We are Home of Compassionate Conservatism. (Capitalism with a Human Face). What's The Sweet Spot Between Those Who Believe Behind Every Great Fortune is a Great Crime and Those Who Believe Creative Genius Entrepreneurs are a shrinking lot throughout the world and must be rewarded With Infinite Quadrillions? Editor: Koni Okango Mabinda.
Email Contact:info@africa54.co.ke Physical: Bidii Farm, Kitale, Kenya.
Two days ago, Chinese racism was laid bare. They threw out any Africans who were staying in apartments and hotels, and forbid any African from going to the supermarket. The Chinese claim that the Africans were spreading Corona virus. Now, who is fooling who. Didn't the virus start in Wuhan China and spread to the rest of the world? Weren't the Chinese the ones who were espreading the virus all over the world?
How can the Chinese turn around and say that it was the Africans who were spreading the virus? Wuhan, China was the epicenter of the virus, and everyone in the world knows it. May be we shouldn't begrudge Donald Trump when he calls the virus the Chinese virus.
The Nigerian Ambassador to China did something commendable. He stood up to the Chinese police who were confisticating passports from Nigerians. The Chinese police couldn't be ashamed of seeing Africans sleeping on the streets.
Perhaps this is a lesson for us Africans. We give these foreigners red carpet treatment when they are in our countries yet they always look down on us and treat us as shit when in their countries. We serve them first in our restaurants. They jump queue. This must stop. And some Africans were thinking that the Chinese are better than Europeans and Americans in upholding the dignity of Africans. How wrong they were. Our self pride must be brought back. Read More Articles. Click Here
Africa's major issue is a leadership and governance one. We are the richest continent in terms of resources, yet the poorest in terms of living standards. We are the laughing stock of the world, even as our resources go to help other places become heaven.
In Africa, certain Presidents have been yearning to extend their grip in power. I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda have hinted that they will extend their terms.
Good governance and leadership is the major stumbling block for Africa's progress. Asia developed even when it did not have term limits for President. There leaders catered for their people. I'm thinking of Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Prime Minister Ibrahim of Malaysia. They transformed their countries from Third World to First World in a record 25 years, something that took Europe over 200 years.
If Africa is to develop, we need such leaders. It is a pity that our leaders are sell outs and only care about themselves and their masters in Europe and America. Read More Articles. Click Here
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has invested billions in healthcare in Africa. However, the motive remains unclear. Too often, Africans have been used as guinea pigs for experimental vaccine, and we would do well to be cautious. Not too long ago, two French doctors suggested, erraneously, that the vaccine for Corona virus should be tested in Africa. The two doctors suggested that the AIDs vaccine was tested on prostitutes, and the results were encouraging.
It is time that we developed our own vaccines. For instance, if malaria had been a disease that affected the first world, it would have gotten as much attention as the Corona Virus.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki got into hot soup for questioning the origin of AIDS. There have been conspiracy theories that AIDS was developed to depopulate the black race. Such theories ring true since we are always the testing ground for these vaccines. Strangely, the diseases emanate from outside but ravage the African continent. We must reject this.
Read More Articles. Click Here
Africans in the diaspora could be the solution to the ills that bedevil the continent. They have interacted with more advanced economies and technology, and are thus more exposed. On the flip side, they have also experienced the ills of racism, and are therefore more suitable to erase it.
Take Israel for example. It is one of the largest aid recepients in the world, thanks to its diaspora in the US. Every year, at least 50 billion dollars flows to Israel. Israelis in America occupy important sectors in the American economy, and thus ensure that its issues are heard. In fact, sometimes, it is the US which borrows technology from Israel.
This could be a lesson for the African diaspora in the US and in Europe. Already, the remittances the diaspora send back home constitute one of the biggest foreign exchange earners for many African countries. However, we need much more than that. Let the diaspora come back home and influence change. In leadership, business and economics. Because Africa does not need just money, it needs skills transfer too.
https://africashine54.blogspot.com/2020/04/africans-in-diaspora-could-offer-new.html?m=1
Africa's history begins when the White man set foot in the continent. The whites claim that we had no prior civilisation. That we were a destitute people that were rescued by the whites. But this is not true at all. Our history has simply been hidden, and it is our duty to tell our children about it.
One, the pyramids were built by the black man. The white supremacists try to discredit this and say that it is the aliens that built the pyramids. They claim that ancient Egypt was a civilisation built by the aliens. If not, they claim that pharaohs we're white men while Africans were underclass, much like the present day America. But this is not true at all. The ancient Greeks, to which the Europeans trace their civilisation, came to learn in Egypt. It took 40 years to graduate from these schools, and none of the so called fathers of Western Civilization graduated. Now, modern European archeologists are chopping of the noses of pharaohs and bleaching their bodies, in a bid to hide their true African identity.
The Yoruba of Nigeria have been shown that they had a computer programming language, long before modern computing languages developed. In account after account, there has been evidence that the African had a thriving civilisation even before the European came. It's time to reinforce that history.
These are unprecedented times for the world, much less for Africa. As the effects of the Corona virus continue to be felt, politicians have taken a back seat and it is now Intellectuals that are in the frontlines.
Right now, there is an all out race to develop a vaccine, and even a cure, for Corona virus. Where are African Intellectuals in this. Will we wait for European and American scientists develop a cure only for us to be mere consumers as we have done with the other diseases. How can we be sure that the vaccines will not be detrimental to Africans. Already, two French doctors have given racist statements that the vaccine be tested in Africa. This is uncalled for.
