Africa's New Wabenzi Tribe (Benz People)
Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on October 12, 2005 at 11:30 AM CST
It's not everyday I get to bring you political news, but today is a
rare exception. While browsing AllAfrica.com today, I found an
interesting story detailing what may be one of Africa's largest
problems (more on that at the end of the story).
According to the story, it seems that many of Africa's political
leaders are infatuated with the Mercedes-Benz brand (we can
understand this infatuation; we are, after all, a website dedicated
entirely to Mercedes). This infatuation is well documented among the
African people - musicians have written songs about it; the masses
have written folk tales about it. The African people have even
bestowed a title on their political leaders: the "WaBenzi!," or the
Benz people. In short, Mercedes has become one of Africa's largest
status symbols.
Up to this point, you're probably not surprised about anything in the
story. Who cares if Mercedes is a status symbol in Africa; it's a
status symbol in America as well, right? But what we failed to
mention is that out of the countries and political leaders that have
a fondness for Mercedes, most are dependent on donor funding.
In other words, the political leaders are using money lent to them by
other countries to purchase their Mercedes. This is, at least in my
opinion, one of the largest mistakes the government can make.
The purpose of a government is to protect the people and help the
people in times of need. I've never been to Africa, but I constantly
hear stories of people in Africa starving, suffering from widespread
disease, facing poverty... the list could go on and on. Why then,
when other countries try to lend their support to Africa, do the
political officials take that money and piss it away on luxury
vehicles? I'm entirely supportive of Mercedes, but as the government
of an impoverished country, purchasing a luxury vehicle should be far
from the top on your list of necessities.
But before I end, the story did go on to point out that at least some
African leaders are seeing the error of their ways. Rwanda, in an
effort to free public expenditures, recently impounded 1,000 vehicles
and placed them up for sale at auction. Burundi's new president,
Pierre Nkurunziza, recently followed suit and chose to sell some of
his countries vehicles as well.
I'm not a politician, so I'm not going to bore you with any more of
my political views. In closing, I'd just like to point out that I'm
glad to see that at least some of Africa's political leaders
understand the role of the government. And to any other African
political leaders reading this, get your head out of your asses, take
an example from these two countries, and quit wasting your country's
resources.
To view more Mercedes-Benz news and information, click the link below:
http://www.emercedesbenz.com