DRESSED BUT NAKED!
Half-naked girls are hot, well-dressed girls are beautiful. Hell is hot, while heaven is beautiful, the choice is yours.
When you read the title of this article and when you look at the cover of this article you realize that in today’s world we have people who walk around thinking they are dressed but in the actual sense they are naked. To be dressed means to be covered in clothing and to be naked means not wearing any clothes or lacking some clothing. The whole point of dressing up is to cover our nakedness. To cover the sensitive parts of our bodies. But today we find people walking around thinking and proclaiming to be dressed yet when you take a closer look at them despite what they say it is evident to see that they are actually naked.
Likewise, you will find that most if not all African countries are independent or rather claim to be independent but are still dependent on the countries that colonized them. Hence the title, Dressed but Naked or in other words, Independent but Dependent.
There is a huge difference between political freedom and economic freedom. Ayn Rand once said, ‘’Political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom…” Economic freedom is as important as political freedom. They do not move one without the other. You cannot say you are independent when politically you are independent but economically you are still colonized. Political freedom always moves in tandem with economic freedom “Without economic independence freedom is a hoax” so said Magnus N. Amudi. This makes me wonder, what being independent really means at an individual level and also at a national level. But we first need to briefly understand where we are coming from as Africans and what led to this fight for “independence” before we can define it.
All African countries are independent today. Independent of colonial rule and oppression. Colonial rule saw Africans being mistreated and not being treated fairly and equally to the white man. The white man was always superior to the African man and he looked down upon the African man. This was also seen in the west were Africans had been taken as slaves. They were equally looked at as inferior and ill-treated by the white man.
The white man lived in better houses, ate better food, took his children to better schools, had better and superior jobs, had better opportunities and had better salaries as compared to the black man. The white man did not allow the African to learn how to read and write so as to keep the African dependent on the white man.
But eventually the black man, the African man put his foot down and said enough is enough and fought for his independence. Lives were lost, families destroyed all in an effort to gain independence and be free of the white man’s self-given rule. We had been held captive in our own land, our own home for far too long and we finally got the independence our forefathers shed blood for that we are still enjoying even today.
Kwame Nkrumah, the first black African president of Ghana once said, “No people without a government of their own can expect to be treated on the same level as people of independent sovereign states. It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else.”
Julius Nyerere the first black African president of Tanzania also said concerning the same that, “No nation has the right to make decisions for another nation; nor people for another people.”
What then is this independence the African man fought and shed blood for?
The word independence is derived from the word independent which means not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free. The word independence means: the state or quality of being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by others; self-reliance on, or control by others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one’s own affairs without interference.
Our forefathers, like the Nelson Mandela’s of South Africa, the Kwame Nkrumah’s of Ghana, the Julius Nyerere’s of Tanzania, the Jomo Kenyatta’s of Kenya, the Kenneth Kaunda’s of Zambia, the Sam Nujoma’s of Namibia, the Robert Mugabe’s of Zimbabwe, the Samora Machel’s of Mozambique to mention but a few, fought for and lead the struggle for our independence as Africans. The question I pose to you today is, dependence from what? Freedom from what exactly?
These great men and leaders fought for independence from colonial rule, they fought for independence from being dependent on the white man, they fought for independence from being controlled by the white man, they fought for independence from not being self-reliant, they fought for independence from not being in control of our own affairs without interference, they fought for independence from white oppression and white rule in African countries. We wanted control of Africa and we have it. We are free, we are independent or are we not?
Looking at the state of Africa today and what our forefathers fought for, I believe that we may be physically free, independent and not colonized but we are mentally and economically still colonized. We are still under the control of the white man which may not be physical but economic. Political independence without economic independence is incomplete independence. What Africa needs today is not freedom fighters which we do already have but we need economic freedom fighters. We need the liberation of our economies. Yes! We do indeed need the complete and absolute emancipation of the African economy.
Before a child comes of age, the child is kept and looked after by his parents/guardians. The child is dependent on the parents/guardians for everything like; shelter, clothing, food, money, education etc. but when the child comes of age and decides to leave the house of his parents/guardians in order to live on his/her own, that child becomes independent and is required to begin to provide for himself everything that was previously provided for him by his parents/guardians. The child now takes on full responsibility of taking care of himself and this is a good description of independence. Being able to provide for yourself, not being under the control of someone else, being able to make your own decisions without interference despite the consequences and being responsible for you and others. Never do for a child what he can do for himself. A dependent child is a demanding child… children become irresponsible only when we fail to give them opportunities to take on responsibility. Allow me to say Never do for a country what it can do for itself. A dependent country is a demanding country. Countries especially African countries become irresponsible and dependent only when developed countries fail to give them opportunities to take on responsibility and be independent. The problem with Africa today is that we do not only depend on foreign aid but we also demand this aid from developed countries.
