The recent upsurge of amateur seks tape productions starring several of the country’s youth has led to the usual uproar about how the upcoming generation lacks a moral fibre and have been corrupted by too much exposure to western practices.

This is an old sentiment, rearing its head whenever something happens that people feel would not have happened during those good old days of African traditional living. There was more discipline back then, they would say nostalgically.

Whilst admittedly true, it’s unrealistic to expect that in such a globalised world, practices that we’ve associated with the west would not seep into the very fabric of our society. Everyone clamours for the big, church wedding these days, don’t they? Yet that was not the case way back when; during these good old days everyone keeps telling us about.

So leaving aside the question of why we think two consenting adults cannot decide to do whatever they want to do in the confines of their room, what is this moral fibre they keep talking about that the youth lack? Because I have looked around the whole country to find it and I’m sadly found wanting.

We live in a country where politicians live lavish lifestyles when the economy seems on the brink of teetering into an abyss. We live in a country where corruption at high levels is seen as normal and no one ever pays for their oh so obvious crimes.

We live in a country where being a pastor is now big business, where you can rake in huge sums from your congregation and no one can do anything because, really, who would challenge a pastor?

We live in a country where the police find it fun to look the other way when they feel like it, mostly because they’ve taken ‘noko fio’ from the offending driver, or they just don’t feel it’s worth the bother. How else can people violate traffic laws right in front of police headquarters, and get away with it?

We live in a country where we litter in public, urinate anywhere we like, break countless other laws flippantly on a daily basis.

Someone should show me where this moral fibre is?

It’s a question of hypocrisy; it’s always been a question of hypocrisy. There is little of this moral fibre thing going around, why expect the youth to have any more than the people who raised them?

Or we probably feel on the moral scale taping a seks tape is the lowest of the low? Depending on your sensibilities it might be, but in a country riddled with such structural behavioural problems as listed above, all of which are so inimical to nation building, I feel like the ill-advised dalliances of a couple of people should be the least of our worries.

You cannot demand a moral fibre from the youth because the entire nation lacks one, where are they supposed to pick this ‘heavenly’ trait from?