By BONAVENTURE MUTALE
IT IS 50 years today since the African Freedom Day was founded during the first Conference of Independent African States, which attracted African leaders and political activists from various African countries, in Ghana on April 15, 1958.
Under the leadership of the great Kwame Nkrumah, former President of Ghana, only government representatives from eight independent African states attended this conference, which was the first Pan-African gathering.
Despite the majority of African countries, Zambia included, being under the yoke of colonialism, this group of ‘not so powerful’ eight countries resolved to declare May 25, 2013 to annually mark the liberation movement’s progress.
This was also meant to symbolise the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation, which was a huge act of African patriotism.
For those who may not be aware, Ghana was the first African country south of the Sahara to secure independence from colonial rule in 1957.
By 1960, nearly 17 countries in Africa had gained their independence leading to the declaration of 1960 as the Year of Africa. Obviously this gave way to the birth of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on 25th May, 1963.
It should be acknowledged that Africa has undergone massive changes socially, economically and politically in the last 50 years.
It should also be noted that despite the awakening – African renaissance – and the hand-over of political power to African leaders, it is clear that colonial powers never left, as witnessed by the continued meddling in the affairs of the independent states.
The extent of their meddling went as far as sowing seeds of despondency. Duly elected leaders were being hounded out of office at their instigation.
This trend by and large has affected our passage to becoming completely emancipated from the yoke of imperialism.
It is common knowledge that some military coupés, which had become the order of the day in the 1960s, 1970s all the way to the 1980s were machinated and executed with the help of the foreign powers that had turned Africa into their ‘playground’ or a battlefield of ideologies.
To this effect, some African countries have to date never recovered from the social, political and economic damage the foreign powers caused in the last 50 years of Africa’s freedom. While some African countries appear to be getting a clench on their destiny, the continent’s social, political and economic story is so gigantic that one article cannot tell it all.
Are we truly socially, politically and economically emancipated? Do we have the capacity to survive without foreign interference? Are our resources working for us? Are we building on the dream of the founding fathers such as Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Captain Thomas I Sankara, Kenneth D Kaunda, Sekou Toure, Jomo Kenyatta, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Gamal Nasser, Yakubu Gowon and Julius Mwalimu Nyerere?
Africans should constantly seek inspiration from the past pan-Africanists if we have to hold our own in the globalised contemporaneous world.
They had a clear vision of where they wanted the continent to go – self-sustainability at all strata of our societies.
Despite some important economic and political gains Africa has made, it is clear that after 50 years, the challenge of peace across the continent remains a challenge to an extent that its offshoots such as poverty are evident. There are countries like the Somalia that have practically been ungovernable in the last 20 years.
Therefore, the theme ‘Building on 50 Years of African Solidarity and Striving Towards Peace, Development and Prosperity for All’ is very appropriate because it also directly challenges Zambia to continue playing its noble role of being a hub of social, economic and political development for all.
The author is an observer of local and African affairs
For comment write to boanventuremutale@gmail.com or editor@daily-mail.co.zm.
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