Africa has been independent for a couple of decades now but we are still dependent on our past colonial masters. A people or a nation that considers itself independent should be able to produce independent goods and services and independent thought without interference. Independence means being capable of effectively defending yourself militarily, economically, socially and culturally. Africa still depends on its colonial masters for loans, bonds, aid etc. A people, a nation, a country that claims to be independent but depends on foreign aid or gifts can never develop.
Just like a child that has moved out of his parent’s/guardians home and proclaims to be independent but depends on his parent’s handouts, gifts and help to survive is a child that can never mature or rather develop. He has to be able to provide for himself without help. Most African countries today still depend on foreign countries for aid in a lot of sectors like medicine, food, conflict resolution and so many other areas. Yet we call ourselves independent when we import and cannot manufacture commodities as simple as toothpicks or razor blades.
If Africa is to develop and if Africa considers herself independent, we need to be able to survive on our own, we need to be able to provide for ourselves, we need to be able to function without foreign interference, we need to be able as Africans to find African solutions to our African problems, we need to stop depending on foreign aid or loans from developed countries which these countries in most cases use to control us.
We also need to begin to produce what we consume, consume what we produce and export what we produce in order for Africa to be independent and self-sustaining. Julius Nyerere once said, ‘’Independence cannot be real if a nation depends upon gifts.’’ We need to stop proudly proclaiming that we are dressed when it is clear that we are naked.
Despite everything that we went through and the manner in which we were mistreated by the white man we need to look forward and put the past behind us if we are to develop as Africa. As long as we keep holding on and looking back to the past, it will be difficult if not impossible to look forward and grab a hold of the future. We have no power to change the past but we poses all the power needed to change the future based on the decisions we make today for tomorrow. Jomo Kenyatta was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the countries first black head of government and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic, he once said, “Where there has been racial hatred, it must be ended. Where there has been tribal animosity, it will be finished. Let us not dwell upon the bitterness of the past. I would rather look to the future, to the good Kenya, not to the bad old days. If we can create this sense of national direction and Identity, we shall have gone a long way to solving our economic problems. I have no intention of retaliating or looking backwards. We are going to forget about the past and look forward to the future.”
What he said back then still applies even today. I know of people today who still hate the white man for what happened back in the day. But it is time we move forward, we have gained our political independence and now we need to look to the future and gain our economic independence. If our freedom fighters and forefathers who were present during that time and who suffered these injustices were able to forgive and move forward and decide to live in harmony and equality with the white man who are we not to follow in their footsteps and forgive and live in peace and harmony with the white man? Even our brothers and sisters that were shipped away as slaves to the west have the heart of forgiveness. I saw this from what Rev. Martin Luther King in his famous ‘I HAVE A DREAM’ speech that he made at the “March on Washington”. He said, “I say to you my friends, though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brother-hood…. I have a dream that my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character… I have a dream… one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
Allow me to also quote Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo who was a South African anti apartheid politician and revolutionary, he once said, “We have a vision of south Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity.”
I am also encouraged by the words of Nelson Mandela in his speech after being released from prison as he quoted himself during his trial in 1964. He said, “I have fought against white domination, I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
I believe one of the many beauties of Africa is that we are a loving and forgiving people. Despite our past we need to look forward and make a better future for the generations to come. We are independent from white rule and oppression and it is our responsibility to pick up the torch from where our forefathers left it and fight for our economic independence.
I would like to pose this question to you, are we really independent? If our Forefathers and those who died fighting for our political independence were to rise up today and see what Africa has become, if they could see what Africans have made of Africa would it be the Africa that they fought and died for? I am very sure they had a dream; they had a vision for Africa and that is why they fought for our independence, so they could see their dream come to pass. What would they be confronted with if they rose from the dead today?
Professor Lumumba is the former director of the Kenyan anti-corruption commission and a well-known speaker against corruption in Africa. One day, I came across one of his speeches titled “THE TRAGEDY OF AFRICA”. As I read his speech, I had a deep reflection on his words. It made me ask myself what type of Africa would our forefathers who died fighting for our independence be confronted with. It made me realize that as Africans we might be physically independent but we are still mentally colonized and economically enslaved and handicapped. We might be independent but our minds are independent of freedom. We are a people that depend on guided thought.
