This is James Shikwati’s presentation during the Africa Unity Day Celebrations in Muscat Oman on 25^th of May 2006. Shikwati reports:

‘After my presentation a 15 year old girl, Luluwa Ali, walked to me and said’, “After listening to your presentation, I am very proud to be an African.”

A Nigerian official based in Saudi Arabian Embassy emailed this remark over the same: “Please say it loud, tell it to all our leaders and business community that 1,600 million cups of Kenyan/Ugandan/Ivorian coffee a day equals more than preferential market access such as the AGOA.  African economic/trade integration should be a little more aggressive, and aid for AIDS would be history.”

Over the years, international commentators have distorted the African history and current positive changes that are taking place on the continent. Africans on the other hand have been on the frontline marketing negativity for purposes of drawing financial support from rich nations while neglecting their own wealth in the continent. To many in the developed nations, Africans are helpless beggars, for if they are not dying of famine, diseases and civil wars are decimating them.

Were Africans created by colonizers?

Africans were neither created by colonizing powers nor was the African continent empty, waiting to be discovered by colonizers. By the time of European colonialism, there were 90 million Africans (10.9 per cent of the World population in 1800), 11 million of whom were shipped out as slaves.

Archeology echoes enormous achievements by Africans in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Timbuktu among others. Long before the birth of Christ, African civilizations were thriving and have influenced the World’s view of religion and sense of humanity through the Egyptian link. 

A prominent Economic Historian Thomas Sowell points out that Africans were not merely hunters and gatherers. Agriculture and animal husbandry existed before Europeans came. Iron, gold and salt were produced in Africa and so was cloth. The colonizing forces simply sought to control sources of the commodities that Africans were patronizing at the time.

Was there such a thing as Africa?

We blame colonizers for disrupting life in Africa, but the most positive thing they created was a seed that is slowly germinating to evolve into a huge giant that will lead to a new African civilization. Africa must urgently take steps to create a united African market of 800 million people. We need a situation where one need not apply for licenses in each of the 54 nations in order to reach all the African market. The good news is that the political class in Africa is already working towards this goal, although at a very slow pace. As I speak, the idea of One Africa is slowly translating into reality through several regional organizations such as the East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU).

The challenge is to the business community to take an aggressive step and speed up the process. A good illustration of how this can be achieved is through what was witnessed in Kenya recently; a private medical practitioner successfully produced two ‘test tube babies’ for infertile women in a process called In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). The Kenya government does not have a specific policy on how to handle such a controversial matter in the world of ethics. But the public response clearly showed that they were interested in this new science for purposes of assisting infertile couples and HIV-AIDS victims. A law is being put in place to address this. African business people and individuals therefore, must move very quickly in setting up businesses in different parts of Africa in order to illustrate the benefits and urgent need for a united African market. We must move with speed to change one village, one country, one region at a time.

Are Africans Resilient?

In the initial stages of colonization, before the use of quinine was invented; European powers could not colonize Africa as tropical diseases used to wipe them out. Africans were able to survive within this harsh environment nevertheless. In spite of the slave trade onslaught that saw the export of millions of able bodied men and women out of Africa, the continent survived. The effects of colonization never wiped Africans out. To date, people in Africa are bravely battling tough diseases such as HIV-AIDS and Malaria. They will still overcome these odds. Although a majority are said to live on less than a dollar a day (and this is nothing to be proud of), they still live!

Africans have continually survived the terror of tyrannical regimes and all the experiments (such as the World Bank’s Structural Adjustment Programs, the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals) subjected to them by the international community. Africans are surviving theories which thrive on the misconception that they (Africans) can not take responsibility to improve their predicament.

Are Africans beggars?

With all the donor money headed to Africa, with African Heads of State literally trouping to developed country capitals to ask for monetary help, one may be justified to assume that Africans are beggars. 800 million beggars? Where does the $148 billion that leaves Africa annually in corruption come from? What with the cultural resource of 410 tribes? With good climate that has seen Africa produce 70% of the world’s Cocoa; 60% of world’s Coffee; and 50% of Palm oil? What with Africa having an estimated 30% of the world’s Uranium; 50% of Gold; 8% of oil reserves; 12% of natural gas and the bulk of the world’s diamonds? Africa has millions of untilled acres of land lying fallow as people die of famine, not to mention untapped solar energy!

Africans are increasingly becoming aware of the fact that they are not poor. The ‘poverty’ philosophy as peddled by Western media sustains the ‘poverty industry’ that benefits mostly the Western NGOs, academicians and governments. Africa is rich in human resource of 800 million people, unfortunately for a long time; Africans had been made to believe that more people mean poverty. But trends indicate that a big population can be a big stimulus for economic growth. Can Africa learn from China?

