ES Kirunda
Blaming the problems of Africa on our parents, teachers, the education system, the politicians, or the colonialists will not lead us to any solution. The better way is for individuals like me and you to propose arguable solutions to why we have inherited the short end of the stick.
I.
It starts with me. Me and my head are the problem and also the solution. You have to start at your station and be true to what you can and cannot do. Look for the root cause of the problem as far back as your analytical mind allows you. I have gone to school, read more than a few books and travelled the world, so I know I should be above average. I should be able to analyse step by step, better than the average person, and objectively reach the logical conclusion of why I inherited the short end of the trick. It’s through this truthful journey that a lasting solution to mine and my society’s problems will be found.
II.
I am able to judge that it is not the fault of my parents. Even if they were illiterate people, they did the best they could, given that their parents were even more illiterate. So my family and our little clan are not the source of my problems in the world. Beyond family, I must turn to the tribe to keep my analysis going. The earliest historical writing about my tribe was by the British in 1862. However, it’s a fact that the tribe existed way before 1862. How far back? It is impossible to know. One thing that is for sure is that a few British men were able to come after 1862 and easily colonise not only my tribe, but all the other tribes in my country. Why did that happen? Huh, I am getting deeper in the rabbit hole.
III.
In my search for the reason why I inherited the short end of the stick, the analysis crystalizes around the difference between the British colonizers and my tribal ancestors. But I don’t want to be tribal by considering only one tribe. Thus, my analysis should be, why all the tribes of Africa were colonized by people like the Europeans (the Brits, Germans, French, Portuguese, Belgians and the Spaniards). I know that before the Europeans of the 19th century, almost 1000 years earlier, the Arabs of the 7th century had also come to Africa and colonized most of the East African Coast, the whole North Africa, and the Sahel. My analysis of why the Arabs and Europeans conquered Africa has to be elevated to the level higher than tribal analysis, to the civilizational level.
IV.
At the time of the outsiders’ conquest of Africa, they had stronger civilizations than my ancestors. If I perform a mental control experiment, I know that there was a time in history when those same outsiders would not have been able to conquer Africa. If they came to Africa any time before 600 AD, they would have failed in their conquests. I know this for a fact because besides many of them not existing historically at the time, those that existed did so only as tribal communities not different from those in Africa. Actually, given the advanced kingdoms and empires on the African continent at that time, Africa would have fended off the outsiders. If the marauding tribes of the British Island who were slaughtering each other and raping women after beheading their husbands, or the raiding tribes of the Arabian Peninsula who were burying girls alive, had ventured into Africa in 600 AD, it would have been check-mate. They would not have colonized us. Even better, I can envision several of our advanced kingdoms banding together and chasing the invaders down the Nile and up the rift valley.
V.
Something happened that transformed the European and Arabian tribes into powerful post-tribal societies while my ancestors kept wallowing in tribal existence. When I look at my problem as a civilizational problem, then the solution also has to be civilizational in nature. When I zero in on the civilization cause, then I must rule out all the others, e.g., I must rule out natural reasons such as bad geography, lack of resources, unforgiving climate, race, skin color, etc. So, it all depends on the right analysis that people like you and I can do. It’s only after we know the right problem that we must then spend all our mental energies to create the right solution.
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