Today is fifty years since Ghana gained independence from Britain. I don’t feel entirely comfortable saying "happy fiftieth birthday" because it seems to diminish centuries of history. It somehow implies that Ghana only came into existence fifty years ago. Ghana the modern state with its defined international borders may have become an entity fifty years ago, but Ghana, the ancient Western African Empire goes back hundreds of years, to a time when Europe was still in darkness! Needless to say, it was the first place in sub-Saharan Africa where the Europeans arrived and started trading in gold and slaves and began to enrich themselves. It was also the first black country nation in Africa to gain independence from colonial rule and within three years, another seventeen African countries had won independence. Not a bad trend to have started!
Coincidentally, as Ghana celebrates fifty years of independence on March 6th, March 25th marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade by Britain, another occasion for Africa and the peoples of the African diaspora to commemorate.
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4 comments:
I hear you bro. I feel though that Ghana should be alot further along in its development. I was there last year and have never seen such poverty in my life..and the natural resources can't dun. Begs the question...what is the real problem with Africa? We can't put it all on the colonial powers, corruption is too rampant, too many demagogs. No easy answers.
For Africa and indeed the developing world to advance, there must be a holistic approach to tackling the problems. We can never negate or underestimate the fact that Europe colonised and underdeveloped large chunks of the world and had a significant head start in terms of development at our expense. Yes corruption, mismanagement, poor governance etc play a large role in the continent's current postion but similarly external factors and the fact that the developing world does not play on a level playing field contribute. The international financial and economic system is totally lacking in democracy, transparency and accountability and operates to the benefit of developed countries. The situation is complex and cannot be simplified as merely corrution or dictators.
yeah? Wuh bout Zimbabwe? Why de hell Mugabe don't make room for somebody else and stop brutalising the opposition? The west right? Colonialism right? Tired of it bro. time for Africa to turn its fortunes around, I know about western policies but look at Cuba. Surviving inspite of harsh economic policies designed to destroy a nation. Africa is its worst enemy, Europe is number 2...but the 1st one has to be tackled 1st.
Wow. What an angry tirade. Firstly nowhere did I speak about Mugabe or defend him or blame colonialism for what he is doing to Zimbabwe. Neither did I solely blame the current African situation on colonialism. What I merely stated was that it is futile to try and understand or solve the problems of Africa without discussing the role of colonialism. You cannot move forward without addressing the past. The picture is not some black and white one of dictators and corruption. Many of the despots were put in their positions or propped up by the West to allow them to continue their exploitation. And there are always two sides to a coin- just as you have the corrupt officials, you have the corrupt foreign governments and multinationals that ally themselves to these same corrupt officials you speak of. Similarly no amount of good governance will help Africa as long as the rules of the international economic, financial and trading system are stacked against the developing world. What good will it do Africa to have a democracy and thriving agriculture when their products are not allowed equal access into Europe and the US while these same developed countries demand unfettered access to African markets? People will still remain poor and marginalised. It’s a complex situation and not the black and white scenario of corrupt African leaders that you paint. Finally please don’t try and misconstrue what I am saying as some defence of corruption or despotic leaders. I am simply trying to put things into perspective.
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