As a society, I know our Intellectuals are frustrated. They are underpaid. There are no research funds. They are harassed by politicians. Some choose to go the West and develop there continent and leave mother Africa struggling. It is time to turn back the clock. Let's come with world beating solutions for our problems. No one will do it for us. And when they do it for us, they will have a hidden motive.
Picture any election in Africa. The ruling party almost always wins the election. And the opposition almost always cry foul. It happens in country after country. It has happened to PDP in Nigeria led by Atiku Abubakar contesting against Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. It happened against Nelson Chamisa contesting against Emerson M agangwa in Zimbabwe. It happened when Raila Odinga was contesting against Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017. It again happened when Kizza Besigye was contesting against Yoweri Museveni in 2016.
How is it that the situation is the same in country after country in Africa? Why are elections always won by the ruling party. Why are elections always violent?
One problem is that our elections are based on tribe rather than ideology. In Nigeria, it's the northern Muslim tribes versus the southern Christian tribes. In Zimbabwe, its the Ndembele versus the Shona. In Kenya, it is the kikuyu against the Luos/kalenjins. Its never about issues. When your man wins the big seat, you are assured that the power brokers will be from your tribe. The goodies will then follow.
I acknowledge that our countries are artificial creations, having only been created in Berlin in 1884. Many African countries were forced union of tribes. It however behoves us to transfer our allegiance from our tribes, to our nation's, and finally, to the African super state.
Nelson Mandela said that the African leaders should develop Africa because there will come a time when the White Man's land will no longer be safe to go there. That time is now.
African leaders always go to seek treatment in European, American, or Asian countries. They will no longer be able to do so in this corona pandemic. They will be treated in the same hospitals which they neglected.
African leaders always loot from us and store the loot in foreign banks. They will not be able to do so. That money is now meaningless.
African leaders always take their children to expensive private schools where only the British or American curriculum is taught. They think that by doing this there children will be more clever. Now, they realise even the white man and his expertise has his limits, they too don't know what to do in the present crisis. So, it's time to develop our indigenous knowledge. Let self pride from the black man emanate again.
Slavery took that away. Colonialism took that away. It's time to reclaim back the black pride.
Picture this. US President Donald Trump calls us shithole countries. Our people in China are made to sleep on the streets by the Chinese because of accusations that we are spreading the virus. Africans and black Americans in general are treated as an underclass in America, 150 years after the end of slavery. Our sisters who go to work in the Arab countries return in coffins. There passports are usually confiscated as soon as they arrive in airports, and they are at the mercy of their employers. Our footballers in Europe constantly have bananas thrown at them, and shown monkey signs even as they score goals for the European clubs.
The other races came to Africa, we welcomed them with open arms. But they abused our trust, and took advantage of us. They made us their slaves. They made us their colonies. They looted from us, and made their places heaven, while our lands remained poor and desolate.
They killed our prophets who stood for us. Leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Muammar Gaddafi were quickly eliminated and replaced with patriots who continue to plunder the continent to this day.
For how long will be taken advantage of. First of all, we must unite. We have tooany enemies for us to be divided, a divided house always falls. Our unity is our strength. If they are unable to distinguish us, why do we end up fighting amongst ourselves?
Let's restore our dignity. We built the pyramids of Egypt. We created a civilisation in Egypt that Europeans came to learn from. Our contributions to humanity can never be done away with.
Donald Trump called African countries shithole countries. He even suggested that he doesn't know any country run by an African was successful. He has gone ahead to erase all the gains made by his predecessor, Barrack Obama. Trump's cult followers have never believed that America just had an African American President. It free labour from black people that made America prosperous. Yet 150 years after the end of slavery, African Americans continue to be an underclass. Their contribution in making America a superpower has never been acknowledged. And yet, America chest thumps itself as the leader of the free world.
Yes, President Obama was not perfect. Nor did Africa benefit from his leadership. In fact, our prophet, Muammar Gaddafi, was ousted while Obama was in office. However, even if you disagree with him on some things, you have to acknowledge and respect him, if not for the man, for the office that he held. This is something that Trump cult followers are yet to come to terms with.
1. Chinese evicting Africans
2. AFRICANS are 3rd grade citizens in US
3. Africans in middle east working as domestic workers return in coffins
4. Africans are in brothels in India. Suffering as commercial sex workers.
Mental shift needed. Let's fix Africa.
Donald Trump ushered in an era of white supremacy in America. In fact, Trump has a cult following simply because America wants to erase any thought that there was an African American President- Barrack Obama. You may not agree with Obama, but at least give him respect, if not for him, for the office he held. And Trump's whole premise has to turn anything that Obama achieved upside down. It's why his base loves him. This part of America has never come to terms that America has had an African American President. There are virtually no African Americans in Trumps cabinet, and it will remain so for the remainder of his term. In Trump's dictionary, a black man cannot succeed. Yes, Africa did not benefit directly under Obama, but at least, he offered hope to millions of Africans that it's possible to overcome racial barrier and succeed.
Trump's Comments that the US withdraw funding from WHO is only for one reason, that it's headed by a black man.
One legacy of both slavery and colonialism is that Africa was defiled. Not just material wealth in form of natural resources and minerals, but also mentally. While we have made quite some strides in material gain, we are still mentally enslaved.
