Africa's Agenda: Who is Calling the Tune?

Published on 30th October 2007

"He who pays the piper calls the tune," said Pius Muiru, an evangelical presidential aspirant when asked why his rating was not featuring on the numerous Kenyan polls. Africa has received a generous share of international tunes. First it was French President Nicolas Sarkozy's claim that "…the African has never entered history." Then came Dr. James Watson, DNA expert and Nobel Laureate’s tune that Western policies towards African countries are wrongfully based on an assumption that black people are as clever as their white counterparts, when testing suggests the contrary.

 

The assault on African history and African intelligence ought to be an eye opener that if the continent does not chart its own course and identity, it will drown in foreign tunes. The world is driven by agenda. If Africa does not set its agenda, it will not only be forced to fit into other peoples' agendas, but it will also be analyzed and receive prescription from external perspectives.

 

It is time the continent quit pepetual pace following and became pace setter. The continent has been following hard on the heels of global pace setters. When it was bombarded by the  'overpopulation' tune, Family planning became the in thing. Population institutes were set up. Then came HIV/Aids, Structural Adjustment Programs, the war on terror, Millennium Development Goals, and global warming.  When shall Africa also set its own agenda? Africa’s intellectuals watch as farmers are denied technologies that will boost productivity, and play the same tune. Africa’s leaders stand by as their people are denied the use of chemicals that would eradicate mosquito causing malaria. Whose agenda is Africa pursuing?

 

The imperialist agenda to extract Africa's resources and exert dominance saw the continent partitioned. Even after the exit of colonialism, aid was introduced to perpetuate dependency; kill African productivity, bar Africans from migrating to European countries and sustain them in debt. When Africa says No to aid, it is reintroduced in other subtle forms. When Africa says "Trade but not aid," Europe introduces aid for trade.  When Africa says no aid but free movement, Europe introduces aid to keep Africans in Africa or facilitate their migration.

 

Geopolitical agenda's keep on shifting. An African country that is demonized for being autocratic and corrupt will suddenly be hailed as saintly when it suits geopolitical interests such as the war against terror and mining of oil.  If Mugabe rescinded his heavy handed land policy today, he'll be crowned a saint tomorrow.

 

Many an African independence speech mooted the need for an African agenda. We "should show the world that the African is ready to fight his own battle and that the African is capable of managing his own affairs," said Kwameh Nkrumah in 1957.

 

“Without unity,” said Jomo Kenyatta in 1963, “we shall have entered into a new type of slavery of divide and rule by more powerful countries…we ourselves can save us, but nobody else will.”

 

"We are called to be constructive progressive and forever forward looking," said Robert Mugabe,   “for we cannot afford to be men of yesterday, backward looking, retrogressive and destructive. If we ever look to the past, let us do so for the lesson the past has taught us."

 

Africa must resist all manner of lies propagated to sink the continent deeper into inactivity and dependency on "superior" intelligence. The continent must resist   the disempowering divisiveness that is instilled deep into the African spirit by indoctrination and conditioning to bring about self hate, self distrust and self doubt. It must be Africa’s sacred duty to become self creating with a view of countering the nihilistic threat to its existence.

 

Britain broke free from Rome and crafted her own agenda. America broke free from Britain and crafted its own agendas. China was an underdog but it’s now rubbing shoulders with giants. With nations getting rich off Africa's resources as the continent wallows in want, Africa ought to stop, pause, consider where it lost track and create its own sellable brand. As long as we allow other people to pay the piper, they will continue calling the tune in Africa.


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