African Youth, they remain the biggest losers

Prophet T.B Joshua, is someone I have scrutinized and believed since my trip to Nigeria in 2010, when my good friends in Lagos, told me I could not visit him, as he was satanic. I asked a simple question, what is it that he does that makes him satanic. My friend, now interestingly a convert of T.B Joshua said, "I can take you anywhere but not at that place." Last year he offered to send me the Scoan's anointing water, a miracle trade mark of the T.B Joshua.

The Prophet has a huge pool of critics, but none of them will tell you what he does wrong. Actually over the years I have watched and followed his teachings, I have come to understand why he is hated. His actions, charity and message are a big threat to money making schemes that people have been using in the name of Jesus.

T.B Joshua is an embarrassment to mega-Church preachers and as such he needs to be ostracized and be portrayed in all demonic senses that we can convince our neighbor. Unfortunately at all times, the truth prevails and sets people free. The truth about T.B Joshua is that he has lived the biblical standards, applied them and his work exhorts God only. If he was an agent of the devil, he is doing a very poor job of sending more people towards Jesus Christ than to the devils Kingdom.

I will write about T.B Joshua later, but of course one worthy cause he has committed himself is to help the poor. He spends millions, not on jets, fancy cars or flying around the continent proclaiming his miracles, he spends it on the poor. From street children to destitute beggars. From the crippled to the poorest who had no home. He reconciles families, he has become a centre for solace for the needy.

T.B Joshua pays millions of dollars in school fees, widows programmes and many more food hampers are released. Perhaps where many of his generation preachers have enriched themselves, T.B Joshua has challenged them by giving to the poor, many of whom do go there without expectation.

But it is the T.B Joshua prophecy which has attracted attention globally. I have a habit of keeping what he says will happen and almost everything has come to pass. But his critics will always find an excuse than he never said it if it does happen.

He recently said something, which was my topic of this writing. Youth unemployment.

He said the world is yet to see a turmoil as many young people remain frustrated and unemployed even after graduating with world class papers. Job opportunities have shrunk so too investments and the hardest hit is Africa whose specialization is exporting raw materials. Imagine Nigeria does not refine oil, it exports crude oil.

Imagine the millions to tonnes of cotton that leaves Africa for Chinese factories only to return as cheap cloth ten times the price of cotton per kilogramme.

Imagine African Presidents, even our own Late Ngwazi Kamuzu Banda and Late Ngwazi Bingu wa Mutharika joining the likes of Robert Mugabe, Late Muammar Ghadafi and others stashing millions of dollars outside Malawi, when it could have been invested and re-invested for own people.

Imagine the old and disgraced opposition leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya taking over after the revolution of young people and behaving like old dictators. A newspaper reporter was just sentenced in Tunis for 'insulting' the President.

The I-Dont-Care attitude of the many old generation is a big risk to the future of the continent and signs of frustrated and angry young people are everywhere. In 2002 we were part of the enthusiastic young people at the Library of Alexandria to launch the Yes Campaign with a promise to create jobs for the many millions of jobless young people.

Some of us have graduated from the Youth activism, but the reality of the young people remains the same. The future does not offer any hope or promise.

The challenge as this Prophet notes, old people do not want to become statesmen or states women. They do not want to retire.

Of course we have equally many young people who want to take part in critical stages of initiating changes. The many vocal ones in Malawi on facebook could not even take part during conventions of the parties they profess to love. Many hide behind the social media to insult or propagate stays of very old men, whose ideas sound colonial than modern.

Africa needs to free itself from leaders who are still obsessed fighting invisible forces and focus on leaders who fight poverty, hunger and unemployment. We need leaders not stuck in history, but those that have had a heart to reach out, design a future and implement it with visible results.

We need a new thinking and the next revolution needs the young Africans to stop blaming anybody, but stand up and become the leaders that we want to be.

Otherwise as we go into the 10th month of 2013, it is very obvious that all the revolutions, all the developments on the continent, African Youth have yet to gain anything, not even a tangible voice for their challenges to be heard................they might be the biggest losers in 2013!