AFRICA'S MISSING FOOTSTEPS
|By Glen Don||
In the past Africans fought for their freedom, fighting against the shackles of the colonial atrocities. Heroes fought and were ready to shed their blood just for Africa to be free and independent.
Photo courtesy: Google image
. photo courtesy: Swahili Times.
. Photo courtesy. Thomas Sankara
• Half a century has gone, colonial masters have engineered another mechanism jus to see Africa not coming out as the independent continent.
•Our leaders are being swayed and shifted like chaff of the wheat. They serve two masters; the imperialists and the Africans who gave them power to govern.
• Who is to take blame, the African leaders or the whites who are ghostly ruling Africa, where to take blame remains a puzzle because even the grand parents managed to send away colonialists through their hard stand.
The gone heroes, the slain dreams.
Immediately after World War of 1939-1945, Africa gained momentum in fighting for her independence.
Today, no African country is physically colonized. The heroes shed blood to rightfully fight for freedom. Africa chased physical colonialists and presently an African child can cultivate the land, African company can stabilise and employ fellow Africans.
October 14th, Tanzania marks the anniversary of the Late Julius K. Nyerere passed away in 1999.
On October 15, Thomas Sankara was assassinated. Thomas Sankara was assassinated in the year 1987. The Bukini celebrates his anniversary annually on October 15.
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The changes these leaders left in their countries are impactful. They are loved by the natives and Africa at large.
By mentioning Julius Nyerere, a Tanzanian knows the definition of the 'Ujamaa' policy; the socialist ideology that was practiced by Mzee Nyerere. To date among Tanzanians, he is referred to as ''Baba wa Taifa" a Swahili meaning Father of the Nation.
Thomas Sankara did a tremendous job for his country, which may be bad for his assassinator the reason why the killer deemed it fit to take away the true son of Africa.
To the Bukini, Captain Sankara did a lot. He campaigned for liberation across all dimensions after the colonial era, and he never entertained foreign aid, through this stand he left the quote "He who feeds you controls you
The deaths of these two leaders have a range of 12 years and the commonality in their deaths is that they died the same month of October.
When Africa speaks of Pan Africanists, then the long-gone heroes are the ones to occupy the first page of the book, the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta among others championed the liberation of Africa and truly they succeeded. Indeed, they were ready for anything to happen to them but Africa must be liberated. Not jail terms, not torture, not starvation, not fighting guerrilla kind of war just for the sake of Africa.
Today, the same colonialists who were chased from Africa fear coming back to Africa but instead, they found another way of route, not physical force nor the armament style.
Africa is the producer of most natural resources but she is not benefitting from these resources. Regions where resources are, are places where we see civil wars, where the majority of Africans living within the precincts of the natural resources live in deprivation, most of these places are rural and impoverished.
The form of colony Africa is experiencing is revamped one different from the previous one.
Through political instability, Africa is controlled and our leaders are the ones being manipulated and used as puppets. Using a friend to kill a friend, using a sibling to kill a sibling, even if there is no existence of rivalry within themselves.
Africa has leaders masquerading as Pan-Africanists.
Ironically, current Pan-Africanists are the sons of the previous freedom fighters.
The sons of these former freedom fighters are the ones being used by the imperialists, the children of the "demigods."
Current Pan-Africanists are theatrics, full of themselves. They use sweet speeches on the liberation of Africa to get favors from fellow Africans, then at night, they dine with those they are criticizing.
They have the begging hands to show how Africa is squalid only to self-service themselves.
In Kenya there was the spirit of Harambee, whose main objective was to eradicate poverty, diseases, and ignorance, could the philosophy successfully be applied in Kenya even after the death of Mzee Kenyatta then other African Countries could have copied this, and corruption wouldn't be the song of the day. Africa would not have been a victim of Vaccine nationalism as was evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Africans wouldn't be sleeping in the streets or having food insecurity. Today Africa could have been stable with rare cases of brain drain.
Africa sells brains, and natural resources, selling remnant pieces of humanity to the extent of killing fellow Africans. With all these still, we assume everything is good and ignore the neighbor's pain.
To what extent should all blame be given to Westerners and hypocritically say Africans are innocent? Africa only suffers exploitation yet we have leaders. Leaders who have pairs of ears and mouths paired, one for Africans and one for the Westerns?
If blame was to be the game, Thomas Sankara would not have treaded on the hot coal to bring Burkina Faso in a brighter light, let's forget the current instability that its perpetrators are not only Africans but foreign countries have their names being mentioned, let's resurface the past Burkina Faso before the coup and junta rule.
Captain Sankara gave what he meant to the Bukini without blaming the Westerns. Not infrastructure, not equality, not peace, all these were done by him. Action spoke louder than words for him.
I mean mentality, plays a greater role. Mentality that myself should be first then others, maims Africa as a whole. That self-interest then general interests follow. Some African countries are far ahead of others forgetting that Africa is a continent. Mentality.
Leaving the footsteps of the former freedom fighters is the riskiest thing to have been done presently. Erasing the footsteps to form our steps.
Today Africa could have been the paradise of the world, only for this to be a dream from slumberland. Vision by Wonderland natives.
Natives who only wander, traversing through the world to get favors. Who are the only modern Pharisees?
Africa is that continent that is strong if united, because with unity great things happen.
Politicians are no longer worthy of Africanists. Pan-Africanism is worth being a pillar just like other institutions.
Photo courtesy: Google image
This is for the love of the endangered spirit of Pan-Africanism. Ubuntu Spirit.
Thank for reading
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