Dear President Trump,
It is with utmost pleasure that I write to you from the sunny Cameroon on the sunny coast of West Africa. I was irked by your recent decision to issue a ban on citizens of some African countries and the fact that you are considering extending the ban to include dozens of other African countries.
Mr. President, we understand the need for you to regulate entry into the United States, but please do not be oblivious to the corruption that exists in many African governments, sanctioned or enabled by the governments of most of these countries. While a good number of African leaders are trying to combat systemic corruption, others are indifferent to it or are part of it. Most are part of it. It is this corruption that causes many African youth to be jobless and hopeless, risking life and limb to cross the Sahara and the high seas to get into Europe or the US, via Panama and Mexico.
Please, Mr. President, do not punish these young people who are simply victims of the bad leadership of their governments. Many are fleeing wars, famine, and unemployment created by these multiple factors, and it would be unfair for you to deny them a chance at a better life because of the bad decisions of their leaders.
While some of them have been daring enough to challenge this kleptocratic governance that has held Africa hostage for decades since political independence, some of them have been jailed for demanding better living conditions, and others have even been ruthlessly killed by their very own governments. My humble submission, therefore, Mr. President, is that if you are to issue a ban, please single out these corrupt African leaders, their family and friends, and ban them from entering the US. They take hard-earned African taxpayers’ money and spend it lavishly in luxurious hotels and on shopping sprees in high-end malls in the US while their citizens live in squalor.
Mr. President, thank you for your kind attention, and I trust that you will look at this matter more critically and make an informed decision as you have always done.
Humbly Submitted,
Hans Ngala, Journalist at Cameroon News Agency