Our thought patterns and mind is still Europeanised. Why do our females bleach themselves in increasing numbers? To make us look white. The statement that black is beautiful must ring true.
Why do our children speak English or French at home, especially children of the well to do Africans. In fact, speaking great English with an accent is a mark of great sophistication, while those who speak with a heavy mother tongue influence are derided as illiterate? The vice is especially pronounced in our media stations, where the stronger the British or American accent, the more likelihood that you will get the job.
Even our names are Europeanised, with the names of our ancestors slowly losing relevance. The legendary reggae singer, Bob Marley, warned us against mental enslavement. Yes, we have lost trillions by having our most able bodied work in European plantations for free. We have lost trillions as our minerals have gone to make other places heaven, while ours remain in desolate conditions. However, the loss from mental enslavement is incalculable. We must change.
Getting rich is supposed to be a reward for availing a certain good, service, or skill. Yet this is not the case in Africa. Our richest people are our politicians. Now, the motive of seeking leadership positions is no longer about service to fellow man, but rather, how rich one can get.
Take Equatorial Guinea President Theodora Nguema for example. His country discovered oil in the 80s. His bank coffers started filling in. On paper, Equatorial Guinea, with a per capita income of $40,000 is supposed to be richer than Great Britain. Yet, this is not the reality on the ground. The son of the President lives in a palatial residence in France, and owns a multi million dollar yatch.
Take another example. Former DR Congo strongman Mobutu Sese Seko. He used to lend campaign funds to European Presidents and Prime Ministers. His children were day scholars in France, even as the country's schools were in bad state. His fortune was worth billions of dollars. With the help of Europeans and Americans, he plundered DR Congo like personal property, much like what Belgium king Leopold did in the 1880s.
Take another example. Kenyan MPs. They increased their salaries at the very first sitting of parliament. This makes them among the highest paid parliamentarians in the world, richer than even what American lawmakers make. Yet, Kenya is 40 times poorer than America.
Until leadership will be defined by more of service rather than personal enrichment, we will continue to be underdeveloped.
Until the day we learn to tell our own stories is the day we will be liberated. We have been fed a narrative that our continent is a desolate place, where poverty, war, and disease abound. Our education institutions have also done the same. It's only European geniuses that we are taught. In fact, in some fields like Physics, it's hard to think of any African contribution.
But the worrying thing is that as Africans, we have taken these stereotypes and internalised them. As the legendary reggae singer Bob Marley said, we are mentally enslaved. Perhaps, mental enslavement is a much more damage to us than even stealing our resources.
If a Kenyan wants to read what's happening in Nigeria, he'll likely learn from the New York Times- an American publication, rather than from Sahara Reporters or This Day Newspaper- Nigerian publications. It is hard enough when Europeans, Arabs or Chinese hold stereotypes against us. But it's even harder when the same stereotypes emanates from Africans themselves. Why do fellow Africans hold the view that Nigerians are drug traffickers or that South Africans are lazy? This is because we get our news about Africa from foreign sources- Reuters, AFP, CNN, BBC et al.
For every Western story out there, let's replace it with an African one. For instance, instead of citing Bill Gates, let's cite Philip Emeagwali. Instead of citing Jeff Bezos of Amazon, let's cite Aliko Dangote. Instead of knowing every Manchester United player, let's know every Enyimba or Mamelodi Sundowns player. In this way, we will celebrate our own heroes, and uplift the African story.
When someone controls your history, that person controls you, and if determined actions are not taken to correct this, such control can lasts forever. Many years after independence, the true African history is not taught in our schools because we have no control over our own educational system. This is why I consider it important to use the little social media space I have to send messages from my Ancestors to vibrant the energy of my people any time such opportunity comes.
Not long a go, I wrote an analytical piece to explain how deeply the events of Colonialism and enslavement have undermined the continental development of African. I received 100s of comments and opinions on my analysis. Among these comments, one which uniquely got me thinking was a challenge from a gentleman who argued that, Colonialism cannot be said to have hurt Africa's development if not to say it has contributed positively.
His main argument was that, a country like Ethiopia was never colonized but can we say that Ethiopia is better than other African countries in terms of economic development? He went on to answer his question by saying, they are no better of, hence Colonialism cannot be blamed for Africa's underdevelopment.
I felt he has a great point that call for a rethinking and reconsideration, at the same time, I realized that many people may have been convinced when such argument is presented without a deeper evaluation of other related facts.
I, therefore, have decided to use this free morning hour, while enjoying my coronavirus stay at home to write something as far us my brain and my time can permit.
First of all, I have a strong conviction that the gentleman's question and its premise were invalid and highly misleading: "Why couldn't Ethiopia Developed though the country did not go under slavery and colonisation?"
To start with, I want to clearly point out that, Ethiopia is not what we see today, Ethiopia, was a kingdom that shines the world before attempts of colonization and enslavement. Ethiopia was one of the world's most advanced societies, not only in Africa but on the global stage. A valid question should rather be ~why has Ethiopia been destroyed after it refused to be colonized and enslaved?
Like all other African countries, Ethiopia, on several occasions have been under attacks of the external forces in the efforts to get the country colonized and enslaved.
For example, between 1935 and 1937, Italy declared war on Ethiopia which has come to be part of history as Italo-Abyssinian War in an effort to colonise the old African empire.
