The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Today is Tuesday, September 19th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.
The 100 Most Reputable Africans and Why It’s Important
Should societies have heroes? Should nations esteem and applaud the greatest men and women within their borders? Reputation Poll International certainly thinks so.
In January of this year, this global reputation firm released its 2023 list of the 100 Most Reputable Africans. The register presents individuals that model integrity, impact, and visibility. These men and women come from a variety of sectors, including governance and leadership, human rights and advocacy, education, entertainment, and business.
The purpose of this essay is not to analyse the winners. The goal is not to determine which selection was worthy and which was not, though it was inspiring to see Zambian pastor Conrad Mbewe make the list—a friend and fellow brother in Christ.
Rather, the goal here is to commend organizations, nations, and other institutions that seek to honour members of their society that serve as good examples to their people.
If Africa wants to improve upon its morality, productivity, inventiveness, impact, education, and economy, then it should celebrate and salute individuals who model these character traits.
There are many ways to do this, including promoting them in speeches, honouring them with statues, inviting them to speak, embossing their image on paper money, passing down their stories in books, creating movies and documentaries of their lives, instructing the next generation of their self-sacrifice, electing them to public office, and naming streets and institutions in their honour.
Conversely, Africa will fall into ruins if they celebrate charlatans and scoundrels. Societies should not esteem and praise men and women who cheated their way up the ladder of success, maintained a profligate lifestyle, or wasted away their resources and gifts. These people should be forgotten.
The Bible encourages individuals to have heroes. The Scriptures give honour where honour is due. In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, Jesus praises the servant that took the five bags of silver given to him and then made five bags more out of it. Jesus also rebukes the one who hid his gift in the ground.
The book of Proverbs honours successful people. The Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31 was “profitable” (v. 18) and therefore little girls should imitate her. By contrast, Mr. Lazybones shames his family and country. He’s a sluggard. He doesn’t work hard. He sleeps in late. He doesn’t plough in the right season, so he’s always out of food. Don’t be like him.
Far too many cultures around the world get stuck in their old ways. They do what they do simply because it’s the way it’s always been done, even if the methods are inferior. They criticize defectors and those that have seemingly “forgotten where they came from”. Old tools and archaic techniques continue to thrive, as does that nation’s poverty. These cultures will not succeed. They fall far behind the rest of the world. They stick with Roman figures when Arabic numerals are far superior.
A positive example is Japan. Just after WWII, Japan found itself far behind many parts of the world economically. When it looked around at other nations that were far more prosperous, they chose not to envy them. They didn’t complain. They didn’t stick to their old ways. Instead, they learned where these societies were superior to them. America, for instance, was a worldwide leader in manufacturing cars. Japan studied their methods and has since far surpassed America in their success in making vehicles. The same can be said for cameras and many other products.
We all need heroes, as Hebrews 11 and the dozens of champions there illustrate. But heroes must not only come from the past. Some of them live among us today. If these people are marked by integrity, nations would be wise to promote them. In doing so, they will increase the standards of excellence among their citizens and propagate success.
And that’s it for The Africa Review in Five on this Tuesday, September 19th in the year of our Lord 2023. Subscribe to the Missionary Minds podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts. I’m Yamikani Katunga. Be not weary in well-doing.