Malnutrition of African Children: African Politicians Catering for themselves while Neglecting the N

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Day-to-day hunger is not new to poor children in parts of Africa, the orphans have no one to feed or clothe them. We see them everyday roaming the streets and sleeping at that angle close to the tree. Child malnutrition was associated with 54% of deaths of children in African (2001), the World Health Organization (WHO) reports in 2013 indicated that malnutrition is associated with more than one third of the global disease burden for children under 5 especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The number one cause of malnutrition is poverty, while drought, poor soils and deforestation are also adding a significant contribution. The health and life of these children is a direct attack on the future of the continent and its politicians seem not to care about tackling its number one cause (poverty).

While hundreds of thousands of children suffer from malnutrition and other ailments due to poverty, the President of Nigeria, Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari traveled to the United Kingdom (where his children were studying) to receive treatment for an ear infection. Local Nigerian media carry reports on the salaries of Nigerian legislators and it would blow your mind to know that a Swedish senator would have to work for 12 years to be able to make what a Nigerian senator makes annually ($1,777,674.84). 25 % of the state budget goes to the payment of legislators, not to mention the percentage on the uncountable amount of reports on money top officials siphon for private use. Ministers and top directors in government also get a huge slice of the countries budget, much of which they get through embezzlement. In 2015 there was frenzy on reports about an alleged billions missing from the state treasury coming from the petroleum department. Even though the veracity of all these allegations and many others have not been confirmed by a confession, court or lawful authority, the fact remains that these politicians are unreasonably selfish and wickedly greedy. They persistently refuse to do anything with the money they handle to tackle poverty.

The amount of misappropriation from African government officials might be a psychological problem. There is a consistent desire among Africans to be superior to another and this is expressed by the house you live in, car you drive, clothes you wear, schools children attend and so forth. The word selflessness is non-existent in their diction and aims. President Zuma of South Africa faced prosecution for using $16 million dollars of public funds to renovate his private home. The court ruled it was inappropriate and ordered he refunds the money.

If just a fraction of all these billions and millions of dollars can be used to create a welfare system for underprivileged and malnourished children the future of Africa will not be sabotaged as it is today. Government policy to fight against corruption is a must and essential, adopting a horizontal approach in implementing programs at community level must be recognized. Introduction of mechanized agriculture to boost food production and to survive adverse climatic conditions could be a major gateway in solving these problems.

References:

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/our-work/our-work-in-africa/malnutrition-in-africa

http://buzznigeria.com/latest-outrageous-salaries-top-nigerian-politicians-revealed/

http://news2.onlinenigeria.com/headline/408543-700-million-raw-cash-found-in-the-home-of-petroleum-minister-diezani-alison-madueke.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/south-africa-zuma-pledges-repay-nkandla-house-costs-160401181130964.html

https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/10/11/letting-them-fail/government-neglect-and-right-education-children-affected-aids

http://data.unicef.org/nutrition/malnutrition.html

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Ernie J. Burgher is a bi-lingual freelance journalist and author, and speaks English and French. Ernie writes for SitiTalkBlog.

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