It was as a result of fighting and defending the kingdom of Ethiopia against these unprovoked attacks that got the advancements and development of Ethiopia destroyed over several hundreds of years.
Additionally, Ethiopia had to suffer the pain of her resistance for more than 400 while the oppressor controlled the rest of African. It must be noted that, prior to colonisation of the African Continent, Ethiopia was a center of trade for Agro products, precious mentals, and education. Food items were traded and supply to nearly all parts of African and that was one of the major sources of revenue for the kingdom.
Upon Ethiopia's resistance and the successful capturing of all other parts of Africa by the colonizers, Ethiopia then, lost the right to trade along all her established trade roots and partners. No country in Africa is permitted to transact or establish any form of diplomacy or relationship with Ethiopia. the country's strong economic development had to come on it knee with time. These are the things we are not looking into, when we want to look at the under development of Ethiopia specifically, and Africa in general.
If one wish to understand how, the global system was designed to isolate Ethiopia just to break down the country and its development, one can read more about the Italo-Abyssinian war which I have indicated earlier.
During this war, Many Black Americans at the time organized themselves and requested passports from the authorities of the United States of America in order to allow them to travel to Africa to support their brothers and sisters at home (by way of devoting their lives to fight to defend the kingdom) unfortunately, they were all refused.
At the same time, other Americans who traced their origins to Italy were granted the permission to go home and fight along with Italian Army against Ethiopia when they placed in their requests (Read American role in Italo-Abyssinia War for more detail). Ethiopia became the enemy of the world, and no one was permitted to associate with the Kingdom.
The negative effects of such organized wars and crippling economic designs employed by our colonizers are what destroyed the development and advancements of Ethiopian.
It is untrue that Ethiopia is not developed though it was not colonized. What is true is that colonisers came with a system designed to destroy the development of both those they enslaved and those they failed to conquer.
Courtesy of Literary African Writers.
Again and again, documented historical evidence has shattered widely held views that Europeans were the pioneers of early human civilization. In fact, there is corroborative evidence that half of humanity’s recorded history has passed before anyone in Europe could even learn to read and write.
Religious priests in Egypt began keeping records as far back as 4000 to 3000 BC, compared to two thousand years later, when Homer’s poems were still being handed down orally within the confines of the Greek city-states. Sometime after 3000 BC when the pharaohs of Egypt were in the process of building their first world-renowned pyramids, Europeans were piling up nothing more than mountains of rubbish heaps.
History reveals that famous well known Greeks (Europeans) whom we study their history and writings, studied at the feet of Egyptian scholars along the Nile Valley, Kemet. For instance, Philosopher Plato was a student at the Temple of Waset for 11 years. Also, Aristotle was a student there for 11-13 years.
Even Socrates spent at least 15 years at the same temple; likewise, Euclid, who studied for 10-11 years at the same temple. Pythagoras spent 22 years there. Hippocrates studied there for 20 years, plus a host of other little known Greeks who matriculated at Waset, among whom are Diodorus, Solon, Thales, Archimedes, and Euripides.
In fact, the Greek scholar, St. Clement of Alexandria, once said that if one were to list out the names of all the Greeks who studied under Egyptian tutors, a 1,000 paged book won’t be enough. Even Herodotus mentioned it, same with Plato and Aristotle.
The truth is that it took at least 40 years to graduate from Waset, meaning none of the Greek scholars mentioned above even graduated. According to one African scholar, Thales was the first Greek student to receive training under Egyptian priests along the Nile Valley. Even Plato records that Thales was schooled in Egypt under the tutelage of the priests.
Many people today are of the opinion that the famous phrase ‘man know thyself’ (in Greek, qnothi seauton) were originally written and spoken by Socrates, the Greek philosopher, however, evidence suggests the ancient Egyptians were the first to write those words done on the outside of their Temple in the Bile Valley and addressed the same words to new students, one of whom was likely to be Socrates himself.
In another example, the words ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die’, hitherto assigned to Socrates, has been discovered to have been coined by Imhotep, the African deity and ‘the world’s first recorded multi-genius’, instrumental to building the world’s first stone building – the Step Pyramid at Saqqara around 2630 BC.
Furthermore, contrary to widely held views, the first Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece in 776 BC, was not in reward of sportsmanship, physical strength or brinkmanship, rather, it was public ceremonial worship by the Greeks of the African God, Amon.
In fact, according to history, most of the European gods were of African descent and were given European names. The African god Amun, for example, was given the name of Zeus by the Greeks and called Jupiter by the Romans. Imhotep (the god of healing and medicine) has his name changed to Asclepius by the Greeks and Aesculapius by the Romans.
By far, one of the greatest contributions of the Egyptian Nile Valley to the world is its excellent educational system. In the Kemet educational system, the ultimate aim was for a person to become one with God, to “become like God” or “to become godlike through the revision of one’s own ‘Neter’ of how God is revealed in the person.” This was one of the highest endowments a family could bestow on a son in those days – education.
When the boys got into the Temple/Schools (or Grand Lodge), they were expected to study for 40 years in subjects such as grammar, arithmetic, Rhetoric and Dialectic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music, Architecture, Masonry, Carpentry, Engineering, Sculpture, Metallurgy, Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, Art and Magic.
In conclusion, it’s only right to say that Egypt was truly the cradle of civilization, grooming European scholars and teaching the world the true essence of civilization. As a result, no thought or learning is alien to Africa, which was the land such ideologies emanated from in the first place. And no amount of Eurocentric research can erase the historical contributions Egypt has bestowed to the world.
