The Implications of GM Crops for Smallholder African Farmers

International experts, key policymakers, heads of farmers associations, and private sector representatives are gathering in Uganda from May 19-21 to examine the potential benefits and challenges of producing genetically modified (GM) crops in Africa with a theme "Delivering Agricultural Biotechnology to African Farmers: Linking Economic Research to Decision Making." This conference is organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and the Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Development.According to a press release from the organizers the director of IFPRI’s Environment and Production Technology Division, "In the coming years, growing populations, stagnating agricultural productivity, and increasing climate change will make it even more difficult for Africa to tackle poverty, hunger, and malnutrition," He added that: "To confront these challenges, many African countries are increasingly assessing a range of tools and technologies, including agricultural biotechnologies, which hold great promise for improving crop yields, household incomes, and the nutritional quality of food in an environmentally sustainable way."By bringing social scientists and decision makers together, this first-of-its-kind conference aims to bridge the gap between policy and research, and provide solid information and evidence on which sound choices and investments related to GM technology can be made. Research presented at the conference, for example, shows that in delaying the approval of GM fungal-resistant banana, Uganda foregoes potential benefits ranging from about US$179 million to US$365 million a year. According to IFPRI analysis, expansion in the adoption of GM crops could also significantly lower the price of food in developing countries by 2050. Realizing these benefits, however, depends on acceptance by farmers, public awareness and consumer preferences, regulatory and market issues, and strong political will, including the willingness to invest in new technology.Deciding whether or not to make GM crops a priority in their agricultural development and food and nutrition security strategies and invest in modern biotechnology is an important consideration for many African countries. To help inform such policy decisions, conference participants will share research findings that address critical questions, including:* What are the potential economic gains and drawbacks of GM crops, especially for poor, rural households?* What obstacles prevent smallholder farmers from gaining access to and successfully using GM technology, and how can these constraints be overcome?* What lessons can be learned from other developing countries, such as South Africa, China, and India, where GM crops are already being commercially grown by smallholder farmers?* How can policymaking be improved to ease the dissemination and commercialization of agricultural biotechnologies?* What are the regional and international trade implications of growing GM crops in Africa?"Managing the opportunities and risks posed by GM crops, including trade-related challenges, requires countries to have well-functioning, efficient, and responsible biosafety systems," said Margaret Karembu, director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter in Nairobi, where the Kenya Biosafety Bill became law in February 2009, joining Mali and Togo, which enacted national biosafety legislation in 2008. "These countries’ experiences offer useful lessons for other African countries working to develop biosafety policies, including the increased potential to benefit from proven research and help smallholder farmers with limited resources gain access to agricultural biotechnologies and successfully use them." To draw additional lessons, conference participants will examine a number of case studies, including:* The challenges of bringing insect-resistant (Bt) cowpea to market in Nigeria* Consumer perceptions of the potential introduction of a fungal-resistant banana in Uganda* Impact of GM crops for smallholder farmers in the Philippines, Honduras, Colombia, and Bolivia"Considerable experience suggests that biotechnology can contribute to improved food production and quality in developing countries," concluded Dr. Rosegrant. "Moreover, crop traits currently in the development pipeline-including drought and heat tolerance-are of particular value to African farmers.
To be or not to be is no longer the question with regard to acceptability of GM or not. Just a few years back, it was like a taboo for journalists to discuss issues encouraging the adoption of GM cropping in so many African environments. But with the passage of time, consciously or curiously, many of us have consumed and come to appreciate GM products.
Chief among the many factors that have encouraged GM acceptability is the economic advantage it has over the conventional food production methods. And since there has not been any reported health related cases associated with it, nobody seems to complain any more. Gradually ignorance is giving place to experience, thanks to the media enlightenment programs.

LAND GRABBING OR SNATCHING?

