Page 76 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 4
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TRUE AFRIKAN  LEADERS                                                                                                                                                                                    TRUE AFRIKAN LEADERS


          can president.                      purpose. Eurocentric knowledge,     Critics of the incumbent Jubilee
          Stimulated with the full glare of   as Edward Said once observed,       administration led by Uhuru Ken-
          Trump’s political turmoil in Ameri-  was not produced just for its own   yatta  have pointed out  that  the
          ca, countries in the oriental world   sake. Its purpose throughout the   government’s appetite  for mas-
          are busy trying to  reclaim their   ages has been to enable them to     sive loans  has been  exacerbat-
          former prominence  on the world     “know” us “the natives” in order    ed by an  equally  pervasive  cul-
          stage. Unlike the situation in Af-  to  take  control of  our territories,   ture of corruption in the country.
          rican  academies,  many  Asian      including  human and material       Indeed, Kenya has a history of
          scholars are also engaged in an     resources  for  their  benefit.    To   multi-million-dollar  scandals that
          ardent effort  to respond to the    date, such control of  knowledge    have failed to result in high-pro-
          new reality by reexamining basic    continue being used to exploit      file convictions. Overall in Africa,
          political principles. Their effort is   African communities across the   a report by the Global  Financial
          not only academic  or philosoph-    continent, most  educational pro-   Integrity (GFI) estimates that Af-
          ical; it is also deeply  moral  – a   grammes  at universities  are de-  rica lost between USD 36 billion
          situation  where  these scholars    signed  and aimed at advancing      and USD 69 billion between 2005
          are making an effort at preserving   the mental and geo-strategic in-   and 2014 in illicit financial flows.
          what is of value in their own cul-  terests of mainly leading Western   This represents about 74% of all
          tures and traditions while adapt-   countries and increasingly China    financing required (approximately
          ing to  the changing geopolitical   as well.                            USD 93 billion per year) to devel-
                                             designed to prepare young Af-“
          circumstances and engaging  in                                          op infrastructure to service  Afri-
          new relationships. As Africans we                                       ca’s growth needs.
          must try and simply do the same.  colonial  education  was not


          In  Africa today, there is a trag-                                      The African State as
                                                                                  ‘Police Boots and Barbed
          ic contrast  between intractable  ricans  for  the service  of  their
                                                                                  Wires’
          problems and knowledge explo-      own countries; it was instead
          sion that  has made politics an                                         Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiongo
          even more confusing business.  motivated by a desire to incul-          captures well the current traves-
          The sheer quantity of knowledge    cate the values of the colonial      ty in his 1986 classic ‘Decolonis-
          available  is mind-boggling  and                                        ing the Mind’ where he called for
          is increasing exponentially every   state.                              further attention to the corrupting
                                                                                  power of Western imperialism
          day. And yet, in spite of this, most
          of our political problems are get-  Today, whereas Africa’s total ex-   and the equally detrimental polit-
          ting worse.  There is, as such a    ternal debt  is  estimated at  USD   ical  and economic subservience
                                                                                  of the African neo-colonial elites
          need to transform the production    417  billion,  around  20%  of  Afri-
                                                                                  who are busy mortgaging African
          and dissemination  of knowledge     can government external debt is
                                                                                  communities to the highest bidder
          to make it more useful for solving   owed to China. Whilst a further
          African problems.                   35% of  African debt is held by     – a situation that has led to a cul-
          Since  gaining  independence  in    multilateral institutions such as   ture of what Thiongo calls “ape-
                                                                                  manship and parrotry enforced on
          the early 1960s, the African Uni-   the World Bank, with 32% owed
                                                                                  a  restive  population  through po-
          versity and the  African govern-    to private lenders, China remains
                                                                                  lice boots, barbed wire, a gowned
          ments that created  them have       the largest single creditor nation,
          dismally failed to chart new paths   with combined state  and  com-     clergy and judiciary”.   Needless
          for  Africa’s  emancipation  and    mercial  loans  estimated to have   to say, as presently  constituted,
                                                                                  the vast majority of Africans re-
          liberation  and  Africa  finds  itself   been  USD 132  billion  between
                                                                                  main alienated from the postcolo-
          in deep,  multidimensional cri-     2006 and 2017.  In a 2019 report
                                                                                  nial  state which  remains  a colo-
          ses that require deeply  thought    by the World Bank, 18  African
          out solutions and responses,  if    countries have been classified as   nial imposition and is incapable of
          Africans are to reclaim what the    at high risk of debt distress, a sit-  expressing the basic ideals of the
                                                                                  African community.
          late Koffi Anan once declared as    uation where debt-to-GDP ratios
                                                                                  In my view as such, without ap-
          ‘Africa century’. The problem for   has surpassed 50%. Here in Ken-
                                                                                  prehending the cultural, econom-
          African academics is that we can-   ya alone, the current public debt
          not just continue talking about the   stands at  a staggering USD 50    ic, and ideological aspects of Eu-
          production  of ‘knowledge  for its   billion  or 56.4% of  the country’s   ropean violence meted on African
                                                                                  communities,  it is impossible  to
          own sake’ without interrogating its   gross domestic  product (GDP).


          76   |   heal . restore . rebirth .  Afrika                                                                          www.msingiafrikamagazine.com                                           heal . restore . rebirth .  Afrika   |    77
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