Indeed, although many years have passed since the Declaration of Independence, most African countries are still at risk of impoverishment. Years of healing from the wounds and pains of colonialism and exploitation have gone by.
A few countries enjoy the opportunity for freedom and independence; the rest are experiencing political, economic, and social trauma.
However, the truth should not be ignored: most of Africa’s poorest countries live in the shadow of the world’s most valuable and expensive natural resources—gold, ivory, tourist attractions, silver, diamonds, gas, coal, and waterways.
Such resources facilitate the easier exportation and importation of goods, services, and forests.
Poor social and health services and civil wars, which catalyze economic and political downturns, make life harder and more miserable every day. Keeping the truth in the darkness is like setting a minute’s alarm for a bomb to explode; if you don’t see it, you must hear how it explodes.
Africa is a blessed continent, rich in land and minerals, with a population that creates a wide range of markets and a workforce.
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However, a flood of insufficient funds, unskilled labour, poor technology, and a lack of education that fits the needs of a changing world necessitates that African countries seek assistance from foreign governments and international aid groups.
To finance and run social, economic, and political affairs, African countries either voluntarily or forcibly take and accept loans from developed countries, even at the highest interest rates.
It’s not forbidden to seek assistance when things are difficult and heavy to handle; however, misusing received assistance legitimizes the process.
How do the funds, services, and assistance received to cover the existing economic, political, or social gaps? Or is it one-sided profit? Loans are insufficient. The debts increase rapidly and fruitlessly, leaving African countries in unrest and economic distress.
Normally, loans come from developed countries, which include large nations that colonized the African continent for years, seeking good investments and wealthier harvests until the last breath of their uninvited regime.
The past shapes and influences the future enormously. African mythology explores African evolution in three phases, each with its own thorny and abundant contributions to shaping African history.
Before the European invasion, kingdoms, laws, states, languages, cultures, trade, and technologies were established in Africa as the basis for development and expansionism.
During the invasion (the scramble and partition), colonialism not only took manpower from Africa but also dismantled the African kingdoms and their structures by introducing new powers and rules, trade, culture, technology, and industry, creating reliance on imported goods from Europe.
Moreover, what seemed like obstacles in the eyes of the colonialists was fiercely abolished. After independence, African countries were healing from the deep and fresh wounds of colonialism; unfortunately, the cure had not yet been found.
New governments experienced political instability, social and cultural challenges, and economic impediments that harrowed the newly independent countries.
Each phase of African evolution has impacted the formation of the new African continent. Notably, colonialism has played a significant role in shaping its future.
Why was Africa invaded? Why did it take a long time for African countries to regain their independence? Why were African freedom fighters pinned down, hunted, and imprisoned? How does neo-colonialism operate?
It was not easy for Africans to fight for their freedom, and it was a challenge that required many meetings for the colonialists to grant Africans independence.
Therefore, to give freedom to Africans, the colonialists had to devise plans and strategies to continue benefiting from Africa’s wealth without facing any objections in the future.
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The introduction of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) as economic pacts that a country must align with to qualify for and secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank was significant.
As a result, most African countries reformed their economic policies, including reducing government expenditures, promoting free trade to open the door for a free market, and establishing a multiparty system as a model step towards democracy.
“…But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination still sadly cripple the life of the Negro. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition…” Martin Luther King – ‘I HAVE A DREAM’ (August 28, 1963)
This speech was delivered 61 years ago, and it discussed the inequalities, discrimination, segregation, and life difficulties faced by Black Americans (Negroes) soon after independence.
People continued to suffer in the darkness of the so-called ‘independence.’ The speech is alive, breathing, and everlasting all over the world, particularly in Africa, where independence is like a new tool of colonialism.
The speech was not about Africans, but it tells the story of two different Black people who live on different continents with the same history and origins.
Moreover, the speech carries the same interests between Black Americans and Africans, focusing on the foundational and manifested topics that triggered it. Considering the whole speech, “I Have a Dream,” has it come true?
During the struggle and all major activities concerning the pursuit of freedom and independence, Africans were strong, united, and together.
Of course, the togetherness of Africans during the struggle for independence shook the colonialists’ foundations and began to weaken their uninvited regime.
The colonialists needed to step outside the African continent, but not with bare hands! A few days after most African countries celebrated their independence, unity, togetherness, and patriotism scattered like sugar in the sand.
The story of unity was lost in forests where no trees grow, but leaves of blood and missiles remain.
The greed for power, lack of patriotism, selfishness, and puppetdom are the root causes of historical disunity in Africa.
Lack of patriotism, greed for power, and selfishness allow a few to enjoy the national cake while others struggle behind the bars of poverty.
Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream ” prophesied about the future of Black people in one hundred years in America, but this tragedy severely touched the African continent.
The solution to the anonymous questions is not to complain or write about touching and sensitive topics, nor is it to preach noble speeches.
African countries need real change, not just complaints about the government, colonialism, and its miserable impacts. The changes should aim to build the national economy by effectively utilizing the country’s resources before seeking help from external governments.
The changes should embrace mutual benefits between the country and investors and between countries, eliminating all national thieves and fostering new patriotic citizens.
A charismatic and patriotic leader does not come from a particular political party; rather, a charismatic and patriotic leader emerges from the blood and bones of purpose.
African countries can go nowhere if there is a fault between people (disunity); people are killing each other in the cities and forests (civil wars associated with poor politics).
African countries can fail if selfishness swallows patriotism and virtuous actions penetrate the vein. They can also fail if corruption, propaganda, and lack of education thrive in Harlem.