This pandemic, like any other crisis, has become breeding ground for many conspiracy theories and again the issue is that even with all this innovation in terms of communication, there is no transparency when communicating relevant information. Most of the time we never hear the underlying truth because the government is doing what's best for the common citizens. I've really never understood the concept of having institutions that determine how people think and act down to what they eat besides the fact that whoever first imposed this had a sick imagination and was a power-hungry individual, I believe it was a man though lol. Anyway, one rumor hitting the rounds is one that we're all going to be micro-chipped as uncle Bill avails the vaccine for the whole world. This he has not denied so you might have to just brace yourself. After hearing this microchipping story I still have mixed feelings about it but I'll bring the topic closer to home and focus on Africa's position with regard to this idea. Africa at the moment is a 3rd world continent and many of these innovations have not made their way into the continent or have totally skipped us due to our poor social and economic structures. Our policymakers dictate policies that only serve the few at the top making it difficult to rely on the government to deliver on its mandate to the people because it's not for the people most of the time. This being the norm in almost every African nation has then seen institutes like healthcare, law enforcement, and education being compromised. Compromising the education system has then halted progress due to limited research in our tertiary institutions meaning that even the skills acquired in these institutions are of low value in this progressing world, if not irrelevant. Those who are lucky enough escape to the developed countries with the little they have collected from local high schools and they do make a significant to those countries, as I'm writing there are many African doctors contributing to the effort against COVID-19 in the NHS. What this shows is how potential is exported outside of Africa, instead of implementing systems that can allow that potential to be realized at home and make significant contributions to our progress. As this continues, Africa continues to be disempowered and our people continue to wait for a savior. As we wait for a savior, the rest of the world moves forward. Our geniuses will develop other countries because they can never shine in this "dark continent". This means that even when it comes to such technology like micro-chipping, we haven't done much research into the subject due to our poor curriculums so even if we're to implement it somehow we run the risk of placing the ownership in the hands of international corporations who'll hire foreign labor and not do much to empower local people. The alternative source of education is the internet but many don't even have access or they don't use it for crucial research purposes. Or maybe Bill Gates will install the microchips for free, who knows since he's a philanthropist hey.
Another reason why I think Africans shouldn't worry about this technology is the fact that the majority of people have limited interaction with advanced technology. The majority of the population is summed up by rural people who lead a traditional life and our urban population hasn't reached a point where we're totally detached from real life. Africans are sensitive when it comes to spirituality, that's why they spend more time praying than actually looking into the problems of the world. They haven't reached a point where technology matters more than anything, unlike the western world where technology has heavily infiltrated the society to such an extent that religion has been replaced by the virtual online world. Some new cultures are even emerging from online platforms like twitter where people can imitate an influencer and before you know it, it's a trend. A whole revolution, the #Metoo movement, started on twitter when several women started calling out males who had subjected them to abuse, even though it has also led to biases against manhood itself but that's an issue for another day. Now, do you see how powerful this is, an online platform became so comfortable that one felt like they could share their worst experiences with their followers, majority of whom they've never met in real life. In Africa many of us actually find it taboo to be vulnerable to strangers, we still value the bond with family and when we're not comfortable with family we still share our issues with the local pastor or pray to God. Many of us still understand the essence of being one with other people. On twitter, if the algorithms aren't in your favor then you might not even get to the person who is most likely to help you. The degree to which westerners have come to contact with technology makes them more open-minded to the idea of a microchip, especially if the benefits are heavily marketed. In Africa once we hear about the bad side then you've lost the sales pitch, we won't take it.
One final thing to conclude why I hold the opinion that Africans shouldn't worry much about these microchips is the fact that there are poor systems in place. Extending on what I had said earlier, I'd like to focus on the fact that some Africans don't even have a bank account or a passport, let alone a birth certificate. In countries like Zimbabwe, you can go to the registrar's office and be told that there aren't enough cards to print ID cards so imagine how the situation might be with digital IDs. It won't be effectively implemented. And also the fact that people don't have passports or bank accounts makes it difficult to install a digital ID because data is not centralized. In the western world where the majority of the people are registered on online systems, the data can be easily fetched to feed into one's particular chip and they can use it anywhere needed. What can you feed into the micro-chip of someone who doesn't even have a birth certificate, they live but they don't exist. Maybe you can try the church because maybe you might be lucky there as the majority of them are on the church register and probably have a baptism certificate. The problem is that our urban population is engaging in this wave of panic coming from the west because most of us listen to western news and follow western people online. The algorithms are in favor of them so you're most likely to be invested in western affairs than your current situation at home as an urban African who's just privileged and represent a tiny segment of the population. Only the minority of the African population is spreading this gospel of microchips and IDs, which is funny given the state of your economies. Be concerned maybe if you're planning to leave the continent because if you're remaining here I doubt you should worry because even if it's implemented it won't cater to everyone so you can conveniently be part of those who aren't catered for.