In the quest for an African rebirth, there was the Pan African Movement, which was an attempt to create a sense of brotherhood and collaboration among all people of Africa descent whether they lived inside or outside of Africa.
Throughout history, many men and women of Black African descent take up the mantle and tell Africans how to be redeemed from political, economic and developmental challenges.
To get to the bottom of these problems, it is most essential to first do self-criticism. This is to first find out, the role one might have played to get into that situation. Most of the Pan-Africanists would only come out and condemn the West, without providing any alternative way of addressing the situation.
The great nations of today, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait, were pauper nations some over fifty years ago. They were producing oil and in large quantities, but were getting next to nothing. While their oil, made economies of buyer nations boom, it made their economy go weaker and weaker.
Self-criticism made them find out that they were the problem. How can you sell your products to a buyer and not make money. The solution. These Arab nations, nationalized their oil and boom, they rose up to nations that are respected for their good economies. They became very wealthy.
In the case of Black Africa, we complain and attack the West for our poverty without stopping for once to do self-criticism. Our minerals and commercial crops are bought by the West and other industrialized countries are prices. only they will determine. And in most cases, such prices quoted do not meet cost of production. Unlike the Arabs, we are still only blaming very nation but ourselves.
We keep complaining that our products are not given competitive prices on the world market, and that we are always short-changed. An example is the over $100 billion cocoa industry, producer nations get only $2 billion.
By the way while we are complaining, our local produce-buyers always short-changed our farmers. Produce from local farmers are priced by market-queens and prices lower than cost of production. These farm-produce are sold at least five times the farmgate price to the final consumer.
We have our minerals but do not have the resources to mine or drill them. A Westerner comes and shows that he can get the mineral out from the ground. We agree. After negotiations we gladly accept his terms. He will take 90% while we take 10%. He will buy our 10% at 10% the world producer price. Then we rejoice that we have gotten a good deal.
We still have Pan-Africanists around, but most of them only know how to blast capitalism and democracy and promote socialism. They have nothing to offer by way of coming out with suggestions that will get Africa out of our current predicaments.
It was Pan Africanism which made Free African states to fully support Black Africans suffering from apartheid and other forms of racism in Southern Africa. However, when Black South Africans were free, they turned against Black African migrants in their country and slaughtered them in the spirit of xenophobia. With this, can anybody come from South Africa and genuinely preach Pan-Africanism?
Today, when we count true Pan Africanists, we can name only two, no, three.
We have the Kenya lawyer, Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, who can take on African politicians and correctly blame them as sources of our problems. Self-criticism is his hall-mark and he will never mince his way but always call a hoe by its real name.
We also have Arikana Chihombori-Quao, a one-time AU ambassador to the UN. She desired to fight the course of Black Africa and will also call a hoe by its real name. The AU removed her from her post when she started attacking France for reaping off Francophone countries in Africa and these nations for allowing that to happen.
These are people, one has to always listen to even if one might not agree with some of the things they say.
A young Gambian, Ousman Touray, has hit the scene and has proven that he is a true Pan-Africanist. Speaking with such maturity, he spelt out our problems and offer recommendations of how to solve them. He thought inter-trade within African countries can boost our economy.
He wondered why Gambia would import gates from China, while in Nigeria, there are people who manufacture very good gates. This brings one’s mind to Ghana, where we have enough salt to meet the demands of the petrochemical industry in Nigeria, yet, Nigeria buys salt from Brazil.
Ousman questioned our standard of education, which is more geared towards examination through memorising and reciting which leads us nowhere. Meanwhile, in developed countries, education is geared towards application of knowledge.
Ousman Touray is also the Founder of the Young Ancestors Foundation. “At the start of 2022, I launched the Youth Spotlight, a youth-led program to equip 1 million young Africans with entrepreneurial skills and mindsets by 2035. Africa currently hosts a population of 1.4 billion people with an average age of 19.”
Here is a Pan-Africanist who will not just talk but walk-the-talk and help Africa to become transformed. If only a tenth of African youth think and act like Ousman Touray, Africa will be delivered and take her seat among the top nations and races.
By Hon. Daniel Dugan
