adminbrother or sister.
At that time, I care less about which specific African country he might have come from. I do not really care about his religion or his ethnic background. I do not care whether he belongs to a political party or not. I care less whether he’s a Muslim or a Christian. At that moment, all I see and feel proud of is my African brother/sister who shares my common identity. I shake hands and hug my African brother/sister with pride. Whenever Africans come together, it is a moment of joy and excitement.
For instance, during international sports competitions, the entire African people tend to rally behind any African team/country that is able to make it to the final stage against teams from other continents. I remember during the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa, when Ghana was left to carry Africa on her shoulders; the entire African continent came together in harmony.
From where came all these divisions?
Divide and conquer has always been the strategy the colonial masters often used to destroy a people. Imagine how lovely and wonderful this world would be if the north, south, east and west were to live together in harmony. The world knows that it will be wonderful for a people to live together in harmony, yet why can’t it be so? Across the world, Africans are facing challenges in areas of racism and its discrimination.
Yet today, thanks to the lack of foresight from many of our leaders, Africa, a people who ought to be the most formidable force in the world, has been broken into pieces. Africans are fighting among themselves, killing their own brothers and sisters all in a bid to please the colonial master. The colonial masters have succeeded in dividing the people into so-called “economic regions and countries”. Yet, within our own regions and countries, we’re still not free: we are fighting for individual interests. Our people have been divided along political lines, ethnic and tribal groupings.
Many of us are still struggling under the yolk of religious differences. Little regard is given to the fact that we are not different people, irrespective of our religious and political beliefs. But we have believed the enemy more than ourselves. With this, Lucky Dube, the reggae legend who was eliminated by the usual mafia, shared his sentiments. Quoting Bob Marley, he said:
“Bob Marley said how long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look? But little did he know that eventually, the enemy will stand aside and look, while we kill and slaughter our own brothers.”
While colonialists suppressed, beat and killed the African people during the colonial era, sadly, in today’s Africa, neo-colonialism has made it possible for Africans to kill themselves and suppress their own freedoms.
Why must the African people allow certain minor issues such as religion and political parties to make them kill themselves? Does it really make sense for Ghanaians, Nigerians and Kenyans to be fighting and killing their brothers and sisters because of politics or religion; forgetting that we are all one people with a common destiny?
It is very sad that our African identity has been erased from our minds and our thoughts, to the point where instead of us coming together to solve our problems, we’re rather busying ourselves with how we can suppress one another for selfish gains. What happened to the spirit of living in a universal brotherhood? Where did we go wrong?
Many African leaders today are secretly busying themselves with how they can suppress the growth of their neighbouring African countries. Others are secretly funding and collaborating with various terror groups in their attempt to sow chaos in other countries.
It is a big shame to our current African leaders that after all these years of drumming into our ears, unity after unity, Africa still remains more divided than ever. At a time when we cheerfully welcome many of our Asian and European brothers into our countries; we shamelessly intimidate our own brothers and restrict their freedoms on their own motherland.
Honourable Saka is a Pan-African analyst and the founder of the Project Pan-Africa (PPA).
Online Reporter