Retracing our roots to achieve the African renaissance

By Naftali Mwaura

the 21 st century and its much publicized hype of ushering a brave new world has elicited intense debate from all spheres and more than ever before, humanity is pre-occupied with efforts to unravel the mysteries that define our existence.

EVEN AS WE MARK IMPORTANT milestones, we cannot afford to sweep history under the carpet but must endeavor to take a retrospect and do a thorough review on the important episodes that defined it.

Africa is today at crossroads as many thinkers, academicians, politicians and other social scientists would aver. Having survived the painful walk in the cruel terrain that was defined by years of colonialism, slave trade, wars and pestilences of all shade and colour;ours has been a History that is dark and painful.

The Continent of Africa has been used as a Guinea pig for all manner of dirty experimentation by powerful and imperialist powers from the North.

If the History of slave trade in the Mid-centuries is anything to go by, African people have a reason to provoke them promptly to petition foreign powers on why they so demeaned, dehumanized and debased us as if we are of lesser mortal.

The west owes us apology for their dangerous but cruel adventurism on Africa for their selfish political and commercial interests. The ugly emblem of slave trade manifests itself even today and it can never be erased by shallow apologies or self-righteous atonement from Judeo-Christian West.

That the west’s economic might was wholly pegged on the backs of African slaves is no mean exxageration.

Hounded from their homesteads by savage slave masters, innocent men, women and children were bundled like common cargo in ships to destinations in the America’s where they worked as slaves in sisal, sugar and cotton plantations.

Millions died due to starvation and cruel punishment from the slave lords. The white slave owners used black slaves like beasts of burden to toil in the plantations and industries.

The call for reparation for those cruel injustices rings more loudly and Africans deserves wholesome compensation from the former slave traders and not mere apologies.

Respective Governments in Europe must own up to the evil of slave trade because Governments of the day sanctioned this gory crime against humanity.

The colonial past that charted the course of our Continent’s history for the better part of the 20th century cannot be wished away.

The Europeans used their military and economic might to impose themselves on Africa. Through conniving between Governments and missionaries, they established oppressive colonies against the will of African people.

Riding on the banner of civilizing Africans, white missionaries managed to obliterate our long-cherished cultural richness and ways of worship. They spread Christian dogma and convinced our fore fathers that theirs was the only true religion to reach the maker.

Our culture and religion was branded as archaic and pagan. The missionaries prevailed upon our ancestors to disown African cultures forgetting that same culture held us in perfect peace and harmony for the umpteenth period before their arrival.

Our ancestors were told that our religion, education, science and technology was archaic and that their chief mission was to bring light to an otherwise dark continent.

They incited our forefathers to disown every element of indigenous heritage. They achieved this through orchestrated hate propaganda in classrooms and Church altars. The aftermath of this brainwashing is being felt even today. Our people have been made to believe that everything West is superior. They have wholly embraced every nuance of Western culture and have relegated even the noblest tenets of African culture to the periphery.

Wearing a deceptive cloak like the biblical hyena in sheep’s skin, the missionaries` only motive was to propagate colonial interests and this they succeeded.

The chronic woes that Africa is reeling from to date can wholly be traced to our colonial past. The colonial masters ruined our social, political and economic structures and left them in shambles.

Through predatory commerce, they raped our natural resources like minerals, forests,rivers and wildlife to benefit their multi-nationals.

They brainwashed us, reduced our intellectual capabilities and made us zombies who can never think on their own but have to rely on the west to seek solution to every crises that comes to the fore.

Neo-colonialism still continue to manifest itself across Africa and the idea of freedom and independence sounds utopian when Africa has to rely on the west to seek direction and advice on how to manage her affairs.

We have regarded the white man as the messiah to redeem us from the yoke of political, economic and social upheavals that have been the hallmark of our Continent’s history.

Western imperialists have made us doubt our potential and instead we can hardly make any step without seeking their intervention.
The solution to Africa’s woes does not lie with the west. Ideologies from the North will not offer lasting solution to our pressing challenges.

The poverty, diseases, hunger and deprivation that plague African continent will not be tackled through models drawn from Western capitals in London, Paris or Washington D.C.

Donor aid, which is prescribed by self-same highly opinionated policy makers from the west, has neither succeeded in eradicating our poverty. Donor assistance has reduced us into persistent beggars.
Malignant diseases and environmental degradation still wreaks our continent. As chronic diseases torment our people, Western pharmaceutical corporations have not offered any ray of hope but are instead too busy pilling up profits only for the poor of Africa to die in their millions from preventable diseases.

These corporations are reaping immoral profits in Africa that is home to millions of people suffering from diseases like HIV/AIDS, Malaria and cancer. The corporations do not give attention to the plight of the sick that cannot afford the exorbitant cost of drugs but are busy pillaging from the same blighted souls.

The disease burden continues to weigh heavily in Africa. Diseases like Malaria, HIV/AIDS, T.B and Cancer are spiraling out of control. The Multinational drug firms are only aggravating the situation by dumping their costly concoctions that are not only exorbitant but of lower quality.

In the face of debilitating calamities of poverty, diseases and poverty that stalks Africa like a deadly python, our conscience must provoke us to rise to the occasion and seek home-grown remedy to the said catastrophes.

We as Africans must go back to the roots and retrace our steps in order to chart a new destiny. We must return to our indigenous treasures like staple food and herbal medicine that today offers a ray of hope in tackling nagging health crises.

There is need to reclaim our lost bio-diversity treasures which has been ripped off by avaricious Western multi-nationals.

There is a ray of hope in the horizon if Africans embrace their food, medicine, cultural and religious values that can give us the necessary ingredients to address our maladies.

Herbal medicine in particular is today offering hope to the poor and sick people in the continent who can not afford high cost of conventional medicine The alternative medicine has become very popular among the down trodden and it is offering them life-long cure to such debilitating ailments like cancer, Malaria and T.B.

The efficacy of herbal medicine in treating devastating ailments of our age like HIV/AIDS and Malaria is beyond reproach. More and more people are turning to herbal medicine and have discarded the archaic stereotype propagated by the west that only conventional medicine works.

Today we have practicing herbalists who can give testimony of the effectiveness of herbal medicine having spent years of hands on practice.
Africa at this juncture cannot help but rise to the occasion and assess her priorities right by going back to the basics and address her concerns through homegrown initiatives.

The Writer is a Journalist and commentates regularly on Social and Political issues.
Email: naftalimwaura@yahoo.com