Chilekwa M. Mumba
Today the continent of Africa marks its liberation that to many has turned sour. But rather than immerse ourselves in lamentations of what is our present state of affairs, I thought it would serve us better to contemplate on why self-rule has been quite the opposite of the aspirations of our freedom-fighters. I very much doubt that these great sons and daughters of the mother-land, were willing to shed their blood and lose their lives for the stunted freedom witnessed today.
There have been many explanations that have tried to explain why Africa’s progress has been rather like the tortoise in that lovely fable “The Tortoise and the Hare”, whilst the rest of the world has been the hare (I will not ignore the positive fact that the tortoise eventually got there). Some of the explanations have been downright ludicrous- such as the suggestion and asinine belief that Africans are intellectually inferior, and others have been quite extreme- such as the conspiracy theories that somehow the fate of Africa lies in the white man, and as Africans we can never completely break free. Out of all these various postulations, I lean towards the moderate theories, being that moderation requires looking at “both sides of the coin” before reaching a conclusion. The theory I wish to promote or highlight is that we as Africans [unfortunately] decided to adopt and nurture a system of rule that had removed any element of “Africanism”. As African countries were gaining independence, we for the most part kept the same old colonial constitutions which were designed to keep power in the hands of a few people. Yes we made some changes, but these changes were simply cosmetic. With my lame attempt at humor, I am saying Sir. Roy Welenksy’s shoes simply had African feet slip into them, but the people the shoes trod on stayed the same! That is why the development of our democracy is so stunted- it is because our current system of power [inherited from colonialists] was stunted from the beginning.
Consider the developed nations, and note how they have amalgamated their traditions and customs with modern systems of rule, resulting in prosperity. The United States goes by the theme of its forefathers- that is human freedom. The British- well we all see how they sing “God Save the Queen” with unmatched enthusiasm. The Japanese maintain traditions dating back thousands of years even into their business practices. My favorite has to be Russia’s come-back as a power contender on the world stage. Vladimir Putin was the architect of Russia’s rise from the collapse of the USSR. Want to find out where Putin based his philosophy on? Emperor Peter “The Great”, an icon in Russian Tsarist history. Why then are we Africans looking to cultures which do not fit our mindsets? We certainly have our own rich history to draw inspiration from before colonialism.
For Africa to move forward we have to make serious consideration of incorporating our African customs and traditions in our system of rule, without compromising the values of democracy, After all, democracy has various versions as “the west” itself has espoused. It is undeniable that our traditional Chiefs practiced a system of rule comparable if not equal to democracy, as Chiefs [up to this day] rarely make arbitrary decisions. But colonialists made a mockery of our Chiefs, and only used them to channel colonial interests if and when it suited them. Today in Zambia, we see our politicians using the exact same formula to advance their political interests.
On this day we have assigned “Africa Freedom Day”, let us question why we are in our present state by relating our history to our freedom. Marcus Garvey said “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. I will add “and this tree will not stand”. Happy Africa Freedom Day to all my brothers and sister across the globe!
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……And yet the majority of the continent’s population still living in total porverty. I still believe we were better off under our colonial masters. What a mess Africa has become. Is this what is called freedom? Lord have mercy.
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It is important landies and gentlemen to therefore think about getting retirees out of power i don’t think our fore fathers could have been impressed the world has moved on we the young need to put our leadership talents to use let us work together to do this.
No public holiday here. These SAs dont appreciate Africa’s contribution to their liberation.
#3, no need for a holiday. There is absolutely nothing to celerate about. Rather, make it a productive day. As you can see…no bloggers on line today from Zed pantu bonse nomba nabakaba ichiducks.
Good Morning Africa
A very enlightening contribution by C. Mumba – quite brief and straight to the point.
I fully agree that colonial constitutions which were designed to keep power in the hands of a few people must be done away with. Africa’s situation would be a lot better without the greedy hands of the parasitic few who use leadership as an affront for self gain.
As long as the present colonial structures remain, not even Obama, nor the African Union would be able to run Africa successfully.
i think the excuse of colonial rule has become stale. most African countries are over 40 years and yet we still claim to be victims. we have all the resources in the world, land you name it yet we are the poorest. we are just greedy pipo. we need to move on , stop collections of hand outs, trade within our selves and create wealth. leaders should stop the nonsense of wantinf to be in power forever, or if they leave their their sons take over.
There was no indepence there was just a physical exodus by imperialists who left a system in place to continue the imperialism remotely. Carter G woodson wrote in his book ‘the miseducation of negro ‘ that if you control a man’s thinking then you don’t have to worry about his actions. The sad thing is africans have a choice to emancipate themselves mentally from imperialists but they choose to stay in mental bondage. Celebrating such holidays is just a way of patting yourselves on your back for something you think you have achieved and yet havn’t
It seems most of us in the diaspora have brilliant ideas of how to transform our contenent into a booming economic power house,but talk is cheap epecially when one is speaking from outside,those who claim to be think tankies must go back home and deliver from within.
#8 my man its the system in Africa that lets everyone down. if i go home with a brilliant idea, either it will be shot down before anyone has a chance to listen or it will be dismissed as the existing system works just fine. too much inchekeleko if you dont then i t dont work.
Greetings #8 JJ, it does not require physical presence to make a change in Africa. If you consider the situation in Israel, you will find that the Jews in Diaspora have been more instrumental in building and sustaining the Jewish nation than those at home.
We can no longer run after the future of a past that happened to our forfathers BUT we can always find a way to control and rule our own destiny. Whether at home or abroad – Africa awaits the daynamic input from it’s sons and daughters.
#6/9ibange libi…. well written. We are still being led by old generations. While we appreciate and acknowledge their age earned wisdom, I still think that wisdom is best practiced in the back as an adviser rather then the front as a leader(one can not have the at the same time). Look at how our leaders ignore important sectors like Science & Technology. This sector can sort out most of our ever occurring problems but instead it gets awarded with incompetent ministers that fail to run other ministries :-??
Every country in Africa now has enough well and highly educated young men and women who I think if given the chance can manage the affairs of our continent far better and successfully. The problem is that these old 70 year old presidents we have now are finished and visionless and cannot cope with
challenges of today’s world. All they do is shout slogans, promote nepotism and block young intelligent people whom they feel are a threat. The result is that the majority of the young brains have no choice but to migrate.
Numbala 1 through to nambala 12, nice blogging, quite and to the point, God bless you all.
I give most of Africa 20 years before any meaningful changes will take place – by then all the “old” guards will be long gone.
What gives me hope for Zambia in particular is that the mind set of people 35 years & younger is quite different from their older counterparts – so there’s hope, yet.
For those 40 years and older, mule pepa fye, miracles do happen every day:)>-