The scramble by people of the west to acquire farm land in Africa has been fingered as one of the causes of the lingering effects of ever-increasing food prices. This cannot be far from the truth considering the fact of the contingency measures that attend these projects from start to finish. While some countries are producing to feed the teeming hungry masses, others are seeking land for the production of biofuel crops. Whereas these intentions are laudable, there is no doubt some adverse effects are to be expected especially concerning the ‘donor countries.’
In a recent report published by the International Food Production Research Institute (IFPRI) titled “Lang Grabbing” by Foreign Investors in Developing Countries, other factors contributing to the ongoing food price crises since 2007 include increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets which has in turn pushed countries short in land and water to find alternative means of producing food. The report also argues that these land acquisitions have the potential to inject much needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend.
The research identifies two major categories of the so-called ‘Land Grabbers.’ which are food-importing countries with land and water constraints but rich in capital, such as the Gulf States. The second group is countries with large populations and food security concerns such as China, South Korea, and India which are intensifying land acquisition overseas. Their targeted victims are naturally the developing economies where production costs are much lower and where there is abundant land.
Even as the issue is still being discussed, many developing countries have already swallowed the line, hook and sinker dangled by their would-be tenants. One only hopes that the Zimbabwean saga of chasing out authentic farmers should not repeat itself by the time it is realized how lucrative the business of farming can be especially when handled by experts with the advantages of advanced technology. History, they say, repeats itself because people refuse to learn from it. Methinks, one way we could avoid a reappearance of past ugly incidents is for the indigenous farmers to form co-operatives and enter into alliances with the foreign farmers which will afford them the opportunity of not only being co-partners in farm management but would over a period of time acquire the much needed technology that would make them truly independent in the long run. By so doing, they should be able to produce enough food for local consumption while the expatriates are concerned with producing for export.
Given that the food price crisis has increased competition for land and water resources for agriculture, it is not surprising that farmland prices have risen throughout the world in recent years. In 2007 alone, farmland prices jumped by 16 percent in Brazil, by 31 percent in Poland, and by 15 percent in the Midwestern United States. In many countries, developed water sources are almost fully utilized, but agricultural demand for water is expected to increase drastically in the future.
Curiously, of all the land deals already signed, Africa accounts for more than seventy percent spread between Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Nigeria; with less than ten percent involving Pakistan and the Philippines.
Because of the urgent need for greater development in rural areas and the fiscal inability of the developing-country governments to provide the necessary infusion of capital, large-scale land acquisitions can be seen as an opportunity for increased investment in agriculture. Proponents of such investments list possible benefits for the rural poor, including the creation of a potentially significant number of farm and off-farm jobs, development of rural infrastructure, and poverty-reducing improvements such as construction of schools and health posts. Other possible positive spillovers include resources for new agricultural technologies and practices as well as future global price stability and increased production of food crops that could supply local and national consumers in addition to overseas consumers. Though some of the land-lease agreements make provisions for investments in rural development, these deals may not be made on equal terms between the investors and local communities. The bargaining power in negotiating these agreements is on the side of the foreign firm, especially when its aspirations are supported by the host state or local elites. Smallholders who are being displaced from their land cannot effectively negotiate terms favorable to them when dealing with such powerful national and international actors, nor can they enforce agreements if the foreign investor fails to provide promised jobs or local