Africa is increasingly losing a relationship goldmine freely gifted and tested to stand the test of time to many alien acts and lifestyles.
Understandably, the world is progressive and times can arguably not be the same. However, the unique identity of a people must not be lost to compensate or be an excuse for dynamism of the present. Else, history will be injured and the scars of the future cannot be easily toned to disappear, as they stand to be permanent.
What constitutes the uniqueness of a people is in itself progressive, since it emanates from a beginning mostly known or sometimes unknown. This cannot be different about the African family and traditional system. The African family and traditional system speaks volumes and represent proudly the uniqueness of Africa. The system is the fulcrum of everything Africa and African, and without which everything Africa or African may seem to be complete in some minds but will ultimately remain incomplete with the test of time.
This naturally endowed and readily available inexpensive bonding material is gradually and silently being abandoned by Africa in many sectors. One catalyst accelerating the loss of this relationship goldmine is technology. The extent to which technology undoubtedly known to have saved societies and families is taking over children’s bonding time with their parents and siblings, is alarming.
Name it the ‘side effects’ of technology in this context and a lay man will understand it perfectly. Especially, telecommunication technology which lays the red carpet for social media of today to thrive.
If Africa cares to know, the goldmine is the African family system. Communication devices, especially the mobile ones, including cellular phones and tablets have become some sort of a ‘virus’ in the African family system. Families no longer physically see each other face-to-face in a manner known in the past and described by many as healthy, and therapeutic to some extent for some.
Physical hugs and healthy family kisses, especially among parents and children as well as among siblings and family members have become so expensive, and to the point virtual hugs have been improvised to fill the void and not feel the need. Children are severely affected in this situation and left confused in their development to probably differentiate and or chose between virtual and reality.
When families consciously make time to meet each other in-person for important or emergency reasons that cannot be achieved virtually or remotely, be it family dinner, reunions, naming ceremonies, graduation celebrations, and even prayer times, the cellular or mobile devices affectionately become guests too. In some instances, these devices end up seizing the family meeting and powerfully changing the meeting to become meetings between each and everyone and their devices.
When consciousness is regained after the many texting, selfies, sharing, and video streaming, it is always time to depart. Everyone goes back home seldomly remembering who was present or absent at the family gathering without going through the contacts list of their device. Virtual, abstract and remote friends have become the replacement of the siblings and parents’ family friendship that used to be cherished many years back.
Technology is not the main culprit in these developments. It is the users of technology who have empowered these ‘side effects’ of technology to find fertile grounds to further keep families distant without often enjoying the face-to-face interactions and the benefits of physical presence that comes with it. The effects of broken families in many parts of Africa is rising like wildfire, especially at the nuclear family level. The effects of technology on family is not only specific to Africa but globally and there is the need for African families to learn from and always be conscious of some of the dangers of technology relative to relationships and family, especially the well being of children and their development. In the United States of America, a Utah State Today article by Julene Reese published on November 18, 2019, https://www.usu.edu/today/story/new-study-shows-impact-of-technology-on-relationships details a study by Dr. David Schramm, Utah State University assistant professor and Extension family life specialist, about the Impact of Technology on Relationships. Dr. Schramm is reported to have conducted a survey of 631 parents across the United States between the ages of 21 and 60 and asked several questions related to the use of technology, especially how it interferes with face-to-face interactions with others.
The initiative according to the article was meant to strengthen relationships between couples and between parents and children. Among some of the findings of the study, Julene Reese reported are,
“Eighty-eight percent agree that technoference is a big problem in our society, with 62 percent of those surveyed agreeing that it is a big problem in their family. Seventy percent reported that technology interrupts family time at least occasionally”
” Six out of 10 adults are concerned about the influence technology has on their relationship with their children,” and “Thirty-eight percent of adults admit to using technology at least occasionally while eating at home with family members.”
These findings were published five years and some months ago. The numbers of today without doubt may have escalated and will continue to climb to negatively affect families. In Africa today, social media usage is the order of the day with many clinging to their cell phones especially as a source of news and entertainment. Traditional African entertainment is gradually dying, except in some remote villages where families and children still gather to play together without the use of devices like cell phones, tablets and even television sets. Access to technology among the remotely rural folks are usually in schools during Information and Computer Technology lessons.
