Africa in Search of A Transformative Ideology

Recently, I participated in a workshop of dons from some of the leading universities across

Africa aimed at enhancing the lecture room experience on both sides of the instructional divide. We were into the 5^th of the 8-day experience when the following definition of leadership popped up on the screen, “A leader is a woman who is self-aware; who has the patience to listen, the voice to express and the vision to capture the possibilities for other lives apart from her own; who finds ways to help others move forward and who demonstrates that she will do what she says she will do.”

Predictably, the discussion fell into the lead resource person’s cleverly set trap of seeming gender-bias as speaker after speaker posited the question, ‘why a woman?’ and ‘why not a woman?’ By the time we recovered, there was hardly any time left to discuss the essence of the definition and ipso facto, pay tribute to the strong merits of positive and productive leadership it contained. For me, that was the tragedy. The quote would seem to be the outcome of an incisive, penetrating look at Africa’s number one challenge i.e. leadership or better still the lack of it. Someone once said, ‘Solve the problem of leadership and most other problems in African countries will fall off like water off a rock’.

Truth be told, Africa countries have not fared well over more than half a century of independent development. Abject poverty is still rife, hunger and disease are commonplace; political instability, violence and the harsh realities of life have combined to create some of the world’s biggest refugee camps in Africa while at the same time fueling the exodus of the continent’s youth across the Sahara and the Mediterranean in an endless search for the proverbial ‘greener pastures’!

The question that comes to mind is this: why has Africa produced more of the Mobutus, Idi Amins, Abachas and Bokassas and very few of the Thomas Sankaras and Quett Masires? Poverty and underdevelopment in Africa cannot be divorced from the triad of slave trade, colonialism and neocolonialism. In his classic, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, Dr Walter Rodney, lays bare the intricate process by which European penetration of Africa brought innumerable socio-economic benefits to the metropolis at the expense of the colonies. Deliberate colonial policies fed into the inter-related syndromes of inferiority and dependency that have survived the lowering of colonial flags. Indeed, a salient factor that distinguishes the Sankaras from the Mobutus has been whether or not genuine and deliberate attempts have been made in the post-colonial era to reverse the effects of the inferiority and dependency syndromes. In the final analysis, a renewal of the mind is mandatory for the peoples’ forward march in Africa.

AFRICAN CULTURE

There are many aspects of African culture that require deepening and strengthening. The strong community spirit, strong family ties, and generosity, among others, deserve to be preserved and built upon. Apart from beautiful cities and animals that Africa offers her visitors, African culture is a source of renewal and inspiration as well as great entertainment for many others.

However, some of our cultural practices are founded on idolatrous traditions.

African culture is known for its elaborate and expensive funeral rites, tolerating evil, covenanting and consulting with evil spirits, and worship of evil spirits, which continuously keep away the presence of God. It is no secret that God forbids witchcraft, sorcery, superstition, divination, necromancy and all other related vices. Such practices are a hindrance to economic, political and social development.

A decade or so ago certain powerful continental figures actively canvassed for “African Renaissance” as a new concept for Africa’s transformation. I believe that a major reason why this new ideology did not gain much currency, its flamboyant name notwithstanding, was the notion that it had the objective of taking the continent back to the worship of evil spirits in the name of  our ‘African gods’. ‘African Renaissance is not only retrogressive but also offensive to the plan of God for Africa.

Lack of sound time management culture in Africa (African Time???), lack of the will and mind to invest for future generations, and even the lack of a ‘maintenance culture’ can be attributed to some archaic cultural practices.

DRAGONS GALORE

In the midst of unfocussed and indecisive leadership, the patterns of development that have thrived on the African continent have been those foisted on our nations by external interests, dragons from the west and the east. Western powers have sought to continue their domination through the so-called ‘aid’, bolstered and championed by the Bretton-Wood twins, the IMF and World Bank, through a multiplicity of programmes and strategies that have yielded little dividends for recipient countries. Lately, China has entered the field with seemingly altruistic goals but at the end of the day, let it not be lost on us that the Chinese are securing for themselves, for current and future generations, solutions to their own national needs and challenges.

WHITHER AFRICA?

It does not take a seer to foretell what awaits Africa should the current reality of pandering to the interests of other nations at the expense of our own persist. The statistics make scary reading. In less than two decades, the number of young people reaching working age in Africa will exceed that of the rest of the world combined, and will continue every year for the rest of the century. By 2050, one in every four humans will be African. At the end of the century, nearly 40 percent of the world’s population will be African. What should our response be?

In March 2004, the Intercessors for Africa (IFA) held their annual African House of Prayer (AHOP) Conference in Accra. It was at this historic conference that the Lord said through His trusted servants that He had given the continent “The New Africa Order” established on justice and righteousness.

God is very fond of declaring the end from the beginning. In so doing, the Almighty requires from us faith and concerted action to bring about the desired system or thing. Indeed, the nullification of the agenda of high level occultic organizations to control and order Africa’s path of development can only happen on the foundation of faith in what God has declared and concerted action on our part to bring it about. In Africa, we have tried all kinds of humanistic ideologies which have brought us nowhere. Now is the time to return to our Maker’s own blueprint for national mobilization and reconstruction. Herein lies the justification for the call for a redemptive ideology (a system of God-inspired ideas, ideals and values) for the transformation of Africa.

                                                                                          KODZO ALABO

                                                                                             KOKROBITE