The Corona Virus continues to ravage the world. Here is what Africa could learn.
1. Europe and America is not the heaven they have always claimed. There health systems too can be overwhelmed. They too have poor people. Last week alone, 6.6 million Americans were out of jobs, and they were to depend on assistance from the government. They have homeless people too, and their media will never show it.
2. African leaders must develop Africa for Africa. They steal from us and bank their loot in Switzerland and other Western countries. They get sick and go for treatment abroad. Now is the time for them to use the facilities which they abandoned. There money is useless now.
3. Let's empower our geniuses. Had we taken care of our best and brightest brains, they would have developed cutting edge solutions for our problems. We cannot be depending on European experts to be solving our problems. For instance, malaria kills thousands of Africans every year. But since it does not affect the rich world, it has never been declared a pandemic. If it would have been a first world disease, it would have already been eliminated.
4. We must be financially secure. Right now, we are asking China to forgive our debts as we battle Covid 19. We are doing the same to World Bank and IMF- asking debt forgiveness. For how long shall this go on? Right now, many African countries cannot afford a lockdown since we do not have social protection measures for our poor.
How comes the world looks down on Africans. It is not just Europeans that look down on us. The Arabs too, and the Chinese. Did you know that there was also slave trade to the Arab world, but they were castrated. Did you know that our sisters are working in slave conditions in the Arab world and yet we do nothing about it. There passports are confisticated as soon as they land in the airport, and there employers can do anything to them and their government won't do anything?
Why are we copying the European the Western culture too much. We worship there movies. We know their football clubs yet we don't know ours. We know Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, yet we don't know Enyimba, Motema Pembe, Gor Mahia, Mamelodi Sundowns. This is why we cannot go far in football.
Why have we copied European education system without even blinking an eye. We know about their geniuses like Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare but we do not know our own Philip Emeagwali, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka among others. We mistreat our geniuses until they give up and go abroad.
Why do we tolerate nonesense from our politicians. We elect traitors instead of Patriots. Behind every African President is a power broker sitting somewhere in Europe or America yet they lie to us that they are fighting for us. This should stop if we are to reclaim our place in the world.
Europe was able to colonise and conquer Africa because of knowledge. This is in essence what created the reneissance in Europe. It was not wealth. People such as Isaac Newton made discoveries in science and engineering and this formed the basis for industrial revolution in Europe and the United States. In the arts people such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Shakespeare advanced Europe's culture. These people were not that moneyed.
In Africa, we have our own geniuses that could propel us forward and make us rise politically, economically, and culturally. For instance, South Africa's Steve Biko did not have much money. But he was able to advance the ideals of black consciousness, and fight the might of the apartheid regime. He paid with his life. Many of our geniuses are either in the periphery in Africa, or working for foreign masters abroad. We now worship money more.
Do you know that African leaders are the richest in the world? According to intelligence reports, former DR Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko used to give European Presidents money for campaigns. His children were day scholars in France. According to the secretive Panama Papers, another former Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, is worth 18 billion dollars. This would make him to be among the 100 richest people in the world.
Our thought leaders offer the best hope for Africa. But all the money, fame and power goes to our politicians. We have the capacity to produce our own Einsteins, Isaac Newtons, or Shakespeare.
Europe has oppressed Africa for the past 500 years. It started with slavery, where our ancestors went to work on their plantations, and then colonialism, where European powers sat down and partitioned the continent among themselves. We not only lost material wealth as a people, but also our dignity.
Now, a new master has come along. China. China is saddling us with debts that even our great grandchildren will not be able to pay. If you are unable to pay, China takes over key national assets such as ports and airports, as they did in Angola. Secondly China creates a market for its products, and will swamp the continent with their products. Our products will not sell in their market as China often closes off competition by barring competition to protect it's industries. In the end the relationship between China and Africa is one sided, as China wants to take over our mineral resources, just as Europe and America used to do. As former Nigerian Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said, Africa must be wary of China. China is not our friend.
Africa has been oppressed by Europe for the past 500 years. It started with slavery where our most able were taken to Europe and the Americas to work in their plantations. That formed the basis for the industrial revolution in Europe and America.
As if that was not enough, colonialism followed. In it, and in order to avoid a war between European powers, Africa was partitioned into 54 parts, with each European power taking a sizeable chunk. Again, wealth flowed freely from Africa into European coffers. None of the African countries has ever truly recovered from the effects of slavery and colonialism. And it was not just lose of material wealth. We lost our dignity as a people.
Now, enter another force. China. China is racing with America to become a superpower. It is in need of natural resources like never before.
And Africa offers this. China is clever. It doesn't demand the so called human rights record that Europe and America often demand- mistakenly - as the irony is that they demand these human rights while propping up dictators all over.
China is basically taking over the continent without firing a single shot. However, we must be wary of China. It is saddling us with debts that we shall take ages to pay. For instance, Kenya is to spend 10 billion dollars this year to repay Chinese debts. Also, China is creating a market for its products. This will curtail the development of our nascent manufacturing industry. China itself offers protectionist measures for its industries and would never allow a competitor to out compete with its industries. Former Nigerian Governor of Central Bank- Lamido Sanusi, put it aptly - China is not our friend.
Who will claim the 21st century. Many pundits claim that it will be the Asian century. At independence, Africa offered so much hope. However, a string of misteps has pushed the continent to the backburner. One of the most missing ingredients in Africa's prosperity is leadership.