facilities. Thus, unequal power relations in the land acquisition deals can put the livelihoods of the poor at risk. This inequality in bargaining power is exacerbated when the smallholders whose land is being acquired for foreign investment projects have no formal title to the land, but have been using it under customary tenure arrangements. Since the state often formally owns the land, the poor run the risk of being pushed off the plot in favor of the investor, without consultation or compensation. Land is an inherently political issue across the globe, with land reform and land rights issues often leading to violent conflict. The addition of another actor competing for this scarce and contested resource can add to socio-political instability in developing countries.
The ecological sustainability of land and water resources slated for foreign investment is another important issue when considering large-scale foreign investments. Introducing intensive agricultural production can threaten biodiversity, carbon stocks, and land and water resources. Converting forests or rangelands to monocropping reduces diversity in flora, fauna, and agro biodiversity, as well as aboveground and subsurface carbon stocks. Many tropical soils are unsuited for intensive cultivation (one reason for long-fallow cultivation cycles in many tropical areas that are considered “unused”), or there is insufficient water for intensive cultivation. Although fertilizer use and irrigation can overcome some of these limitations, these activities can lead to long-run sustainability problems such as salinity, water logging, or soil erosion if they are inappropriately designed. These problems are most likely to occur if the outside investors focus on short-term profit or lack a sound understanding of the local ecology. Irrigating the landholdings of foreign investors may take water away from other users in the area or from environmental flows, and intensive use of agrochemicals contributes to water-quality problems in groundwater and runoff. Foreign investors with short-term leases may have a short-term perspective on the sustainability of intensive agriculture and less identity with the area than local residents. Thus, it is important to conduct a careful environmental impact assessment that not only looks at effects on the local area, but also considers off-site impacts on soils, water, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity. Land-lease contracts should also include safeguards to ensure that sustainable practices are employed.
The IFPRI report has not left us without some useful suggestion which, if properly adhered to, will eliminate the much-detested incidents that usually arise from transcontinental marriages of this nature. Among some of the suggested elements of a code of conduct include:
1. Transparency in negotiations. Existing local landholders must be informed and involved in negotiations over land deals. Free, prior, and informed consent is the standard to be upheld. Particular efforts are required to protect the rights of indigenous and other marginalized ethnic groups. The media and civil society can play a key role in making information available to the public.
2. Respect for existing land rights, including customary and common property rights. Those who lose land should be compensated and rehabilitated to an equivalent livelihood. The standards of the World Commission on Dams provide an example of such policies.
3. Sharing of benefits. The local community should benefit, not lose, from foreign investments in agriculture. Leases are preferable to lump-sum compensation because they provide an ongoing revenue stream when land is taken away for other uses. Contract farming or out-grower schemes are even better because they leave smallholders in control of their land but still deliver output to the outside investor. Explicit measures are needed for enforcement if agreed-upon investment or compensation is not forthcoming.
4. Environmental sustainability. Careful environmental impact assessment and monitoring are required to ensure sound and sustainable agricultural production practices that guard against depletion of soils, loss of critical biodiversity, increased greenhouse gas emissions, or significant diversion of water from other human or environmental uses.
5. Adherence to national trade policies. When national food security is at risk (for instance, in case of an acute drought), domestic supplies should have priority. Foreign investors should not have a right to export during an acute national food crisis.
Given the unrelenting level of corrupt practices in most if not all African countries, one can only expect that these investments will last but a few years before they get messed up in the quagmire.

