I have been waiting for Africans & our leaders to have a real discussion on governance & the fact that the adopted Democracy in Africa has not worked for most of Africa. Oluwole Onemola wrote a provocative & thoughtful opinion piece on allAfrica.com that spoke to this brilliantly, especially in addressing Africa’s most populous & wealthiest sleeping giant, Nigeria.

“Why don’t we all just call it a night, peel off our political costumes and stop trying to parody the politics of the West, so we can return back to our roots, back to the truth that will always be there waiting for us – like a faithful but annoying friend with an I-told-you-so grin – back to an era when the government still believed in working for the people, and the people were not so easily consumed by undeliverable campaign promises from crooked politicians, because their election bribes in sealed envelopes caused amnesias so strong that the struggles and failures of the past were easily forgotten…This is not democracy. Our leaders are not popularly elected. No, they are shabbily but surely enforced on us by the forces that are, and the powers that be, that insist, and have always insisted – due to the absence of a revolutionary mindset in our people- that Nigeria will not thrive. They insist, because we do not tell them otherwise, that the once-great giant of Africa will not rise. They mock us because they believe that we are too preoccupied with our own internal dissent to realise that we are almost so far gone – almost at the point of no return – and they pompously await no retribution…” READ MORE

Colonialist convinced once colonized African nations that democracy was the way, but who truly determines the definition of democracy. Democracy has always been synonymous with Freedom for those who taut & sell it, but the most Democractic free nation of all, The United States of America, did not grant full freedom & civil rights to African-Americans until long after many African nations like Ghana had already found their independence with full freedom & civil rights for their people. As the USA condemed Hitler’s Germany for not granting Jews civil rights & its subsequent genocide in seeing Jews as less than 100% human without ever addressing the same actions by Hitler against Blacks in Germany because we would have had to address how we held Jesse Owens up as the honor of America in condemning the beliefs of Hitler, but somehow forgot that Jim Crow was in place &  that African-Americans were seen in America as less than 100% human. I ask once again who defines democracy & does this definition work with the African personality?

“In the future as the world of Africa & the West mate more & more into the totality of world culture, the creative strength of the African personality, which is evident in tribal sculpture, will contribute far more profoundly to human fulfillment than can yet be imagined”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah- 1966

“Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them. We face neither East nor West: We Face Forward..Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited.” Neocolonialism The Last Stage of Imperialism…. We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” DR. Kwame Nkrumah

“The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers — weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside. There’s where the power lies.” Jesse Owens

As much as Nixon & others felt like Africans could not govern ourselves without the aid of the White man & his democracy , Africans have always had a system of honor that is practiced even til today. When there is a dispute amongst family or neighbors the elders are called in to listen to all sides & to create an amicable settlement. Even amongst the modern day scavengers in the documentary “Welcome to Lagos” video below this type of honor system in self governance which is & has always been authentically part of the African way of life & governance still exists beautifully & harmoniously. When those who run the house of democracy forget the African way the rest of Africa holds up & clings to the ancestral way that teaches us that each man & each woman is his/her brother’s keeper.

We need a new modern day wind of change & to come to a point as Africans where we reevaluate & refocus our dedication to true emancipation for all of Africa in our unity. Our gods & goddesses have continuously nurtured us & looked after us by giving us gifts of resources & opportunity even at times when we felt all hope was gone. We can not continue to let the small selfish minority squander these gifts as the rest of the continent suffers. The World Cup shed a new light on the possibility of African unity. We must keep that fire burning & not let the flame go out.

“I wanted to congratulate you not only on a fantastic performance in which you can take great pride, but also for accepting your defeat with dignity. You won because you were such great ambassadors for the game – and for Africa. I cannot think of another occasion on which the whole continent was so united as during your quarterfinal. “BaGhana BaGhana” replaced “Bafana, Bafana” for our South African hosts, and I am sure I could hear the earth shake when Muntari scored – a mighty roar went up from Cairo to Cape Town, Dakar to Dar es Salam – even the deafening Vuvuzelas couldn’t match it. This thunderous solidarity is a tribute to you all, and a great omen for Africa, which is so often depicted as divided and conflicted. You won because you brought us all together.” Former UN General Secretary- Kofi Annan -READ MORE

“We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world…We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity. We again rededicate ourselves in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa; for our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

The love Africans have for their individual nations & the continent as a whole is immeasurable & unwavering. Mama Africa is our sweet mother & if our burning love for her is a crime then we are all guilty as charged because every time I look into her eyes I see fire in them & if you look into our eyes you see desire in them.. we got a lot of respect for Mama Africa because her kind is so rare! KEEP THE FIRE BURNING FOR EVEN IN DARKNESS WE SEE THE LIGHT!