How can we nurture the next generation of leaders that will stand up for Africa? How do we create a generation that will restore Africa's place in the world? One way could be to create universities that will churn out leaders that will stand up for Africa. Our best brains no longer go to Makerere, Ibadan, or the University of Cape Town. Rather, they head to Harvard, Yale, or the Ivy League Universities in the US, or the Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK . However, here, they are taught European and American ideas, and after graduation, many end up working there, and thus presenting a loss to Africa.
Our universities are no longer the bastons of thought they were in the 1960s and 70s. Nowadays, bread and butter issues are the major concerning issues. Lecturers are underpaid and often on strike. Students are too busy struggling to survive financially and have little time for anything else. In the 60s and 70s, students would be at the forefront of campaigning for civil issues and would shape the national dialogue of many African countries. In South Africa for instance, Steve Biko was a thorn in the flesh of the apartheid regime until he was murdered in cold blood by the apartheid regime. These are the kind of students we need in our African universities. Can we create a Harvard in Africa that will produce African centered thought leaders?
How can Africa be more united and stable? The answer lies in having the right political system.
This has been our wrong footing from day one. Do we adopt democracy, socialism, or communism. Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah wanted a Communist path as the best way to secure Africa politically. Tanzania's Julius Nyerere tried Socialism but he failed. Francophone Africa has yet to find a formula. But not all blame goes to our leaders. Our countries were artificially created in Berlin in 1884, and members of tribes that had not interacted with each other suddenly found themselves in the same country. Had African countries united through a slow ethno cultural evolution, we would have been more stable as compared to as at present when our countries were forced union of tribes.
For instance, Robert Mugabe, though a Pan Africanist, drew his support from the Ndembele tribe, rather than the Shona tribe. The age old rivarly between the Hutu and Tutsi of Rwanda, with the support of France, led to nearly a million people being killed in the span of 100 days. Such instability is what we do not need if we are to prosper.
The Western world likes to push Africans to adopt democracy as a system that will magically ensure progress in the continent. However, 60 years after independence, democracy has failed to work for Africa. In fact, outside of Western Europe, democracy has been an utter failure.
One, Africa does not have a strong middle class. Democracy works best where there is a strong middle class to debate ideas and push the ruling class to implement their agenda. Our voters are our weakest link. Too often, politicians will bribe voters and line them up during the voting day. As such, African elections are a pact between the rich, who finance the political campaigns, and the poor who act as the footsoldiers for the rich political class.There is no place for the middle class.
Let's look outside of Africa. The middle East is largely made up of kingdoms. They are prospering despite most of them having constitutional monarchies in place. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain come to mind.
Let's look at the biggest example of them all. China. China is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. There are no elections in China
Despite that, China has been able to lift 300 million people out of poverty, something that took Europe 400 years. China is now the world's second largest economy, and is well headed for the number one position if recent projections are to go by.
In final thought, we had traditional African kingdoms such as the Ashanti and Songhai empire that prospered even as they were kingdoms. We will have to really relook at ourselves and choose a model that works for us rather than what the West dictates to us.
Many countries in Africa have discovered oil. However, oil is not necessarily making us rich. Oil revenues in Africa are not delivering the improvement of public services as it was hoped.
Take for example the case of Equatorial Guinea. This country has overflowing oil as a natural resource. On paper, it's per capita income would be $34,000 , making it even richer than Britain. However, this is not the reality on the ground. The President, Theodora Nguema, has looted much of the wealth. His son has several palatial homes in Paris, France. He owns a multi million dollar yatch. And yet, France wouldn't do anything to rectify this. Why isn't there any action that is taken against the banks that aid in the stealing?
Take another case. Isabel dos Santos, the richest woman in Africa. She is worth at a least a billion dollars. She was the head of the petroleum agency in Angola, having been placed there by none other than his father, former Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos. On paper, Angola, Africa's largest oil producer, could be one of the richest countries in the world.
Let's cast a different look and look elsewhere how certain countries have managed their oil resources. The United Arab Emirates, UAE, was a desolate desert country in the 1960s. With the discovery of oil in the kingdom, things changed. However, the king instituted some long term measures. He repositioned Dubai as a tourist and business center, knowing that oil will run out by 2030. Now, Dubai is one of the leading tourist centers in the world, with millions of tourists every year. Can our oil producers do the same? Nigeria, Angola et al.
Who are the visionaries for Africa. Which leaders will take up the mantle for Africa's development. Who will take over from the independence leaders . At independence, leaders who stood for Africa's interests were either overthrown or quickly assassinated by America's CIA, or French and British intelligence officers. Any leader that offered even an iota of fighting for the common African was quickly eliminated.
I have in mind such leaders as Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, DR Congo's Patrice Lumumba among others. The leaders who overstayed in power were those who were able to sing the tune of the coloniser. I have in mind such leaders as Mobutu Sese Seko of DR Congo, and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso.
What can young Africans do to promote the agenda of the visionaries and discard the greediness of the traitors to the African cause?
One, we must fight differently. Today's battles will be in the hearts and minds rather than in the battlefields. In the age of globalisation, the threats to Africa are ever more present. The former colonisers have regrouped and are now the new globalists, aiming to subjugate Africa just as their ancestors did. This must not be allowed to happen.