OBAMAnia

While I join the rest of the world in congratulating US President-elect Barack OBAMA on his successful election to the esteemed position of the World's Number One gentleman and Commander-in-chief, I want to advise politicians around the world and Africa in particular to look out for what virtues they can learn from the way and manner the man we all now want to relate with as distant cousin has conducted himself up to the point of winning the hearts of the United States electorate and the world at large. It is hoped that the wind of CHANGE will soon sift the chaff from the wheat in the field of politiks. Well done OBAMA. Africans are proud of you.

OBAMA AND THE REST OF us

Sometime around April this year, I had such a convincing relevation in my sleep that got me really worried concerning the safety of the next President of the United States of America - Barak OBAMA. Over the years, I have learned to distinguish between a dream and a vision or a revelation. There was no mistaking this one. Such was the conviction that as soon as sunrise the following morning, I could not waste a minute in conveying this feeling by registering it on the OBAMA campaign website. That is why it does not surprise me today as the world is treated to the photographs of two kingpins who are said to have been caught red handed in their bid to assassinate not only OBAMA, but unleash mayhem on hundreds of innocent Africans who happen to have some sympathy towards America. I can bet that this news will only highten the popularity OBAMA is already enjoying among people of the entire world. Win, win, BARAK. Win OBAMA.

Spiritual Healing in a scientific age

SPIRITUAL HEALING IN A SCIENTIFIC WORLD: By Vincent NNANNA

When the heart speaks, however simple the word, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts. For this reason, I intend to drop my nom de plume and write as if speaking from the pulpit to the effect that hearts and souls may be touched and healed.
Any time the word 'Health' is mentioned, the intellect, like the computer memory, races back and forth in search of corresponding images to match her understanding. Often times, we stumble on words like vigour, stoutness, contagion, hereditary, medication, hospitalization, epidemic, and all the et cetera. Health is associated with acquired wealth and a person's ability to retain the best medical practitioner, hence the saying that "Health is Wealth." But the truth of this saying lies in the fact that a truly healthy person enjoys a state of wealthiness that money cannot buy. To gain a better understanding of Health, let's cast our minds back to the condition of Man at the Garden of Eden. The dominion God gave to man at the beginning of creation included power over sin, sickness and death. At what point then, did these malevolent triad creep into man's life? The first recorded case of sin in the Bible is that of listening to and obeying other voices. In that scenario, Eve preferred the argument of a lieing-talking serpent to that of her Creator, and Adam was soon to subjugate his role of calling his wife to order, and danced along. The multifarious results were pain in child-bearing, weakness in toiling, killing of ones brother and indulging in prodigalism.
Another instance we have of unhealthiness prevailing among God's children was when the Israelites murmured against constituted authority, and turned to other gods. According to the Scriptures, their behavior angered God and He allowed them to be bitten by fiery serpents (Numbers 21:5 and 6). There is abounding evidence to prove that every situation of sickness or death has been occasioned by sin in one form or the other. It was this understanding that prompted the disciples to inquire of Jesus Christ concerning a lad that was born blind whether it was the boy who had sinned or his parents.
Jesus' brief ministry contained more than thirty specific cases of healing. In the majority of those instances, he not only healed the sick, but enjoined them to "go and sin no more, lest greater evil come upon them."

The Nature of Evil: Evil or unwellness is a condition where the five senses, the organs of the human system and the physical and mental faculties become dysfunctional. If these conditions could be brought about by a violation or disobedience of God's commands, it stands to reason that restoration to normalcy can only result from right conduct. Instead of examining ourselves to see the evil in us that has occasioned our state of unwellness, we look to the stars and accuse our Creator for venting His anger without cause, or we look to the earth and accuse our parents for what we term hereditary diseases or still claim that we have been visited upon by the sins of our forefathers ancestral curses. When we come face to face with climatic changes, we blame our condition to epidemic or contagion or genetic cross-pollination. In our delusion, we loose sight of our God-bestowed dominion over everything upon the surface of the earth, above the skies, under the sea, et cetera. (Genesis 1: 26-28).