The speech reads;
“When I look at Africa, many questions come to mind. Many times I ask myself, what would happen if Mwalimu where to rise up and see what is happening? Many times I ask myself what would happen if Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba where to rise up, and see what is happening? Because what they would be confronted with, is an Africa where the Democratic Republic of Congo is unsettle. There is a war going on there that is not on the front pages of our newspapers because we don’t even control our newspapers and the media. As I speak to you the central Africa republic is at war but we talk of it only mutedly. As I speak to you now, in South Sudan, the youngest nation in Africa, the nuwere have risen against the Dinka. As I speak to you now, Eritrea is unsettle. As I speak to you now there is an ease in Egypt as there is an ease in Libya, in Niger it is no better, in Senegal in the kasamaz it is no better, in Somalia it is no better. Africa is at war with herself. This is what they would be confronted with. They would be confronted with an Africa which statisticians and romantic economists say is growing but which in truth is stagnated. That is the Africa that they would be confronted with. They would be confronted with an African which professor Mulama intimated in her presentation here is an Africa which is suffering from schizophrenia, she does not know herself. They would be confronted with an Africa whose young men and women have no interest and no love for their continent. They would be confronted with an Africa where young men and young women are constantly humiliated at the embassies of European countries and at the United States of America as they seek the almighty green card.
They would be confronted with an Africa where young men and women from Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Mauritania drown in the Mediterranean as they seek to be enslaved in Europe. This time round Africans are not wailing and kicking as they are being taken away to be enslaved, they are being seen wailing and kicking as they seek to be enslaved in Europe and America. This is the tragedy of Africa.
They would be confronted with an Africa where people have lost their self-pride, an Africa where Africans are not proud of their things, an Africa where in the hotels of Dare-Salam or Nairobi even food has foreign names, when we fry potatoes we call them French fries even when they are fried in Dare-Salam, that is the Africa that they would be confronted with. They would be confronted with another Africa, an Africa which does not tell her story, an Africa whose story is told by Europe and America, the CNN, ALJEZIRA and radio France, that is the Africa they would be confronted with. They would be confronted with young men and women who have no pride in Africa. When they want to enjoy themselves they sing the praises of football teams from Europe and America, it is Manchester United, it is Arsenal, it is Real Madrid and Barcelona
it is not Yanga not Mufulira Wanderers, Gor-mahia, not FC Leopards noooo….
That is the Africa that they would be confronted with. They would be confronted with an Africa which does not enjoy the theater and drama, that Africa celebrates Leonardo DiCaprio it celebrates Angelina Jolie and Brad Pit, that Africa does not celebrate Genevieve Naji of Nigeria or Rita Dominic or Olu Jacobs of Nigeria it does not celebrate Bongowood or Nollywood or Riverwood it celebrates Hollywood.
That is the Africa with which they would be confronted with. They would be confronted with African women whose greatest source of joy is cheap grade B Mexican soap operas like Lapatrona, lamuhere Dimivida the Rituals of Rai.
Why must we remind ourselves of these realities? Because throughout the ages the battle has always been the battle of the mind. If your mind is conquered then you are going nowhere, and that is why in the ages of enlightenment in Europe the great Renerde Kat said, ‘’cogito ergo sum’’ meaning I think therefore I am. And therefore if Africans have to begin to make a contribution in their affairs Africans must begin to think. But the question is; are we thinking?
We have Universities in their numbers. Tanzania has Universities including Daresalam, Nairobi has Universities as indeed Kampala as indeed South Africa in Johannesburg. We have all these Universities. We have engineers but our roads are not being made by Tanzanian civil engineers it is the Chinese who are present in this assembly who are making our roads. So we have engineers who cannot even make roads, we have doctors whom we have trained but when we are sick particularly if we are of the political class, depending on who colonized you, if you were colonized by the United Kingdom you rush to London, if you were colonized by the French you rush to Paris, if you were colonized by the Portuguese you rush to Lisbon and if you were colonized by the Spaniards you rush to Madrid Spain and recently because the Asians are beginning to get their act together we run to India and very lately because the Arabs are also beginning to get their act together we run to Dubai
not withstanding that we have the Kenyatta hospitals of this country the Himuimbilis of Tanzania the Chrishany paragwanaths of South Africa and the Mama Yemoz of Kinshasa in Zaïre or the Democratic Republic of Congo but we have no faith in our doctors.
In the area of education, we also don’t have faith. Our political class introduce something that they call free education but its free indeed free of knowledge. Because they are so suspicious of those institutions, that the typical African politician would not dare take their children to those schools, their children will be educated in the British system, in the American system so that when they graduate they go to the United Kingdom to the United States not that there is anything wrong with those institutions but the agenda is wrong because our leaders long lost the script and ought to be described for who they are, our mis-leaders. But we are co-authors of our own misfortune. Whenever we are given an opportunity to elect our leaders we are given a blank cheque and if you give me a blank cheque and you allow me to analogize and you say that I am given the blank cheque to buy a Mercedes Benz, what we do is that when we are called upon, having been so empowered, we buy what one calls a Tuktuk from India and expect it to behave like a Mercedes Benz. How does that happen? Because what we do is to elect thieves, we elect hyenas to take care of goats and when the goats are consumed we wonder why.”
