Slavery and Colonialism: The Ultimate Causes of Africa’s Problems?

It is preposterous that instead of helping Africa to develop, the natural resources have become the source of conflict between African States, and sometimes decades of internal strife within these states. The continuous exploitation of some multinational companies, with little or no regard for the environment in their mining and oil exploration activities, is clearly an issue of bad governance.

The most pronounced identifiable feature of a state destined for retrogression, rather than progress, in all aspects of their life is the dominance of ethnic nationalism as against state nationalism. By ethnic nationalism it is implied a strong emotional bond to the beliefs and attitudes of an ethnic group, a total adherence to “the way things were done”. It does not encourage change or reform. It frowns on criticism and depends more on emotion than reason. State nationalism, denotes a strong will to uphold, defend and promote the statutes and ideals of the state, it involves a voluntary desire to live by the dictates of the state (the dictates being informed by the constitution).

Ethnic nationalism encourages nepotism. Before unity can be attained among African states, a pre-requisite is elimination of the perception of ethnic differences and the promotion of state nationalism among individual African states. But more wars are being fought among ethnic groups than states in Africa. Here in Ghana, we disregard the dictates of the constitution and strengthen political parties, associations and clubs on our knowledge of the dominant ethnic groups affiliated to our cause. Yes, it is true that NPP and NDC, the two most influential political parties in Ghana do not spell out in their constitutions to undertake activities on ethnic basis, but it is also a well known fact that the strongholds of these political parties are also the ethnic groups in which the founders come from. Clearly something is wrong: there are no mechanisms within and without the parties to check this trend.

Slavery and colonialism may have altered our path as Africans in our quest to the attainment of progress and the betterment of our living conditions. Adu Boahen, for instance, believed that the African continent was “poised for major breakthrough on all fronts… [We] were full of optimism and felt quite ready to face any challenge that was thrown” at us after the abolishment of slave trade along with other major significant changes on the continent, but that, no doubt, is a debatable hypothesis which is open to speculation. However, events in contemporary Africa, unpleasant as it may be, are caused by factors more within Africa and less by outside influences (no continent is without external challenges).

Hence on platforms to commemorate the abolishment of slave trade we must be conciliatory and not bitter; pragmatic and not hypothetical; not only give off our best efforts, but produce results and lasting solutions ( great efforts that do not produce results are failures). All these are the true attributes of a people “poised for … breakthroughs on all fronts”.