The Turning Point: As Christians, we ought to rejoice in the fact that the Scriptures have already provided the way out of these trials. The Book of Romans chapter 6 verse 16, clearly says "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" When Apostle Paul cautioned against looking lustily at a woman, he only meant to show the power of the human mind. The Mind, which does not constitute part of the human organ, controls a greater proportion of human thinking, reasoning and physical expressions. When one Mind tries to exert overbearing influence over another, the weaker one can be made to do the biddings of the stronger. It is against this danger that the Scriptures counsel us to "Let this Mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5). Having the Mind of Jesus, instead of the mind like of Eve and the Israelites as earlier mentioned, will lead to the benefits of 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land."
Materia Medica: Where do we turn to in times of trouble? To matter, of course. "The medical triumphs of this century are generally regarded as among the wonders of our age. Less well known is the extensive, documented literature challenging modern medicine's right to be accounted an exact science or even a socially satisfactory system of health care. This dissatisfaction is by no means confined to such crusading critics as Ivan Illich and Robert S. Mendelsohn, with their insistence that medical science still causes as many diseases as it cures. The criticisms extend through hundreds of sober medical reports, sociological studies, ethical disquisitions, economic analyses, legal decisions, popular magazine articles, and academic investigations. As President Derek Bok of Harvard ruefully suggested in a carefully balanced 1983 report on the needs of the university's medical school, "Dean Burwell was only partly facetious in stating to Harvard medical students: 'Half of what we have taught you is wrong. Unfortunately we do not know which half.'" For instance, nosocomial illness an umbrella term for a whole catalogue of infections acquired inside the hospital has proved fatal to some patients who entered the hospital for treatment of a very minor ailment. It was estimated in 1978 that of 32 million persons admitted to American hospitals each year, about 1.5 million develop some kind of nosocomial infection, and 15,000 die of it. Despite the progress in medical science and technology, President Book wrote in his Harvard report, "Many studies have revealed that doctors make a disturbing number of major diagnostic errors, and he illustrates this by a recent survey of 100 autopsies at a prominent teaching hospital which disclosed such mistakes in twenty-two percent of the cases." These revelations are not intended to belittle a profession so distinguished by dedicated zeal as the physician's. It is just to say that generally the cultured class of medical practitioners is grand men and women, therefore they are more scientific than are the false claimants to Spiritual Healing." Robert Peel

That being the case, how could we entrust our health-care to people whose practices are based on assumptions? Some practitioners who confess to practicing healthcare delivery can only pass for mental assassins or money-minded quacks. What most of them try to do is magnify a condition of fear and ignorance and make it seem real to the sufferer. The end result is ingestion of a greater poison to overcome the effect of the weaker, and a diminishing financial status of the unsuspecting victim. Let's consider one common practice among the medicals. When a patient complains of a feeling of pain, the most probable prescription will include some doses of analgesics or pain killer. What the drug does is to numb or dull the brain and render the memory cells insensitive to pain. A repeated numbing of the cells by this process will ultimately lead to their destruction. We must remember that brain cells are the only cells that CANNOT be replaced or regenerated once they die. Who can tell how many brain cells are killed by a single dose of so-called pain killers, while the doctors get paid for turning fellow human beings into guinea-pigs? Consider also the method of the traditional herbalist, who, most of the time will recommend that the potency of his herbs or roots (concoctions) is being attained when soaked in some local spirits; What alcohol does is to cause the walls of the intestine to thicken and the organ to contract thus preventing the secretion of gastric juice, and inducing ulceration, bleeding; sometimes vomiting and ultimate death.
How many be the instances where the medical profession have pronounced death sentence on sufferers of what they brand terminal or chronic dis-ease? Many are the cases where their predictions have been rendered of no effect by the victim's reliance on spiritual remedy divorced of all material contaminations. Predicting danger does not dignify life, whereas forecasting liberty and joy does, for these are strong promoters of health and happiness. Resort to spiritual method of healing, as Jesus did, is a form of mental medicine, which gains no potency by attenuation, as does homoeopathy; and its largest dose is never dangerous, as with allopathic medicine; but the more the better in every case. This accords with the Scriptural injunction to "Pray without ceasing." (I Thessalonians 5:17).
It is clear that sin endangers sickness and culminates into death. But man is not helpless because our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus who says in essence, "I am the Way, Truth, and Life, and whosever believes in me shall not perish but have everlasting life." Believing in Him, means to love him; and loving him means to keep his commandments: "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your Soul, and with all your might, and to love your neighbour as yourself."
Enjoy a blissful ride onto healthiness, in the Name of Jesus Christ, A-men.

Why this silence?

