Missing the point

 In the last two months,Africa has experienced two major happenings that are both unique and intriguing at the same time. And as if prompted by a mysterious twist of fate they both happened together, one in relation to the other. The world cup was, indeed, an event that many Africans will remember for a long, long time. Africans love soccer.

And it is easy to notice the joy, not only on their faces but also, in their hearts when they are watching a soccer match. Although during this year’s world cup competitions African teams were eliminated early, many fans continued to adopt new teams in order to continue watching and rejoicing.

But what belies the alleged al-Shaabab bomb blasts in Uganda, which targeted civilians who were watching world cup finals some weeks ago, is a contradiction that has puzzled many. A contradiction in the sense that such a rare and tragic event could happen at a time when African soccer fans were at the peak of their happiness. Suicide bombers are not common in Africa. And this is another paradox. Although conventional thinking tends to regard Africans as the most miserable and unhappy humans on earth, in reality things are different. And, although logic would have preferred to convince us that Africans are the most vulnerable humans to manipulate as suicide bombers because they are miserable, this is not the case.Whichever way anyone may choose to look at things, Africans enjoy life. Miserable or missile-able, life’s good in

Africa. No wonder Africans have a louder laughter than probably any other human species on earth. And despite their ‘miseries’ Africans can afford to put smiles on their faces for longer than any other race on earth can.In 2002, the World Values Survey, an inter-university study, issued a report which pronounced Nigerians as the happiest humans on earth. The Americans were 16th and the British were 24th. It was a report that disturbed many conventional thinkers at the time. How could Africans top the list of happiest people on earth? Of course even the unhappiest people on earth were Russians, not Africans.
I followed one blog that discussed the issue and it was intriguing to note that even some Nigerians who contributed to the debate doubted the results of the survey because they clung to a long held perception of what happiness really means.But if the GDP we know in economics was to be calculated in terms of happiness, Africans would have had the highest in the world. Most of them may live on less than a dollar a day but that same penny provides them with the amount of happiness, the logic of which many in wealthy nations can hardly fathom.

In Africa, again, the word suicide is not foreign. But when Africans choose to use it they take a rope and head into a jungle; not bombs to crowds. So to imagine that al-shabaab, an organisation originating in

Africa, can begin to change the use of the term suicide in an African context is something that arouses curiosity.Although most Africans belong to Western and

Middle East religions, and are religious, they do not necessarily prefer to die here in a bomb blast in order to enjoy a promise of good life in heaven. And since most of them are used to age-old hardships, promises of ‘better’ life elsewhere no longer turn them on.During elections (a number of countries in

East Africa are heading for elections) politicians would promise a lot of heaven on earth, which would not show up after the vote. In this case, Africans have probably developed a degree of cynicism about better life, to the extent that even when such a promise is made in church or mosque, they simply don’t take it seriously.Politicians in

Africa prefer citizens who can’t be suicide bombers and are contented with their ‘miserable’ life. The moment

Africa develops a breed of its own suicide bombers then African dictators will hate politics. African suicide bombers will not fight for the nation, as Kamikazes of Japan during World War II, or in the name of God as

Uganda martyrs or in the name of Allah as is the case with Al-Qaeda; they will fight for their own dignity.But as long as all Africa has is self-punishing suicide, in the midst of mass contentment for misery, then African leaders will continue to treat their subjects as less important and unworthy of any dignity.
Think about it this way: In 2007 when

Uganda held the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), preparations took unimaginable proportions. Roads were not only paved, they were mopped clean every night. Miserable sex workers and loiterers were flushed out of town to remove eyesore from

Kampala streets during the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and other commonwealth dignitaries.But during last week’s African Union meeting in

Uganda, the only preparation that grabbed the attention of everybody was the tightening of security against possible al-shabaab attack. Otherwise there was no mopping, no flushing and no nothing, just pure

Africa for you.

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