THE question above is crucial. It begs for a right answer.
Based on what international broadcaster Al Jazeera recently exposed, those who cared to follow up its exposé now know why Africa has always been poor.
The Gold Mafia exposé that exposed Zimbabwe’s corrupt leaders and their conspirators in fleecing the country will agree with us that it exposed Africa’s practice that has been ongoing since independence.
So, too, this exposé answers some questions on why Africa has always been poor despite sitting on humongous sources of resources of value.
To put the exposé and the problem in the milieu, it recently came to light that the Zimbabwean authorities, using conmen of all types has for a long time, been engaged in illegal gold smuggling and money laundering.
Ginormous amounts of money have already been illegally minted and printed. Much of this criminality is committed for two reasons.
One, to avoid the sanctions Zimbabwe has been put under for decades after its former leader, the late dictator Robert Mugabe appropriated land from whites who also criminally grabbed it from black Zimbabweans; and just corruption and greed.
The scandal above involves the biggest and venal through-and-through cheese who’s referred to as numero uno. You know what we mean.
One fake prophet whose name is synonymous with a seraph represents the interest of numero uno who, unfortunately, swore to protect the country and its wealth that he is now inanely mugging and hawking.
How many of such rash and rotten number ones does Africa have in offices of the top cheeses?
Now that Africa knows every nitty-gritty of its fleecing and pauperising, what should it do with such dirty beasts with their dirty deals and deeds?
Aren’t these criminals supposed to be rotting behind bars?
What baffles me is the fact that people committing such mega corruption call themselves mature.
Regrettably, such people are mature though mentally they are juveniles.
You wonder what an octogenarian as one in this exposé can do with such money at such an eleventh hour.
What’s obvious is that such fools are used by young nincompoops who can still enjoy the loot.
Most of the criminals used are not Africans. They are either Asians or Europeans and a few black ragdolls. Again, why they’re not blacks? Simple.
They are easy to threaten or even get rid of when underboard deals involving the high and the mighty get nasty.
They can be expelled from the countries they have been committing crimes and that’s that.
This can give you the secret why most businesses in Africa are owned by such corrupt and dubious characters.
Most of them are rich, not just because they are smart in business as many Africans wrongly believe.
The open secret is that they conspire with venal officials to fleece our countries. They are rich criminally, so to speak.
If what the exposé exhumed is a typical mock-up of what’s been ongoing in Africa, believe ye me, we are voting criminals into our offices at our peril. It’s abhorring to have the so-called honourable people unashamedly doing dishonourable things in our offices as we stand aside and look.
Who would think that many charlatans we see gaslighting and pluming themselves are nothing but big yeggies?
Who would believe that some of such criminals who make us believe they are the people of God are but people of dog?
Nkwazi Nkuzi Mhango is a lifetime member of the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador, and author of over 20 books. He can be contacted on nkwazigatsha@yahoo.com. He writes here in his personal capacity.