Dear Editor,
Gira Emmanuel |
Are you guys just kidding or
simply teasing? Power outages in Developed Countries? I need some clarification
here. For four weeks now I have been tracking this thing of power outages and
sometimes do not believe my eyes when reading your daily headlines. Well, you
should help me answer this question. Is it possible that we can have power
outages in developed counties, the origin of civilisation and technological
advancement or you are being fictitious? It was unbelievable to read that it is
spreading from one country to another, like our African wild fire; from one
bush to another clearing shrubs, chasing birds and killing animals with heavy
legs. Well, the only difference is that, African wild fire burns the bushes and
creates heat and light, but the power outages in the so called developed
countries are causing blackouts and leaving patients waiting for surgery cold.
When I think of Rostow´s theory
of modernisation and try to imagine the countries in question, I would quickly
think of high level of industrialisation; efficiency in service delivery and
effectiveness of governments in managing issues. I immediately feel affronted to admit that,
power outages can go on and on for weeks, affecting service delivery;
transport, health, industries, education, business and government
administration and nothing serious has so far been done. I would expect this to
happen here in my country, a less developed country (LDC); where blackouts are
not news and normal, where traffic lights are replaced by police men who open
their arms to show the drivers where to go; where a midwife uses paraffin-fuelled
lantern to deliver babies; where the rich classes and sensitive government offices
have standby generators to counter outages.
Do our brothers in Developed
Countries (DCs) sell all the generators they manufacture to us in LDCs
and keep
nothing emergency? Why can’t such institutions like hospitals, public transport
lighting systems and government offices do like we do here in the LDCs. How
effective then are the DC governments and service providers like electricity
distribution companies, if I may ask?
However, it is not too late to
correct the illusions assumptions about efficiency in DCs. With my experience,
the theory of efficiency is universally inefficient, even in brand new cars. I
remember one day, together with twelve high school friends, we were travelling
in a pick-up double cabin, and brand new one expected to be very efficient
mechanically. But efficiency was inefficient, we bumped on small pothole and at
once, we saw the back tire from my side faster than the car. The driver however
used his expertise and saved us. On stopping, we realized that the new bolts
were cut. It was a new machine after all, we did not have extra bolts for
emergency. From a group of sympathizers, an old man said to us, young men,
“Emergency is emergency”. So DCs just know, whether it is a DC or LDC emergency
is emergency, emergency is universal, powers are bound to go off; put an emergency
response facility, train some traffic police officers to take over when traffic
lights become confused, retain some lanterns in schools, so that students can
have light, and government officers, do some handwriting, so that you do not
worry about the unsaved soft copies, and keep the post office operational, so
that mails can be delivered in the absence of the internet.