When crises loomed in Kenya, we all shouted, foul! Today, a more humanitarian situation is looming in Zimbabwe, like a time bomb that will not take long to explode. And nobody seems to be talking about it. Could we possibly be overwhelmed with a situation we are already acquainted with? Who does not know that Mr. Mugabe will prefer to cling on to power, even while within the portals of the grand leveler of all human greatness - death? Who does not know that he would exploit the arrogance of his unrepentant neighbour to smuggle arms with which to scare his opponents into flight? Who does not know that the South African mascot will pretend to be too busy to call his friend to order, or at least summon other SADC heads of state to speak his mind? Who will bell the cat? The United Nations certainly has a jurisdiction on this matter. What are they waiting for? And above all, what are Zimbabweans in exile there for? Don't they have a network that can combine efforts to invoke an ouster clause on an illegal regime. The election results so far indicate that Mugabe has no right to remain in the State House. He is in a terrible state of shock to the realisation that the mammoth crowd that was singing his eulogy at the campaigns, went into the voting booth to speak the truth to their conscience. Once the people whose interest and destiny are at stake have spoken, what moral justification does anyone else have in condemning the opposition or the West? We are aware of the suppressed press in the jungle called Rhodesia, but what use is the Worldwide-web if the journalists in that enclave cannot use it effectively to speak out? They only need to act as whistle-blowers and leave the amplification to the rest of their compatriots around the globe. Or have those Zims in exile opted to play second fiddle in foreign land? More questions than answers. Where there is a will, there certainly is a way.

