Opinion and Analysis
Nigeria’s Dominique Duncan who competed in the women’s 200m athletics event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. AFP
By Wallace Kantai
In Summary
Watching the Commonwealth Games last week was a bit
of a surreal experience. No, it is not because David Rudisha lost the
800 metres final (he is coming off injury, and he is a class act, so
there’s nothing to fear for the future).
It is not even because we were pipped at the line in the
10,000 metres final (Josphat Bett forgot to dip; Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro
wasn’t so careless). It wasn’t even because Ezekiel Kemboi was dethroned
in the steeplechase (that is truly the end of an era).
It is because there was a woman with blue lips and a
leopard-pattern tattoo in the sprints, running for Nigeria. Not just
that; there was also a man named Mark Jelks lining up for Nigeria in the
100 metres final. Now, Jelks is not a surname typical of Nigeria.
Neither, incidentally, is the name Dominique Duncan – for that is what
the blue-lipped lady is called.
This was remarkably curious, and so I did what any
curious person does nowadays, and rushed off to the Internet to find out
more. It turns out that Jelks, who once ran for the US, is an athlete
with a drug-related question mark next to his name.
He failed to account for his whereabouts on three
different occasions around 2010, and for that he received a suspension
that lasted until 2012 (World Anti-Doping Agency rules are pretty strict
on this).
Duncan’s story is not as interesting as her
appearance. She also tried out for the American track and field team,
but was simply unable to break into what is an extremely competitive
team. In her words, “I’m not the best, but I’m definitely not the
worst”.
The interesting thing about all this is not
necessarily that second-rate athletes have defected from the US to
Nigeria. It is in the fact that Africa has now become an attractive
destination for people to showcase their talents, when opportunities in
their home markets become limited.
It is not a new phenomenon, and it is not even
restricted to sports. Once you begin to think about it, you will realise
that you have been thinking about the “brain drain” phenomenon all
wrong.
For the longest time, the complaint has been that
the West takes all the best people from places like Africa, and leaves
Africa the net loser. Think back to the dawn of colonialism, especially
in settler colonies like Kenya, Rhodesia and Algeria.
History books will tell you that much of the stock
of settlers that came in to establish livelihoods – the Delameres,
Rhodeses and their ilk – were the English equivalent of the Africans of
the last few decades.
Young (mostly) men with lots of energy and ideas,
but with the stifling realisation that they would not make the most of
their ambitions in their home countries. They came here to try their
luck. In the usual, bell curve way, many succeeded, some wildly, while a
few fell by the wayside and had to declare failure.
More recently is the curious phenomenon of
executives from multinationals who have been posted to Kenya to head up
operations here. At the end of their tenures, many have opted to not go
back to their home countries. They are happy to buy ranches in Laikipia,
set up second careers here, and, in some interesting cases, even marry
Kenyan wives.
Call it going native, if you want to be unfriendly, but it is a perfectly understandable phenomenon.
Complicated
Even on the other end, when it comes to Kenyans
leaving these shores and making their fame and fortune in distant lands,
it is no longer as simple as Kenya (or Africa) losing doctors, nurses
and teachers and enriching other countries.
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