Two French doctors have suggested that the Corona virus vaccine be tested first in Africa. This is racist to say the least. Why Test the vaccine in Africa when the epicenter of the Corona pandemic is in China, United States, and Europe. In Europe and America alone, thousands are dying by the day
Why not start there.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said that millions in Africa will die from Corona. What does he know that we don't know? Now, another so called do gooder, Bill Gates, has announced that the vaccine for Corona could be available in months to come. Is it to depopulate Africa. Africa has been on the receiving end of these trials. When former South African President Thabo Mbeki tried to question the origin of AIDS, he was castigated and crucial funds to fight the pandemic were withdrawn. Conspiracy theory has it that AIDS was created by white supremacists to wipe out the black race. Such utterences by the French doctors lend credence to this narrative. The point is that too many lives have been lost in Africa as a result of these vaccines. Such baseless comments that Africa be the testing rat lab for the Corona vaccine are simply uncalled for.
While we acknowledge that African politicians have failed the continent, we could look elsewhere for hope and inspiration of the continent. Africa's problems are many, but so are the business opportunities to solve these problems. There are many African entrepreneurs that have taken this challenge and are now making great strides in the continent.
Take Nigeria's Tony Elumelu for example. Mr Elumelu is a world renown entrepreneur, and through his bank- The United Bank of Africa, he's been able to become a billionaire. Through his foundation, the Tony Elumelu foundation, he sponsors young African entrepreneurs aiming to solve critical problems in the continent. He lends a seed capital of $5,000 to such startups, which is a critical for their survival. He also mentors them in business. Studies have shown that early startups do not just face a shortage of money, but also talent to propel those businesses. In fact, talent and networking is a much better ingredient for an entrepreneur to succeed than the availability of money.
Once we make our entrepreneurs succeed, they will be able to solve the toughest challenges we face as Africans, and in the process create wealth, and clean decent and rewarding jobs for our people. In this way, governments will have access to more taxes, and provide better public services to the people.
There is no doubt that Africa is the richest continent in terms of natural resources. However, it has the highest poverty rates in the world. This is the curse of Africa. Here is what needs to be done.
1. Create a single unifying language.
Right now, we use colonial languages to communicate. It's probably the reason why we are not going far. We are divided between Francophone Africa, using French as the official language and looking up to France, and Anglophone Africa using English and looking up to UK and the United States. This creates a wedge and we do not share among ourselves. Only Tanzania is trying, using the local Kiswahili dialect. In Tanzania, even the elites and government Ministers use Kiswahili. This is unlike other African countries where the villagers use common local dialects while the elites use English or French.
2. A Pan African Media.
We consume all our international media from the West. When I want to know what's happening in Nigeria, I will get the news from Reuters, CNN, or BBC. The Western media has not been giving Africa fair coverage, and stereotypes of war, poverty, and disease are endemic. Is it any surprise why a fellow African is likely to believe that a Nigerian is a fraudster or a black South African is lazy?
3. A Development Bank
For Africa to unite, it must be interconnected. We need big infrastructure projects to open up the continent. Who is going to finance the building of the road from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt? Who is going to build the dam that is going to generate electricity from River Congo for the whole of Africa? The IMF and World Bank will screw us, as they have done before, China is going to saddle us with debts until we become their colony.
4. A Single Currency.
Our currencies are too fragile and subject to manipulation. We use the dollar, Euro, or Sterling Pound to trade with each other and this does not bode well for us. Intra African trade is just 10 percent, compared to 60 percent intra Europe trade, and 50 percent intra North America trade.
The Corona virus pandemic continues to sweep the world. The epicenter of the virus, Wuhan in China, is now almost back to normal thanks to the strigent measures instituted by the Chinese government. The new epicenter of the virus is now Europe and the United States, where thousands continue to die everyday.
One of the pertinent lessons from the Corona pandemic is that African leaders must develop the public health infrastructure. When our leaders get sick, even from common cold, they do not seek treatment in our public hospitals. They rush to be treated abroad. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's daughter had a private plane hired for her to go and deliver in Germany. Former Nigerian President Umaru Yaradua died in a Saudi Arabia hospital. The noted Pan Africanist Robert Mugabe sought treatment in Singapore and died there.
Time after time, African leaders do not go to our public hospitals. Our public hospitals are in utter neglect. Now, if our leaders get infected with the Corona virus, they will be treated in the same hospitals that they neglected. They will have to endure the same difficulties that Africa's poor endure.
There are two schools of thought as regards African unity. There are those who favour an immediate union with one President, government, currency, and free movement of people. This is what Kwame Nkrumah, founding President of Ghana, wanted. He often said that seek ye first the political kingdom, and everything else will follow. For his ideas about unity in Africa, he was subsequently overthrown by America's CIA. This is also the route that was favoured by the late Libyan President, Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi had sought a single Union of Africa immediately, with a single President, currency, and military. Just like Nkrumah, Gaddafi too was killed by NATO, a Western military outfit. What angered Western proponents most was the issue of the single currency, as France has a strong hold over it's former African colonies and forbids them from using no other currency apart from the CFA Franc. What's more, Libya had 150 billion dollars in reserves, and this is one of the reasons why the West came after him.