POSTERITY

Discussing posterity is like embarking on a journey that will never come to an end. Before this generation came to be, our forebearers had constantly been moralized on the virtue of bequeathing a noble legacy for posterity. This appeal conjectures a homo sapiens personification. The call extends beyond the present generation and will continue through generations yet unborn. Posterity therefore, seems like a persona non grata hence the abject neglect or nonchalant attitude towards it. The truth is that posterity is to human existence what tweedledee is to tweedledum. It could be called a two-edged sword sort of phenomenon. We could also liken it to the chicken-egg relationship. It does not matter which is first. What is important is that both depend on one another for propagation of their generations.
It is hard to say whether posterity is there because of anterior generations or successive ones. Whichever it may be, posterity is there to serve both interests. To the one side of the divide, it is like a motivating factor against insensitiveness, greed, self-centredness and reckless living. Were it not for the sake of posterity, people would perchance bother less about toiling beyond putting some meal on the family lunch table or having just enough clothes to cover the body, until they breathe their last. Civilisation and technological advancement would have been adversely undermined but for posterity. Morality would have been thrown to the dogs because people would care less about the consequences of any irrational behaviour. “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” would have assumed centre stage.
To the other side of the equilateral demarcation, posterity, assuming a human face and staring humanity eyeball to eyeball says, “See what I have done for your sake. What do you intend to do about improving on it?”
While whipping up emotions of gratitude, it serves to motivate or challenge humanity towards greater endeavour. This leaves a trail of unbroken chain of cause and effect, action and reaction. It is not in all circumstances, though, that posterity posits itself in the past and point to the future. The very fact that this journal is being put together is for posterity. Wise people will glean through the pages and decipher something that will have some impact on their lives. Generations yet unborn will read and thank goodness for ancient wisdom. Posterity exists in the immediate.
Posterity in itself is an embodiment of virtue, but the misinterpretation of it has led to so many negative tendencies. Otherwise, what would make a man seek to perpetuate himself in political office as purported president of a country whereas he is only trying to amass wealth for a micro unit of posterity – his immediate family to the disadvantage of the greater human factor – the nation at large?
If man had the option of choosing to live beyond the prescribed age of one hundred and twenty years (see Genesis chapter 3 verse 6), it would make sense to see why people build reinforced concrete mansions with state of the art gadgets. Or why a nation would want to plant a piece of flag on the surface of the moon or under the sea bed to colonize a territory. This is not to suggest that interterrestrial explorations are not necessary. But when it goes beyond serving the overall interest of humanity, it becomes an obsession.
There are three major factors that impel humans towards doing things for posterity. One, some religious fanatics believe that the revelation of John in the Book of Apocalypse has numbered them among those that will inherit the “new earth.” (ibid. 11:10; 20:4; 21:21-27). Every attempt made by these set of believers towards discovering the earth is to preserve their dream home. I am not to judge the rightness of that Biblical interpretation or otherwise, but when we cast our mind back to the Guyana tragedy of recent memory which was based on an erroneous interpretation of the Scriptures, we can clearly see where these could lead us to. The Guyana sect was a bunch of greedy people who did not want to leave anything for posterity. They would rather embark on wanton destruction of their possessions and finally taking their own lives, their offspring’s, everything. But they inadvertently left a history for posterity to learn from and be wiser.
The second reason has to do with tradition which behoves us to “let our children enjoy better opportunities than we have.” This is like a moral obligation which one is not bound to uphold except to the extent of ones understanding and moral rectitude. Let me quickly say that morality to me is the Eldorado of the Golden Rule which says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Every facet of moral ethics is hinged on this premise. Society would brand a person who lives on inheritance and fails to contribute to the advancement of humanity as a lazy gold digger; which remark is in itself derogatory. Therefore, even some fortunate ones who happen to have benefited directly from the benevolence of posterity or the goodwill of their ancestors, almost always strive to maintain a status quo to ensure that the baton does not stop changing hands by their own ineptitude, because of the saying that to whom much is given, much is expected.
The third factor that has served to foster posterity can be linked to economic prosperity. When people have more than a lifetime’s sufficiency, the tendency is to invest and reinvest. Even when some sum is stalked away in security vaults, it still benefits the overall interest of the populace through the law of multiplier effect in Economics. This situation can best be likened to the legendary dog that follows an overfed person in the hope that if he doesn’t defecate, he would vomit. Either way, there will be food for the dog.
It has often been said of naïve persons that “posterity will demand explanation.” This statement which again gives posterity a human face has its beneficial value. It has been a constant reminder against incredulity.
Some sceptics would ask, “Where is posterity?” Let such a sadist look around him and see suffering humanity scavenging rubbish dumps for food to eat. Look at the carnage on our roads resulting from neglected or badly finished road networks. Go to the hospices, prisons yards and orphanages and see suffering humanity most of who are in conditions not of their own making. Look around the countryside and see the absence of essential facilities and infrastructures. It is not unusual to see a family that is despised and isolated by other members of society because some despicable legacy had been bequeathed by some unscrupulous forebearer. There are abounding instances of abandoned mansions which nobody would want to live in because of the belief that it is being haunted by some mysterious forces. There are cases of girls born to some families who could hardly find a suitor except some gluttonous stranger because they stand accursed and consequently would spell doom to any one who dares to associate with them. There are communities that suffer underdevelopment on account of unfulfilled pledges by their ancestors to some serious moral obligations that have spiritual implications. In their minds, this unfortunate lot is asking the endless question, “Where is God in all these? What has happened to the promise of a good life? What have I done to deserve suffering in this manner? What unseen hand could be responsible for my plight? And a myriad of unvoiced lamentations keep reverberating into space. In Christiandom, this endless agony is referred to as witnessing against evil, and it doesn't go forth without attracting severe penalties on the evil-doer. One does not need to look far for evidences of posterity demanding explanation. Because they would not come to look us in the face and point accusing fingers is no reason to believe that perpetrators of evil can go unpunished. In her literary work, Science & Health with key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, “Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind” (Page 1 line 10).
Look at the contrasting picture of another group who has not considered it a virtue to live for the sake of others, no matter in what insignificant measure. It is to them that posterity is directing the unspoken question. I can hear someone repeat the Abel response, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9(b).
When it comes to time of reckoning, posterity will certainly demand of us what footprint we have left on the sands of time. If we happen not to find ourselves on the two extremes, we should expect to hear our Lord saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Mathew 25:21).