It's not everyday I get to bring you political news, but today is a rare exception.  While browsing AllAfrica.com today, I found an interesting story detailing what may be one of Africa's largest problems (more on that at the end of the story).

According to the story, it seems that many of Africa's political leaders are infatuated with the Mercedes-Benz brand (we can understand this infatuation; we are, after all, a website dedicated entirely to Mercedes). This infatuation is well documented among the African people - musicians have written songs about it; the masses have written folk tales about it. The African people have even bestowed a title on their political leaders: the "WaBenzi!," or the Benz people.  In short, Mercedes has become one of Africa's largest status symbols.

Up to this point, you're probably not surprised about anything in the story.  Who cares if Mercedes is a status symbol in Africa; it's a status symbol in America as well, right? But what we failed to mention is that out of the countries and political leaders that have a fondness for Mercedes, most are dependent on donor funding.

In other words, the political leaders are using money lent to them by other countries to purchase their Mercedes. This is, at least in my opinion, one of the largest mistakes the government can make.

The purpose of a government is to protect the people and help the people in times of need.  I've never been to Africa, but I constantly hear stories of people in Africa starving, suffering from widespread disease, facing poverty... the list could go on and on.  Why then, when other countries try to lend their support to Africa, do the political officials take that money and piss it away on luxury vehicles?  I'm entirely supportive of Mercedes, but as the government of an impoverished country, purchasing a luxury vehicle should be far from the top on your list of necessities.

But before I end, the story did go on to point out that at least some African leaders are seeing the error of their ways.  Rwanda, in an effort to free public expenditures, recently impounded 1,000 vehicles and placed them up for sale at auction.  Burundi's new president, Pierre Nkurunziza (pictured above), recently followed suit and chose to sell some of his countries vehicles as well.

I'm not a politician, so I'm not going to bore you with any more of my political views.  In closing, I'd just like to point out that I'm glad to see that at least some of Africa's political leaders understand the role of the government. And to any other African political leaders reading this, get your head out of your asses, take an example from these two countries, and quit wasting your country's resources.

If you want to check out the story, you can find it here. The author makes a few other interesting points about the situation in Africa, so if you're interested in learning a little more about Africa's financial state, take a look at it, you might find it interesting.

[UPDATE:  One of our readers sent us a tip pointing us to a much larger version of the story we referenced above.  This new article talks much more in depth about Africa's financial situation, as well as the political leader's views on Mercedes and spending their country's funding. After reading the new article, I have to admit that I had no idea how prevalent the problem really was and still is.  One can only hope that leaders who care about their people and understand the true role of the government will be appointed to office.  You can read the full article here.  Thanks for the tip Andrew.]