THE PROBLEM WITH AFRICA 11

A man who whose house rent was due would keep promising his landlord, ‘I’ll pay you next week, there is money that I am expecting’ and when ‘the next week’ is around, he’ll say, ‘please give me another week unfailingly’ etc. this continued for a long time until he had lived and extra 6 months in the house without paying. The landlord became very watchful making sure he won’t pack-out of the house at night or whenever he isn’t around so that he can flee to avoid paying his balance due. Some tenants have done that to him in time past, after repeatedly promising to pay when their house rent were due but failing and when they’ve stayed long they moved out of the house without his notice just to run away from paying what they owe. He didn’t want that to repeat with this tenant, so he kept monitoring him. Fortune would smile at him one day when a lady hired him (he is a par time taxi driver) to take her a hotel that was very far from the city. While on their way, he asked her if she can pay for his services, she boasted that ‘her man’ is more than capable and would keep sharing with him how ‘her man’ had been spending on her for the last 3 months they’ve met to calm his fears that he’ll pay her whatsoever is the amount for hiring his services. He was glad and when they got to the hotel, she called ‘her man’ and when he came out to settle the driver, behold he is his that tenant who had refused to pay who kept using his little kids to manipulate his emotions from driving him out of his house. The landlord looked at him and said, ‘you’ve refused to pay me for the past 6 months yet you’ve spent more than a year rent on this lady’. He was dumbfounded as the landlord angrily left leaving him with this word ‘I’ll be waiting for you at home’.
The attitude of this man reflects that of an average African, unless he is compiled with force and threat, he won’t pay his debts. He’ll always choose pleasure over making good his promises or paying his debt.
In the movie ‘The Game of Thrones’ Tyrion was able to hire the services of a prison guard without a dime on him to pay just by telling him ‘The Lannisters pay their debt’ and when he had the means to pay, he promptly did without being reminded.
Imaging the Africa reputable with paying her debts; a people known to honor their words, and keep to their promises. That’s the Africa that’ll become great.
The government makes promises they don’t intend to keep and another word for ‘politicians’ in Africa is ‘Liars’.
In Africa, Africans no longer trust her fellow’s word or promises. How can you deal with a man you don’t trust in what he is saying? It’s not possible.
If we must build a better Africa, we should first build trustworthiness because every relationship can only thrive on trust and not until we can properly relate with ourselves, we can’t relate with the rest of the world.
To build trustworthiness, we have to start from our homes; keep your marital vows and the daily day to day promises you make to your spouse. Honor your promises to your kids, don’t lie to them in small matters like telling them you’ll do this or that for them just to make them stop crying or not follow you out and when it’s time to do those things you’ve promised them, you won’t bother. If you can be trustworthy to your spouse and children, you would be to the rest of the world.

To build a better Africa, it begins with keeping to our words and paying our debts.
Our trustworthiness as a nation would be built when our trustworthiness as a husband and as a father has been built. When you can tell your child, I’ll buy you ‘biscuit’ when I’m coming back and your child would confidently relax on those words and when you can tell your spouse ‘I’ll do that’ and she’ll say with all sincerity, ‘I Know’.
Promise Ikpe