At some time in the 1950s and 1960s, Africa (or at least Africa, south of the Sahara) began, against great odds, to reach out for self determination. Through out the 60s, European colonies in Africa began to give way to independent African states.
Once and for all, we where free of the exploitation and the imperialistic tyranny of the white man: Once and for all, we where free to determine our own destinies. Once and for all we could use our rich resources for the benefit of our populace. Hurray!
It is beginning to sound like I am engaged in a political speech of some kind. These were the sorts of words our early statesmen used to make our blood boil as they pressed forward their fight for independence: as they advanced the promise and the argument that it would be better tomorrow than it is today.
Time to Self Examine
Over five decades have passed since those days and Africa is riddled with bullets of wars and bloody political conflicts; blighted by poverty, ignorance and a wasting young population and; plagued by military coups, military juntas and life-long presidents. Did you know that there are only few cases in which Africa has overseen, in its constituent countries, the transfer of power from one person to a non relative without bloodshed?
And after all this, we as African want respect on the world stage, I presume. Do we want the respect that our leaders do not have for us? Do we want the respect our political culture does not render us? Do we want the respect we do not have for ourselves? After all, we continue to push forward and elect those leaders in the few countries where we have not yet been disenfranchised. Do we want respect for a system that refers to our elected or imposed, political abusers as strong brave men and those men who really try to help as strangers? Is Africa suffering from a case of collective Stockholm syndrome?
It should be noted that the attitude, as described above, emboldens our self imposed fraternal neo-colonialist masters. I can not help but chuckle when I hear mantras like “African solution for African problems”. This is just another way of saying to the western world, “It is none of your business if we treat our people like grass”. In my life time so far, I have seen little evidence to counter the just rendered translation to the trusty phrase, “African solutions for African problems”.
The so call resources, abundant in Africa, are still there; where the European colonialists left them - under the ground.
