Of Prayers for Rain, “Judgement Nights” and “Miracle Money” - Part I

At a research day at Oxford University

I attended a discussion at the Overseas Development Institute in London where the former Nigerian Finance Minister – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - was speaking about her tenure in Nigeria. It was a very enlightening discussion and her explanation of the methods she used to fight corruption and vested interests in Nigeria deserves a separate paper of its own. I only mention this discussion because it was at this event that I met a strategist from Oxford University specialising on the politics of Southern Africa. She had just returned from Zambia so I asked her – without hiding that I thought it was ridiculous – what all that business of praying for rains was about? She, of course, not being of Zambian extraction, had to be politically correct, so said this was in tune with the expectations of the man in the street. Which is to say, the majority of Zambians did not think, like I do, that it was a monumental waste of time to pray for rain when the science is clear what has caused this delay. 

Little did I know that prayers for rains were coming to my own beloved Zimbabwe and, the man on the street would also be gratified that such “positive” “action” had been taken by the government. What’s next? We are going to start praying to get parking spaces next to the store entrance every time we go shopping? Does the bible not caution against praying for frivolous things? There is also an element of deception to the timing of the prayers for rain. I noticed that in Zimbabwe the day for prayers was called when Al Jazeera weather report had already predicted rainfall. Still, this is not the crux of the problem, the problem is that there is a significant number of our countrymen who subscribe to these prayers for rain when the historical record clearly shows there is a pattern to El Nino. This is a terrible misunderstanding of cause and effect.

As the Malawians also had national days of prayer for rain, I do not think the leaders are unaware of the science, instead, they are just doing what they know their constituents will respond positively to. The President of Malawi is a man of science – a Professor – so is his Vice President. Zimbabwe’s leaders are very well educated and, if they so choose, could actually teach a graduate course on El Nino. The fault here lies in civil society (it is civil society that has chosen to believe that the crowing of the cockerel causes the sun to rise). The way for me to explain why this is the case involves me having to go back to my childhood so as to talk about the lessons we learnt from our parents and grandparents. I will then show you why school education could not easily uproot what we internalised as children. Then I will go on to talk about the essence of the national psyche in Southern Africa and the dangers inherent in such a psyche. All this I will do in Part II and Part III as my new thing on this blog, is to make very brief and accessible entries each time.

Talking to a strategist who works on Politics in Southern Africa recently.