Most, not all, but most Young African men and women today have no interest and love for their countries or for Africa. We are not proud to be Africans. You can see this from the clothes we wear which are 90% foreign, the way we talk, the movies we watch, the football teams we support, the music we listen to and so many other things. We are not proud of our Mother Africa. Some are not even proud to be called Africans. We behave like a child born in a poor family who always dreams and wishes to leave his home and be adopted by the rich family that lives across the street. Instead of working hard at school so that he can get an education and one day get his family out of poverty and bring development to his home, so that they also can live like the rich family across the street. This is not how the typical African thinks, and you wonder why Africa is still the least developed continent in the world. Most Africans flee to European countries, America, Australia in search of greener pasture instead of staying and watering the pasture in Africa for a better tomorrow. What they do not realize is that the greener pasture is right here in Africa and all we need to do is water it. While we run away to these places, people from China, Japan, America and so many other countries are running to Africa and investing in Africa, making a lot of money out of the Africa that we are forsaking.
They see wealth in Africa but we see poverty. We need to awaken and open our eyes. We need to think like the white man, we need to look at things the same way the white man looks at things. We need to reconfigure and reset our minds. If we continue thinking like this, it will be impossible to achieve what this article is talking about. A mindset reconfiguration is cardinal for the attainment of our economic liberation.
We have people who have studied from these developed countries and some opt to stay there and abandon Africa, others come back but do nothing to develop Africa. What is the point of going to study engineering if you cannot come back home and make a vehicle from scratch? What is the point of studying engineering in developed countries if we still have to hire Chinese engineers to construct our roads, our stadiums and buildings? We have people in our African countries that hold Degrees, Masters Degrees, Doctorates and PhDs yet our development still remains stagnant. You my dear reader, yes you… you may have one of these qualifications or may be thinking or aspiring to obtain one of these qualifications which is not wrong but my question to you is; why do you want to obtain any of these qualifications? What will it benefit your community or your country and Africa as a whole?
In colonial times Africans were taken against their own will to European countries and the United States and they were seen wailing and kicking as they were taken to be enslaved. But today that is not the case. Like Professor Lumumba said in his speech, “Africans are constantly humiliated at the embassies of European countries and at the United States of America as they seek the almighty green card.” They are taking themselves were their forefathers did not want to go. We may be physically independent but we are still mentally colonized. I certainly do agree with Professor Lumumba when he says; “If Africans have to begin to make a contribution in their affairs, Africans must begin to think. But the question is; are we thinking?”
We have the power and capacity to rise from the ashes like the phoenix. All we need is a change of mindset. We need to change our way of thinking. We need to not only change our way of thinking but also act upon what we think. We need to take charge and start building our own infrastructure, start constructing our own roads. It is not a fantasy but it can and will be a reality. Together Everyone Achieves More. This is the only way we can begin to fight for our economic independence. Back in colonial times, when African countries started gaining independence one by one, the African countries that got their independence first, would help the other African countries which had not yet gained independence. We need that type of unity in our homes first, in our communities, in our societies, in our countries and finally amongst African countries. We need to unite just like our forefathers did if we are to make Africa Great Again. Remember we are only as strong as we are united and as weak as we are divided. Kwame Nkrumah once said, “It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world.”
While we are still on the topic of unity amongst African countries, I am reminded of Kwame Nkrumah’s words in his book, titled ‘Dark Days In Ghana’, this was in 1966 on the 24th of February when Ghana experienced a coup d'état whilst President Nkrumah was away in China. What I am reminded of is the unity amongst the African countries that was shown during this tough time in Ghana. In his book he says, “Messages of encouragement and support continued to arrive from heads of state all over the world. Many African leaders offered me immediate hospitality. Among them were President Sekou Toure of Guinea, President Nasser of Egypt, President Nyerere of Tanzania and President Modibo Keita of Mali. I was very touched that they should declare their solidarity so quickly and with such generosity…”
Africa is like a sleeping Giant, and the only way she can awaken is by changing her mindset and choosing to wake up and unite as African countries, as one Great African Nation despite our diversity in skin color, religion, culture and tribe. Above all we need to be mentally and economically independent if we are to forge ahead as Africa.
In conclusion, Mother Africa is dressed but Naked or rather Africa thinks she is dressed but she is naked, implying that Mother Africa thinks she is independent but she is still dependent. We claim to be independent but we are not. Independence is like a coin. A coin is made up of two sides, heads and tails. In this case one side of this coin called independence is political freedom and the other side of the coin is economic freedom, together called independence. There is no coin without either of the sides. There is no coin without heads and there is no coin without tails but there is a coin with both heads and tails. Similarly, there is no independence without political freedom and there is no independence without economic freedom but there is independence with both political freedom and economic freedom. The job is half done. Our forefathers fought for our political freedom it is time we fought for our economic freedom for our independence to be complete.
Mother Africa! Dress UP!
