Infrastructure, noun; the basic physical and organisational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. “the social and economic infrastructure of a country”

It’s common knowledge our leaders only think about themselves, how long will it take for them to learn that they would secure their own children’s future if they invest in the the greater good by developing infrastructure?

When will they learn not to cut the proverbial nose so not to spite they face?

If you have a well built and well maintained road system, the vehicles you drive will probably need less repair therefore more money in your pocket. On top of that you would be able to drive the much coveted luxury cars of Europe every self respecting don must have since the driving conditions would be right for them.

Infrastructure provides jobs which means less desperate people will be out there to get your ass or your things.

You will have fewer adversaries therefore stay longer in power.

The people, since they are not so poor anymore will want to buy more things, guess where they will buy from; your business.

I understand that Africa is more fractured than other continents. For generations there have been tribal, cultural, racial adversaries in all directions who have never settled their differences and made worse the more by the colonialists by corralling them into borders. However, by now our leaders should have learnt a thing or two from each other.

How long therefore will it take for Africa as a whole to realise this?

So long as we still have the old mentalities in place, nothing will happen. We need fresh thinkers and people who see beyond their noses and bellies. People who know we must build backbones that will allow local and foreign business to flourish.

Yes there are still powers out there that it is in their best interest to keep Africa down but if we start developing internally within ourselves and communities… we will be able to punch through the belly of the beast.

Infrastructure lets entrepreneurs build amazing things. Jeff Bezos – Amazon founder

Infrastructure is like magic when it’s there miraculous things start happening. This is why tech and especially software developers realised this and started building open source. Things you wouldn’t have imagined will be done by people accessing this freeway. Businesses will be created and economies will start to grow. There are endless examples of important things that wouldn’t have happened if infrastructure was not built first:

You would not be reading this if the American military didn’t build the infrastructure behind the internet.

Without the mighty ocean crossing ships, the Europeans would not have conquered the world like they did.

Without the silk road cultures of the world wouldn’t have formed like we know now.

To mention but a few.

Hope is not lost.

Rwanda is a beacon on this front. They have decided to invest in their country, small as it is they are punching pretty high. President Paul Kagame actively looked to the newly emerged economies in the East and decided to learn from how they did it in such a short time, now he is implementing these findings; Cleaning up the streets, building and maintaining roads, public institutions, the airlines, building bridges (after one of the worst genocides in history only 25 something years ago), embracing diversity at the work place and even going as far as promoting Rwanda to the world. This kind of leadership is exactly what we need for the rest of the continent.

In conclusion my friends without the backbone Africa will always be a crumble. We need people like Mr Kagame and others to align us with the rest of the world.

If you have any thoughts leave them in the comment below. And give the post a share if you think more people should read it including the leaders we are talking about. Post it to their twitter accounts.