I hear drums beating for Africa to rise! This refrain kept playing in my mind as I witnessed proceedings at the Second Africa-Russia Summit. The Summit, held in St. Petersburg from July 27 to 28, was attended by delegations from 49 African countries including 17 heads of state.
As usual, the Ugandan leader lent his powerful voice to the aspirations of Africa, calling upon foreign Governments-including his hosts, the Russians-literally, to lose appetite for Africa’s raw materials and invest in adding value to them in Africa. This message, in an age of the information superhighway, has reveberrated globally. No one should claim not to have heard. What remains is for our partners in international business to comply in good faith, but the larger task falls back on us Africans to guard our own interests.
President Museveni’s idea is for the purpose of undoing the great economic injustice where colonialists and their successors the post-independence posturers taking advantage of Africa have historically stripped our continent almost bare. If we have learnt any lessons, we cannot let that imbalance of interests remain unchallenged. At this age in post-independence Africa, “economic independence” is the best gift we must claim for ourselves. Happily, I smell goodwill from some of our partners like the Russians who have accepted to hold discussions with us on matters of common interest. What remains if for us to meet our part of the bargain if we are to be respected and negotiate for our interests without fear or favour.
Among the African leaders present in Russia was Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the interim President of Burkina Faso, who gave a historic speech in which he declared: “a slave who cannot assume his own revolt does not deserve to be pitied. We do not feel sorry for ourselves, we do not ask anyone to feel sorry for us.” He called on Africans to take up the fight against imperialism and poverty, and wondered about there being leaders all over the world begging!
I was so happy with Capt. Traore’s message. It hit hard those whose ears have continued to plugged with wax as senior leaders like President Museveni speak, not forgetting the African greats of yesteryears like Mwalimu Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba. Traore’s speech assured us that Africa, indeed, has a future, conditional to the generation of leaders taking the mentorship of the veterans seriously and putting it into action. Traore is beginning to look and sound like the legendary Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader who led Burkina Faso in the 1980s and who left a mark. Unfortunately, he was assassinated, leaving Burkina Faso’s transformation journey seriously dented, as was Uganda which suffered miscarriage of leadership up to 1986.
I don’t intend to sing the praises of individuals, but we much appreciate our “prophets” who come forward to visualise the Africa we want. Have we forgotten that we are the least developed continent yet the most diverse and gifted by nature? With modernisation, we are also rich in terms of human capital, not forgetting that it’s Africans, stolen and shipped away as slaves, who built the countries from which we are at risk of continuing to beg, and some of which prefer that we stay underdogs so that they siphon the last of our resources including enticing our best brains to work for them. We have to stop natural resource hemorrhage and brain drain!
We must become self-reliant and manage our internal affairs according to the aspirations of our people. Nobody must set for us rules and impose them on us. That’s why the interface that our leaders had with the Russians is a suitable model where there is no master of the other. I look forward to the Russians coming to meet our leaders within Africa so as to balance the “diplomatics” and to deny soothsayers and opportunity to dismiss the Summit as a “begging or photo opportunity.”
Africa’s young population, if it can warm up to the great message of our leaders and think about how to contribute to the continent’s transformation in real terms and secure a strong presence on the global scene, that will be a generational milestone to celebrate. It’s unfortunate that some of our young people and leaders have sold out to neo-colonial actors hell-bent on capturing our collective futures. They know themselves.
Thankfully, God is wise and all-knowing, which is why while he created all people equal, he created separate spaces for us to inhabit. He created the continents and separated them, giving inhabitants of each continent an opportunity to manage their affairs and dominate their lands.
Regrettably, the earlier Africans were uniformed about their stake on mother earth, were not bold and tactical enough to resist the onslaught of those who came to “kill, steal and destroy” our destiny, and now here we are! It’s up to us to undo the damage and prevent our continent being stripped to the core. This is our land, given to us by God! Whoever wants to deprive us of our God-given inheritance is of the devil!
The Summit in Russia and the meetings in Serbia which President Museveni attended with a delegation of officials, producers and promoters were all worth it. Let Ugandans embrace the fresh avenues being opened for us to do business with the world instead of waiting for aid!
The author is the Deputy Presidential Press Secretary
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