Anyone who has had the nerves to watch the feettage (plural of footage?) from Haiti would have seen the vulnerability of human bodies. Viagra pharmacy, A natural disaster in the form of an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale is not something that you can predict or prevent. Viagra pharmacy, An act of God? Many would not agree that the God of mercy would be caught playing such tricks on a people already sick and tired by their own rulers. Viagra pharmacy, That they are not in hospitals as a result of being sick and tired is not that they do not wish to go to hospital; it is simply that there are no hospitals or hospital staff around to take care of them. Viagra pharmacy, To help correct this situation Cuba, viagra pharmacy, in the last few years, viagra pharmacy, has been sending doctors to Haiti and helping to train doctors of Haitian origin. Viagra pharmacy, In fact, viagra pharmacy, Cuban doctors, viagra pharmacy, as well as the doctors without borders, viagra pharmacy, were already on the ground when the earthquake struck. Viagra pharmacy, This is because there was already a disaster on the ground in Haiti, viagra pharmacy, a disaster that did not need any act of nature or of God to impress on the people that they were a hopeless people. Viagra pharmacy, The situation was so dire that Aristides, viagra pharmacy, perhaps the only true leader Haiti has had in its 206 years of independence, viagra pharmacy, proposed as his vision to bring Haiti from destitution to dignified poverty! Kole Omotosho There have been attempts around the world to place blames for what has happened in Haiti. Viagra pharmacy, Black writers from the Caribbean, viagra pharmacy, from the Americas and from the African continent have been quick to place the blame at the feet of France, viagra pharmacy, Great Britain and the United States of America. Viagra pharmacy, France was the country defeated by self-liberated slaves on this piece of the island of Hispaniola. Viagra pharmacy, Twenty years into their independence the Haitian leaders sought to be recognised as a free country in the company of other countries. Viagra pharmacy, This was in 1824. Viagra pharmacy, The United States of America was still slave holding. Viagra pharmacy, How the racist whites of the American south felt about having a black free nation next door to their slaves can be found out by looking at the records. Viagra pharmacy, To be recognised as country among countries, viagra pharmacy, Haiti asked that Great Britain recognise its sovereignty. Viagra pharmacy, Britain consulted France for advice since France was the previous colonial master. Viagra pharmacy, France insisted that Haiti must pay reparations to France for the plantations lost, viagra pharmacy, the irrigation works in the plantations and the humiliation of being defeated by the ex-slaves before France would advise Britain to recognise Haiti. Viagra pharmacy, The leaders of Haiti consulted their people about these negotiations including the matter of paying France for damages consequent on the struggles of the people for their liberation. Viagra pharmacy, The people told their leaders that they owed nobody any money and did not have to pay France for anything. Viagra pharmacy, The leadership went back to France to tell France what the people said. Viagra pharmacy, France answered that they heard but that France would lend Haiti the money that they should pay France. Viagra pharmacy, This was the beginning of the foreign debt of Haiti. Viagra pharmacy, At the meeting in Canada on Monday deliberating on the way forward for Haiti, viagra pharmacy, one of the demands of the NGO and other organisations is that Haiti must be forgiven its foreign debt which amounts, viagra pharmacy, at peak, viagra pharmacy, to US$1.8 billion. Viagra pharmacy, US$1.2 billion was forgiven sometime in 2005, viagra pharmacy, leaving the rest for Haiti to start all over again. Well, viagra pharmacy, to be a country you have to be recognised by other countries. Viagra pharmacy, So Haiti’s leaders accepted to borrow from France to pay France.
From the 19th century into the 20th, viagra pharmacy, Haiti became a football kicked here and there by the Western powers until the United States invaded and took over the treasury in 1915-1916. Viagra pharmacy, There followed periods of deplorable leadership which left the people more destitute by the decade. Viagra pharmacy, This destitution expressed itself not only on the people but also on their environment. Viagra pharmacy, In an interview with the wife of Baby Doc who had succeeded his horrible father as president of Haiti sometime in the 1970s, viagra pharmacy, the good lady insisted that nobody could live in Port au Prince without air conditioning. Viagra pharmacy, The interviewer reminded her that millions of Haitians did in fact live in the capital as well as the rest of Haiti without air conditioning. Viagra pharmacy, The vegetations suffered, viagra pharmacy, there is no river as water source and the soil was carried away into the sea when floods came.
In 2004, viagra pharmacy, Haiti celebrated its 200th year of independence. Viagra pharmacy, While agreeing that there was always a need to mark a historic date, viagra pharmacy, I was not sure that there was much to celebrate that Haiti had been independent for 200 years only to be the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Viagra pharmacy, But more frightening for me was the implication of Haiti’s history. Viagra pharmacy, I was scared when confronted with the possibility that this is Africa in 200 years! Haiti shares the following characteristics with Africa: feeble or non-existent infrastructure; illiterate, viagra pharmacy, irrational and insatiable population of political followers; an uninformed or ill-informed and indolent but consumerist political leadership; and wheedling ponzi-oriented foreigners preaching peace and profiting from war; not to speak of foreign debt, viagra pharmacy, consuming what they do not produce and producing what they do not consume! Is this Africa in the next 200 years?
In commenting on the catastrophe that is Haiti today, viagra pharmacy, African leaders in South Africa have shied from making the comparison in terms that this is happening in Haiti, viagra pharmacy, but what is on the ground in some African countries looks as if the catastrophe that is just happening in Haiti has already happened in Africa.
Kwame Nkrumah, viagra pharmacy, first president of independent Ghana from 1957 to 1966, viagra pharmacy, insisted that all Africa had to do was ‘seek first political freedom and all other things shall be added unto us’. Viagra pharmacy, Well, viagra pharmacy, the experience of Haiti and of African countries until now would seem to say that ‘political freedom is not a necessary condition for economic success!’ This must sound like a blaspheme to the ears of liberals all over the world but it is true!
Soon after Haiti’s liberation, viagra pharmacy, the leaders tried to revive the sugar plantations from which the French had made billions but the now free Haitians refused to work in the sugar plantations. Viagra pharmacy, The leaders tried to force the people but the people reminded their leaders that they were free!
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