards full implementation. So is the AU self-financing mechanism agreed upon at an AU Summit held in Kigali in 2016, where each country was to contribute 0.2 per cent of its eligible import value towards the funding of AU activities. If fully implemented, AfCFTA would give the AU secretariat the needed financial muscle to bolster institutions like the Africa Centres for Disease Control that currently remain by name, which would be critical in fighting pandemics like COVID-19. With the requisite resources, the Africa CDC should be able to attract the many African professionals with varied skills to whom we can look up for scientifically-backed responses that are tailored to African contexts. The other day it was Ebola, thereafter came locusts and now Covid-19. To deal with an outbreak one has no time to start to pool resources and skills together. It should be the other way. An outbreak is here and we are ready to deal with it. Period. Anything less is simply a crime on the side of leadership. The current pandemic has once again shown us that we are walking a tightrope and future looks bleak and depends on mercy of others. Africa ought to change this narrative. The writer is a Communications and Media Relations Consultant based in Kigali Twitter: @KimKamasa The views expressed in this article are of the author.