From households, the effect is creeping into communities to further loosen and break the family system. It is eroding some, if not many, of the democratic successes gained over the years and weakening the unity that ought to exist among the citizenry. Soon, it will be out of hand at the national level of African countries if not already showing signs of division among the citizens nationally. When the weakening of the African family system goes beyond the invisible borders of various African countries, then Aftica will begin to battle a continent level family system damage.
African leaders must wake up and practically devote resources and show political will and zeal to save the African family system, as it will save democracy in Africa. The leaders today must immerse themselves in the spirit of their forebears to tap into their wisdom and vision of a democracy anchored in the African family and traditional system. They must without any excuse dig into history and positively refurbish the frames and lenses worn by these freedom fighters to envision that democracy anchored on respect for all people and the African family systems, to project and protect Africa.
Refurbishing positively in this sense must not be putting stains on the potent frames and lenses inherited from their forebears to obstruct that solemn vision to cause grief for generations now and those to come. Instead, they, with the support of their citizenry, must make the lenses clear and sharper to easily dry all forms of ‘tears’ of democracy that attempt to blur the African family democratic vision, and for a true African democracy to forever be visible.
VOICES FOR THE PEOPLE
In the voices and actions of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Martin Lutherking Jnr., Mahatma Gandhi, Marcus Garvey, and many freedom fighters of the world, the world experienced change. Change that will lay the path for many other changes and bolster democracy. Change that got bruised occasionally along the way, but healed and firmly withstood the gravity of every effort to break it.
Abraham Lincoln as part of his Gettysburg address powerfully defined democracy as “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. These words anchor the spirit of democracy to the governed, the people, it is explained. It empowers the citizenry to actively take part and be represented in the nation ensuring that the people’s needs and interests are not abandoned.
Also in the voices of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lemumba, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sekou Toure, Nelson Mandela, Jomo Kenyatta, Africa will experience a change from colonialism and Apartheid to send a stronger message to the world about how infectious true change can be and easily be caught by the citizens of the world with democracy and the people’s non negotiable will being the vector in transmission.
I have pondered several over the years just like many may have done, and read about great men and women of the world whose brilliance, love for humanity, selflessness and resilience that history has and continues to preserve to forever be a guide and motivation for current and future generations. Their individual and collective efforts, which sometimes are divergent in nature but mostly had one goal, was to see all citizens of the world safe, respected in the eyes of other citizens and free.
Believing in their resolve, and the resolve of many currently working exceptionally hard to pen their names and work in history, it should be obvious to us as humans that success has always consciously and unconsciously gifted failure the opportunity to walk in its shoes, but left the burden of choosing its path to failure’s willingness, readiness, and endurance to do so.
Winston Churchill will challenge the efficacy of democracy looking into the future and maybe its sustainability in a world where discoveries continue to prove the indefinite curiosity and resilience of the power of the human mind amidst debunking of many theories.
He will assert that, “Many forms of Government have been tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government-except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”.
He will be voted out as the prime minister through a democracy. Were those not in agreement with what democratic governance stood for, afraid of the people’s power and will, or they were in partial agreement with Winston Churchill’s views?
Must democracy being a governance that takes into consideration the people be refined periodically to suit the people and jurisdiction practicing it, or it must be a one that fits all?
Was Winston Churchil challenging societies to invent a new form of government that will have all the positives of democracy the way it is known today, or did he vision a completely different kind of governance never practiced?
Today technology is advancing, the way of doing business, agriculture, space exploration, education and even religion is advancing in some aspects and the question to be asked is, must democracy in its current form be static, when the ways of life of many societies have drastically changed or continue to evolve in some aspects?
CLEANING THE TEARS FROM THE LENS INSTEAD OF GRIEVING.
Are nations in Africa failing to develop and solve their own basic problems because of a democracy not rooted in its way of life, or is it a misplaced interpretation of the democracy it inherited that is not rooted in its culture, family system and traditions?
If it is a failure, then in discovering the path to reverse it to success, history must consciously move Africans and African leaders of today to look deep in a global mirror once again into the future, but this time with a cleaned lens to see an African Democracy built on a foundation of family without borders, and with trust, resilience, and hope as its core building materials.