Africa is not poor; it has an artificial cash flow problem created by over- reliance on donor money. When Africa exports a unit of raw coffee to Europe and gets about $1, the European ends up making almost 20 times from the same. In other words, Africa exports jobs to Europe (for value addition in coffee) and receives donations from Europe (because somebody puts trade barriers that make it difficult for Africans to engage in coffee processing). Africa finally spends a lot of her man-hours writing aid requisition proposals instead of focusing on getting the key to prosperity …production and consumption. Why can’t the African then focus on producing coffee for her 800 million people? 800 million cups of coffee consumed every morning will be such a big boost to the coffee industry. That is why Africans must start thinking ‘inwards’ and move away from the traditional view of focusing on external markets alone.

What is the role of African youth in development?

Elukaka Youth Association: I grew up in a rural village in Western Kenya, born of peasant parents, the type that plant nothing (because of poor quality seed) and harvest nothing (for lack of farm inputs, and over- reliance on nature). When I was 10 years old, I founded an association of young people that pursued three main goals: offering services to farmers such as weeding corn, sugar cane and beans; harvesting and shelling corn in return for cash. Members of this association also formed a group for purposes of exchanging school text books and recreation. This tiny outfit that I chaired for seven years gained recognition all over the village until I handed it over to other young people upon joining the University of Nairobi. The group has since evolved to become the Rural Youth Empowerment League that targets a broader area. At age 16, I had started communication with people outside Africa.

Philosophical Society of University of Nairobi: I was founder Secretary General of this student society in my second year at the university and later chairman for two years. Our main focus was debating on African philosophy, seeking to solve the riddle on why it was easy for Africa to be colonized and addressing poverty in general. Leadership in this organization gave me an opportunity to interact with some famous African professors, and read a series of books that mostly focused on lamenting about colonialism and what the government ought to do for people. Shortly after college, I had a 3 month temporary stint as a casual worker at the then Kenya Breweries Limited to enable me raise money to buy stamps. It baffled many of my age mates that a graduate could do menial jobs. But look, I needed money to carry out correspondence!

Graduate High School Teacher: I taught in Kiptewit High School, a mixed school in the Rift Valley. While doing this, I started sending applications to schools in the U.S.A for my second degree (many youth in Africa dream of going to America) but was unsuccessful. What I acquired instead was The Law, a book by Frederic Bastiat. This book changed my life drastically. I learnt that a lot of what we refer to as ‘national’ or ‘tribal’ problems are actually problems that affect individuals. A lot of revolutions rarely serve the interests of the majority. If each individual actively sought to make his life better, the whole continent would be far more developed. The book set off an avalanche of actions in my mind that aggravated my interest in looking for more books and making many new friends, Dr. Lawrence Reed of Michigan (Mackinac Center for Public Policy) being one of them.

Inter Region Economic Network (IREN): With the type of ideas I had, I could not fit in the teaching job. I was angry at the status quo in my country Kenya and Africa and hungry too, to get to the core of issues affecting the continent. I took the risk of quitting a steady government job as a teacher in 2001 to set up Inter Region Economic Network (IREN), a think tank in a country where the very word ‘think tank’ was alien! There are more NGOs than one can care to count. IREN has grown to be one of the most influential think tanks in the world advancing greater economic opportunities and individual liberty in Africa.

In recognition of my repeated campaigns to change the predicament facing the African people, I was nominated to the Economic Socio Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC AU).I have initiated a student entrepreneurship program in 15 Kenyan universities through the Global Students In Free Enterprise network (SIFE) and can proudly report that the SIFE alumni in Kenya are on high demand. I have initiated farmers’ groups in the famine prone Eastern Kenya, village committees in malaria zones of Western Kenya and do write commentaries for local and international press.

So, what can the youth do?

The youth of Africa must be agitated and very angry with what is going on in Africa. They must never subscribe to the belief that they will be leaders of tomorrow. Leadership is needed today! Leadership is not in politics only. They must be proactive in creating and nurturing a dream of a united African market. It is the youth of Africa who presently are not bogged down by colonial hangovers that must deliberately work towards preparing Africa to advance economically. They must be on the frontline to sail in uncharted seas and bring home new ideas and put Africa on the path of a new civilization. Take charge now and initiate change in your immediate environment. Be the first to introduce life saving technology. Change your home, your village, your country and ultimately Africa!

We can only achieve this if we take responsibility for our mistakes, take ownership of our problems, and seek to learn from the mistakes and successes of other civilizations.

When shall the youth know they are making impact?

There is a big wave sweeping Kenya at the moment. The youth are clamoring for political leadership because they believe that the older generation has failed them. We ought to be careful about approaching our challenges based on short term assessments. Leadership failure in Africa may not necessarily be pegged on advanced age but rather on the kind of ideas and vision those we have given leadership positions possess. It is not age, it is vision, it is new ideas that Africa needs. The youth of Africa will know they are making impact when we witness thousands of them migrating within Africa to set up businesses. The day we shall see hundreds of African youth traveling all over the World as investors. The day Kenya youth will open restaurants and other businesses in South Africa, the Congolese in Ethiopia, the Ethiopians in Nigeria, and the Nigerians in Egypt; we shall know we are making impact. Let us get started today.