Afrika, Afrika bara lenye mali nyingi sana, wabeberu wa ulaya wanalilia sana (Africa, Africa, a continent of plenty, foreigners drool over it…. A song by Pan-African activist summarizes it. The resources in Africa can sustain its economic needs and then the surplus can be traded to earn foreign exchange. However, the opposite is true, the bulk drives foreign economies and almost nothing is left for the local economies.
Kwame Nkrumah and Haille Sellasie during a past event
Africa has the best alluvial soils conducive for agricultural production. The best tea, coffee, pods, cereals and fruits come from our motherland. In the late 1920’s, I participated in a campaign to mobilize East-African leaders to drop the manipulative Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAS) which would allow for the avante-garde quality products would be sent to the foreign markets and in their own terms.
European industries are literally driven by raw material supplies from Africa. Minerals from Africa are of the highest quality. These include gold, iron, titanium, copper and other rare deposits like oil and essential ores for phone production components like cobalt, tantalum, titanium alloy and antimony. Over 70% of cobalt, a crucial material for phone making companies can only be found in Africa specifically DRC making it a critical geopolitical hotspot for tech manufacturing. Interestingly, some foreign companies are listed as the main sources of these minerals but the truth is, the ores are exploited from Africa but then refined in those countries and resold back.
The then President of France, François Mitterrand, in 1957 predicted that “Without Africa, France would not have any position in the 21st century.” Many years later, Jacques Chirac, former French President in March 2008 noted that ‘’Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third world power.” Recently, the sitting French President, Emmanuel Macron also desperately announced, “Europe cannot survive without Africa.” These statements are powerful signals, which African and African leaders need to pick and rearrange their economic partnerships with Europe and the rest of the world.
Cover of Walter Rodneys book; How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
How can we be the cooks yet we are surviving. The West African states have stood up for their economic rights and awaken from the West-induced economic slumber. In September 2023, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation and mutual pact. With the member states now in charge of their resources and dictating extraction, refinement and trade modalities, it looks like magic that African giants are now up and kicking.
Muamar Gaddafi Dreamt of United States of Africa
Africa is bound by overwhelming odious debts, which have been because of covert negotiations with some corrupt African leaders. Some countries have up to their 100th generation bound in debts, which consume their internal Gross National Income (GNI). This is the worst form of slavery as the shackles drag states back and the cycle of poverty continues. However, there are some important headways. Recently, the Namibia recently reached historic milestones in paying its international debts, highlighted by fully clearing its outstanding debt balance with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and executing a record $750 million Eurobond repayment. This approach forms part of a larger fiscal consolidation and economic self-reliance strategy. I wish many countries can learn from the current President of Namibia is Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
President of Namibia is Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
Foreign masters have known that instability is a good veneer for diverting attention while they economically disable African states. It is a secret hidden in plain sight that conflict is concentrated in places where economic materials are located. For instance, how comes that in areas where there is oil like South-Sudan, Nigeria and host of other countries, armed conflict never seems to end. Equally, in Central African region where minerals like cobalt, copper, diamond and copper especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries, constant fights between heavily armed militia and government offices never end. The question is who supplies this heavy weaponry, who are the miners and who is the link to European industries where the materials end.
The economic potential of Africa is so great, our past leaders- Mwalimu Nyerere, Kwame Nkurumah and other forwarding leaders like Muamar Gaddafi dared to dream of a United States of Africa. We all know the happened, concerted efforts to destabilize Africa and the unity call but now, Namibia and the Sahel luminaries have shown that we can break the shackles of neo-colonialism.
African leaders do not drink from the poisoned chalice from France and other ill bent cohorts. Africa can unite and build an economic block. It is only that our leaders are greedy and not patriotic.
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