A mirror constructed by the voices and actions of those celebrated in history who refused to not stop talking about people and democracy with passion. In their voices they invoked democracy, and by their actions they blended many ingredients of democracy to feed the world.
In the voices and actions of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Winston Churchil, Martin Lutherking Junior, Mahatma Gandhi, Marcus Garvey, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Jomo Kenyatta, Sekou Toure, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lemumba, and many others whose voices the world will never seize to continue sounding louder.
If indeed Africa is failing and tearing within the confines and dictates of the democracy in the global bowl every nation appears to be feeding from without hunger and anger, the root cause must be discovered and patched.
In discovering this failure, it must take the sophistication that birthed the failure with a deliberate and honest reactionary attitude to reverse without fear or favor using a genuine family lens and spirit. A lens that Africans will see their fellow country men and women as a nuclear family and their fellow Africans beyond the invisible borders as extended family. A family where an African’s tribe’s men and women in their country are seen and appreciated as their twin siblings. Other tribes’ men and women in the same country are appreciated as siblings ( who are not their twin) from the same patents.
The lens must see Africans recognizing and accepting elders from other African countries as their uncles and aunties. Whereas accepting their brothers and sisters from other African countries as their cousins from the same extended family.
AFRICAN JUDICIARY, LEGISLATURE AND THE EXECUTIVE UNDER THE LENS
The Judiciary of almost all African countries respects and has laws specific to the African family system and traditions. These laws must be aggressively awakened if put to sleep, and overhauled if obsolete to inject in the court’s dispensing of justice, the African family and traditional means of ensuring society is at peace with itself and everyone’s fundamental human rights are protected no matter their religion, tribe or origin.
These laws may in most part appear to be in existence. However, in many situations it functions when the powerful elite class needs it to their benefit and not the other way round. Traditional authorities and leaders must be empowered within the confines of the law to exercise their roles in the protection of human rights and administration of justice.
Some African countries, including Ghana have already infused some customary and chieftaincy laws that broadly addresses family and chieftaincy disputes, including inheritance. Ghana’s Intestate Succession Act, 1985 PNDCL 111 and the Chieftaincy Act, 759 of 2008 are some laws rooted in the African family and traditional system.
More needs to be done especially in the areas of enforcement and its public education. The laws must not only live in books to confirm their existence. They must be strengthened and be seen actively being applied by the Courts.
African Legislative Assemblies, be it Parliament or Senate, and other continental unions must consider creating or adding some permanent seats based on demographics to be occupied by representatives of African traditional authorities. This group can be a committee within the legislature to have matters relating to the African family and traditions referred to them for investigations and recommendations.
They must have voting rights to serve as checks and balances in the already mostly known partisan divisive representation that are often tempted to vote on important issues on party lines. Their representation must truly cut across the country.
Countries put into regions can have representation from each region. Countries with the federal system should have representatives from each State. The selection of the traditional authorities’ representation must be agreed upon by law to be run in turns in regions or States with different traditional rulers, to represent the regions or States at the National Assembly.
The Executive or presidency can, in addition to whatever advisory committee already in place provided in the constitution, have a traditional ruler advisory committee to be chaired by the president or the vice president. Alternatively, the committee can be made to nominate or elect one of their members to chair the committee. The traditional rulers advisory committee must be direct advisors to the president on African family and traditional matters across the country.
The committee’s preoccupation must center around development of African culture and traditions, including tourism, conflict resolution such as land and chieftaincy disputes. Agriculture and environmental protection, including ensuring the country grows enough to feed itself and export.
They advise on proper and safe acceptable mining that will not destroy the environment. Their advisory roles in the area of education can dwell on the inculcation of the values of African family and traditions in the educational curriculum at all pre-tertiary levels.
Africa cannot continue grieving the ‘tears’ of democracy to keep counting some failures when success is readily available in a system naturally gifted it. As earlier stated, success has always consciously and unconsciously given failure the opportunity to walk in its shoes, but left the burden of choosing its path to failure’s willingness, readiness, and endurance to do so.
Therefore, even if Africa’s unconscious bias lies in the belief that failure will still knock at the door, it is the same door knob for sure that ushers guests in and out of one’s abode, and the power for both, lies in the hands of the host. So, Africa, let not failure be your guest, for in the hunt for success there is no recess.
I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan
Pennsylvania, USA.