On the other hand, there are those who favour gradual integration in the form of the EU. The European Union doesn't have a single President. However, it has free flow of people and goods, and most African Presidents see this as the pragmatic approach. However, critics would point out that African Presidents have created their own little fiefdoms, and wouldn't want to give up power for the greater good of the continent. In their defense, the African Presidents point out that even for the United States, unity did not come up fast. The United States of America began with the 13 former British colonies in 1776 and gradually, every state joined, bringing a total of 50 states from East coast to West coast when Hawaii joined the union in 1959.
Elections are a matter of life and death in Africa often because they pit one tribe against another. In Nigeria, it's always the northern Muslim tribes versus the majority Christian South. In Zimbabwe, it's the Ndembele versus the Shona. In Kenya, it's the Luo against the kikuyu. In Rwanda, before the genocide, it was always the Hutu versus the Tutsis.
Isn't this why elections in Africa are always a mess? What if we could just form two or three parties that were ideologically based. A left wing liberal party and a right wing conservative ideological one. A left wing liberal party would advocate for more government involvement in our lives, effectively creating a kind of African socialism. More like what former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere attempted, though failing miserably.
Alternatively, we could have a right wing conservative party that advocates more for individual rights, and a form of capitalism akin to what America practices.
By having parties based on ideology rather than tribe, we would have stable democracies that would ensure a stable, peaceful, and prosperous Africa.
Both Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe rose to power at the same time. They were both imprisoned for their strong anti colonialist stunt. Yet Nelson Mandela is more revered by the international media, why?
Robert Mugabe was one of the world's most educated leaders. He had seven degrees, most notably from Scotland. He was even knighted by the queen. Yet the day his troubles began is the day he chose to forcibly transfer land from the whites to blacks. Economc sanctions followed. The economy collapsed. Africa's cleanest city, Harare, started becoming dirty. When asked when he would retire, he said he would only do so once the queen of England retired.
One wishes that Robert Mugabe had followed up on his ideals. For instance, he always sought medical treatment abroad, in Singapore, he even died there. One wishes he would have enhanced his Pan African credentials and improved the public health system of Zimbabwe and not run away to Asia for his treatment.
Nelson Mandela meanwhile was a staunch anti Communist before he went to Prison. He advocated that all wealth, including land, be transferred to black South Africans. However, after he came from prison, he was a changed man. He advocated for a rainbow nation in which black and white South Africans would coexist peacefully. For this he was eulogised by the world media, and treated as an international statesman. But otherwise, his compromise of a rainbow nation put black South Africans at a disadvantage. Although blacks constitute 80 percent of the population, they own just 5 percent of the wealth and 10 percent of the land. Julius Malema pounced on this poor situation and formed the Economic Freedom Party to advance economic interests of black South Africans, especially land.
So, who between Mugabe and Mandela should Africa emulate?
Why is there mutual suspicion between Africans and African Americans? African Americans wrongfully accuse Africans that they sold them to slavery. However, this is not true. This is a myth perpetuated by white America to rid itself of the guilt of slavery. Majority of Africans removal from their motherland to the Americas and Europe was forced.
While Abraham Lincoln is celebrated by white America that he ended slavery, he in fact wanted to create a white only America. All the former slaves were to be repatriated to America. It is of note that without Africa, America would never have been a superpower. Tens of millions of able bodied Africans were forcefully removed from Africa and exported to the Americas and Europe to work in profitable agricultural plantations. This is what formed the basis for the industrial revolution and the emergence of America as a world power. In this journey, multitudes of Africans died in the slave ships and in the seas, constituting a much graver genocide that even the Jewish genocide perpetrated by Adolf Hitler.
African American thought leaders were among the first to call for pan Africanism. Leaders such as Marcus Garvey were instrumental in the fight for independence in Africa. In fact, he renounced his American citizenship and died in Ghana.
Ghana has attempted to unite Africans and African Americans
In the year of return in 2018, multitudes of African Americans made the journey to Ghana.
In 2010, former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade constructed a statue of African reneissance, to show the emergence of the African people in the world stage. Similarly, he offered land to citizens of Haiti who had been badly battered by the earthquake. It is such small gestures that will awaken the unity of the African people both in continental Africa and in the diaspora.
What can Africa do when Europe and America always kills her prophets? What can Africa do when our leaders only serve the interests of Europe and America? Look, they killed leaders who fought for African interests. They overthrew Pan Africanist and visionary Kwame Nkrumah, who wanted a single united Africa with a single President, military, and currency. They killed DR Congo's Patrice Lumumba, who wanted the immense mineral resources in the Congo be used for the benefit of his people. They later installed a puppet, Mobutu Sese Seko, who plundered DR Congo like his personal property, with wealth freely flowing to Europe and America. As if to add salt to injury, they also eliminated Muammar Gaddafi, who wanted a United Africa with a single President, military, and most importantly, currency.
Time and again, Europe and America will kill our best. The solution lies in creating a movement, and not a revolution. There is a stark difference between a movement and a revolution. Whereas a revolution is led and fed by a revolutionary, a movement is fed by thousands upon thousands of visionaries. Therefore, you can easily sabotage a revolution by eliminating the revolutionary. However, a movement is different. It mutates. It adapts. This is because it is fed by every member of the movement. If the leader of the movement is bought off or eliminated, the movement goes on unabated.
In Africa, we need to create a movement that will percolate the so called deep state and establishment. This movement should penetrate the media, academia, sports, entertainment, and all sectors that are critical in promoting the African agenda. In this way, even if our leaders serve the interests of the West, the deep state of Africa will keep the African story going, and propel the continent forward.
