As we continue to expand our thoughts and stretch our imagination on ways to decolonize Africa and the face of Africa of our dream, I am reminded of the fact that the African people have a lot to do, both in the decolonization process and the repositioning of Africa in the community of nations. Whilst some of us would blame the colonizers for our myriads of problems, others would rather blame the African people for the ills and aftermath of colonization. However today, I want to focus the discussion on the African people. Have we not been the architect of our own calamities? How? In not one but many ways. We cannot go back in time to change the history, but we can recreate the history going forward by what we do today, based on the lessons of the past.
Africa cannot present a common front on issues that have local and global impact. Everything is achievable but nothing is achievable when we speak in multiple voices. Yes we have many languages but we can speak in one voice – the African voice. There are times when we must speak in one voice, and we have not taken advantage of those times. This speaks of unity. I envisage that was what the founding fathers of our independence agitations had in mind when they fought for political independence. Today we are still far from gaining political independence, don’t even talk about economic independence especially now that globalization has crept up on us. But the way to globalize rapidly is to first globalize locally. How do you get to Lesotho without passing through South Africa either on the land or in the air? The call for independence has become a call for interdependence.
We are too ethnocentric in Africa. Even though we live in multi-ethnic groups, we are too divided along those lines. Africa cannot achieve much divided. All the countries that I refer to as merely ‘states’ of the African nation cannot achieve much fighting among themselves. We spend too much time and energy fighting and dealing with internal conflicts that we don’t have time to articulate common fronts for the external issues that challenge our internal cohesion. When the people are one, not even God can stop them, not because He doesn’t have the power but because He doesn’t go against His own principle. There is power in unity. There is creative ability in unity. Unity is one of the attributes of God. Before man was created, the godhead made a call of unity ‘come let us make man in our image after our likeness’. The African Union which is simply the born again version of OAU was founded on unity. When a people is united, you cannot stop them. Only time separates them from their vision. Remember the Tower of Babel in the Bible.
All these clamoring for segregation or disintegration does not help anybody. What you clamor for will come when you aggregate within yourselves, build your communities, develop your cities, represent values that you want to project, be the change you want to see, think environmental friendly and do not shortchange the next generation by your actions today. A battalion of soldiers with all her machine guns cannot stop your civilization and the revolution it brings.
Does any law stop us from building a rail track that traverses the major cities of Africa from one side to the other? Which European charter stops us from traveling visa free within Africa? Which Chinese treaty forbids us from having one currency in Africa? Which British contract stops us from maintaining a union more powerful than the United States? How many of the countries in African have budgets bigger than California, NY or Texas state? What would happen if we agree on an African language which will be taught in all of African schools from day one so that it becomes the language of communication within Africa and anybody who wants to do business with us long term has no options than to learn such a language as well?
Until we start thinking along these lines, we have not yet done the needful so we cannot expect the desired; only the obvious happens.
@MezieOkolo, Analyst for Public Health & Leadership
07/24/2019