Just recently, Africa was summoned to France, to be educated on the financing aspects of its economy. Africa, as late as the 21st century does not know how to raise funds for her developmental projects. But if my accounting doesn’t fail me, I’m convinced the financing aspect of the statement of cashflow revolves around raising funds to constitute another classification in the same statement – investing. The third classification would be the operating aspect, which by all means is the vehicle for cash generation.
To think, in this day and age Africa will still be schooled on this aspect of finance is beyond me. Economic liberalisation should be Africa’s foremost expertise, owing to the leadership role it has on elements of wealth creation. A continent as rich as ours cannot in this day and age be languishing in penury. Clear indicators are before our very eyes. We form the most youthful population of any civilisation. That’s human capital. Intellectually, Africans are spearheading groundbreaking researches and discoveries in the area of STEM. Prime example is Nigeria’s Dr Osatohanmwen Osemwengie, who is credited with the making of drones for the US Army. Recent reports has revealed that The Gambia’s Dr Mustapha Bittaye, as one of those behind the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine. We also have Prof Arthur Mutambara, a roboticist and an MLK professor from Zimbabwe, who is a visiting research fellow at Caltech, and a visiting research scientist at NASA and Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.
Evidently, Africa is home to the world’s most priced natural resources. True liberation is the day Africa is able to take charge of her destiny by creating avenues through which Africa’s diaspora comes home and utilises knowledge gained overseas in adventures beneficial to her. Moreover, the enslavement and colonisation of the African was by dint of force and use of superior weapons. What we now witness is the willing enslavement of African youths, who thought that true economic emancipation can’t be achieved in the African continent. The African youth has selflessly given himself to the experiences of the slave trade epoch. It was envisioned by African nationalist leaders that this liberation would spur total self-control. Unfortunately, those who have today assumed leadership, just like the desperate African youth, have given themselves to recolonisation. We are told to commemorate this day while former french colonies are still paying colonial taxes in billions of dollars. Even as we remember the events of 25 May 1963, the African is still assimilating to be like the French. In the same vain, the English are still indirectly ruling The Gambia, the same way it was before 1970. The ‘liberated’ African cannot determined her own affairs because she’s not qualified to do so, perhaps in the minds of the arrogant white, she’s inflicted with substandard education.
The ‘liberated’ African is the one whose leadership would in the 21st century attend a French engendered conference, a replica of what was witnessed in Berlin in 1984, just that this time round, the African is represented in person but her interests are not represented, as always. The African is commemorating the ‘lost’ visions of her founding fathers.
The African is made a laughing stock at the table of human civilisation. The world, knowing full well the indispensability of Africa in the scheme of things, hypocritically postulates to deceive the ‘colonised’ African mind that she’s good for nothing. That she should lift up herself by her bootstrap, unfortunately, she’s long lost her bootstrap. There’s nothing to celebrate if Africa does not redirect her efforts in bringing to mind the visions that animated this day 58 years ago. And, dedicatedly work harder in achieving those visions.
Celestine Mendy
