Misrepresenting African Pride

Africa has been at the crossroads of events in human history beginning from the period of human slavery and colonisation marked by institutional conspiracy. The slow pace of development in this continent may partly be attributed to the traumatising events of the time which divided families, communities and destroyed the ambitions of patriotic individuals who could be true representatives of the people. Land conflict, which is still a cause for concern in some parts of Africa, is due to the uncompromising land demarcation and boundaries put in place by the colonial powers.  According to this writer, Africans themselves also share part of the blame that has gradually destroyed the cultural heritage of this continent and has contributed to the unprecedented economic stagnation sending signals of a continent without portfolio.

African kings and chiefs believed without much reserve in the doctrine of the “Whiteman” and were ready to offer human souls in exchange for “expensive drinks”. Those patriotic Africans who opposed to this new pact were seen as enemies of progress and were put on the blacklist. Fifty years after many African countries achieved independence, we seem to have made very little progress. The kings and chiefs, in whom Africans bestowed their trust and confidence, betrayed the people and land of plenty. Kings and chiefs are being use as political weapons against their own people and politics has taken the central stage of their cultural agenda. Traditional titles are awarded these days not on the basis of competence like what prevailed in the early days but on the basis of political might and financial strength. Land conflicts in some cases are fuelled by tribal leaders for egoistic reasons which often result to loss of human lives and enormous economic damage. Traditional palaces which used to be reserved for important traditional ceremonies have been turned to polling stations during elections. Some African dictators use them as a means to an end to stick to power. Few bank notes or even coins today will stimulate a king or chief to dance in public, shake hands with nonentities and even open his traditional shrine to strangers, which formerly was reserved only for village elders. Traditional streams or rivers guarded and kept intact by our forefathers as secret areas of worship and places to honour the dead have been opened to tourists under the pretext of development.

As an African, I had the fundamental conviction that shrines and traditional places were only an issue of the developing world but after visiting some Asian countries it is a different story. Some of these countries honour their shrines and traditional places than we do in Africa and this has helped to preserve their long history and culture. In spite of the fact that the caprices of development is sweeping through the Asian continent, the people are very proud of keeping their historical and cultural legacy. For example, South Korea has ten World Heritage sites recognised by UNESCO. Amongst them are royal tombs and historic villages of Korea. There are twelve other sites still on the tentative list pending recognition by UNESCO. I visited a site in Korea that was kept close for fifteen years and was only opened recently to the public. Likewise as of 2011, Japan has thirteen world heritage sites recognized by UNESCO amongst them, ancient monuments, historic villages, shrines, temples and sacred sites. I followed a documentary in one developing country in South America where a special day in the year is reserved for the dead and it is believe that on this day there is direct communication with those who died hundreds if not thousands of years ago. I have the conviction that our African kings and chiefs dance too much to the tune of mental and moral development than those who initiated the concept.

This negligence has allowed outsiders to exploit the African pride and misrepresent who the real Africans are. Some western NGOs through the media have been at the forefront of this misrepresentation and this has given the impression to some people that nothing good can come from Africa. The worst pictures of famine, misery and war comes from Africa. Am not defending the fact that Africa is free from the above problems but if some organisations want to portray the image of Africa, let them also show the other side of Africa people do not see, know, hear or have any in-depth knowledge. As an NGO professional, I deeply appreciate the efforts of some NGOs that have served and are still serving the lives of many across the continent. We expect a lot of professionalism from some of these bodies. Rather than dance to the tune of those who have destroyed the continent and frustrated many generations.

 Let us look forward to a new generation of think tanks from the civil society that are able to identify mistakes of the past and draw a new road map that will permit both parties to change the lives of those in despair without harming their pride. African kings and chiefs need to write a new page in the golden book of history that will identify them not as destroyers to the once rich African culture or playing partisan politics to keep asunder families, tribes and regions but re-cultivate the spirit of protecting the cultural patrimony passed on to them by their forefathers in a bit to reignite the pride of Africa.

Nfor Canicius