By Emmanuel Nduka
The Heritage Times joins the rest Africa to celebrate the 2021 Africa Day. The day which is set aside for May 25, provides an opportunity to narrate the political and socio-economic achievements of African governments and African citizens.
The theme for this years’ Africa Day, is ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want’. The day (formerly known as African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day) is observed annually to commemorate the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), originator of the African Union (AU).
While the African continent is not yet all that it has the potentials to become, the challenges facing it are surmountable. As Africa gradually ease away from the negative impacts of the pandemic, The Heritage Times as a Pan-African Media, is positioned to key into the vision of the OAU, which is line with our vision to advance transparency and accountability in leadership and governance.
As we noted earlier, Africa has been faced with many challenges. In Nigeria, insecurity escalates on a daily basis, vis-à-vis government’s effort to protect citizens’ lives and properties.
Recently, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President, Felix Tshisekedi who is also the current head of the AU alongside a dozen other African heads of state, concluded a summit in Paris where they argued among other issues, for an increase in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from 33 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars.
The SDR, used sparingly, gives member countries the possibility of ‘drawing’ liquidity to supplement their financial reserves. But this alternative is subject to the notion of quotas, which take into account the economic strength of each part of the globe.
Other burning issues on the continent are also being tackled. Chad had recently experienced political unrest, after the sudden death of President Idriss Deby, made way for his son Mahammat Idriss Deby to lead the country.
Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict which has led to thousands of civilian deaths and displacements, allegations of war crimes and ethnic cleansing, is yet another concern that hovers on the continent. Ethiopia, the second most populous country on the continent, also has a dispute with Sudan and Egypt, concerning its dam on the Nile River’s main stream.
In Mali, the joint civilian military transition government after last year’s coup that ousted Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and the worsening insecurity in the Sahel region where countries have struggled to combat multiple armed groups, also persist.
There is also Mozambique’s Islamist insurgency in the North cabo Delgado province, which has led to a refugee crisis. The situation in Libya with the continued observation and respect of a ceasefire agreed to in March, further adds up.
The Rwanda Defence Force is fighting incessant attacks by a section of FLN militants – an armed wing of Rusesabagina and Nsabimana’s MRCD coalition – near the Burundi border.
The Heritage Times joins the rest of Africa to celebrate some iconic African leaders whose struggle shot the continent to where it is today. The contributions of Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Paul Kagame, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, amongst many others, are written in gold. We also celebrate Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan, who was an icon of peace, and was never power drunk as other leaders in the continent would have been. His watchword was always that: “My political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”.
On the Covid-19 pandemic, African leaders are obviously striving to increase vaccination efforts on the continent amidst vaccine apathy across several African countries. Africa has defied the odds by managing to control the pandemic that has ravaged other parts of the world. This in itself, is worth celebrating for. From the entire Heritage Times team, we say happy Africa Day 2021.
