Africa unite, know yourself, refocus, re-strategise, rebrand, reposition for destiny

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OPINION

By Patrick Katagata Jr

From the onset, suffice it that I express my profound appreciation to two of Africa’s gallant sons—their Excellencies, Presidents Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, and William Ruto of Kenya, for their demonstrable Pan-African stances regarding the Indian Ocean, and political federation of the East African region!

Wisdom—whether in business, revolutions, politics and governance, unless instantly bestowed as it were by God to King Solomon, is refined by experience and exposure. Like stained money, elders’ utterances may seem outdated to youngsters, but the intrinsic wisdom thereof consists in their long lives and uncommon exploits naïve naysayers can only dream of!

In the passing two weeks both mainstream and social media has been awash with scathing agitations loathing a statement Uganda’s President, Gen. Yoweri Museveni, made about the necessity of building regional synergies both as counter defence strategies against external aggression, and for socio-economic transformation, which for far too long, remain his unappreciated visionary cries for the East African region—and, by extension!

To the naysayers, this is not only absurd, but it also points to the crippling inability or refusal to envision the destiny of Africa and the strategic direction and safeguards to its attainment. Africans, do we really know who we are—and our God-given destiny?

Do we know what surplus veritable transformation resource potential we still command, even after outrageous exploitation by foreigners? Do we know that our vast resources, ironically, are the worst sources of our insecurity and ridicule? Do we not know why countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and oil-rich nations grapple with unending strife? Do we not know that, save for imaginary divisive colonial borderlines, such resources—including massive water bodies, are shared between nations, and remain significant to regional member states of the rest of the continent?

Whoever wants to control another begins first with understanding how their mind works, to control it. This, exactly, is what colonialists and successive exploiters of Africa mastered! They made Africans believe that our continent is smaller than its actual landmass. Africa, approximated at 30,370,000 sq.km, can comfortably contain the entire land area of the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico, and most of Europe, and remain with surplus space! This is not fiction, but reality.

Africa is the second largest continent, after Asia, both by landmass size and demographics. As of today, Africa’s population is estimated at over 1.56 billion people, translating into approximately 18.83% of the total world population! Therefore, with strategic unification, internal capacity building, meaningful resource exploration and utilisation, inter-alia, there is no limit to what Africa can do or be, except by myopic socio-economic and political antagonism, laziness, and self-centeredness!

Certainly, all is not rosy. Led by humans, errors occur, but with a unified consciousness of our God-given destiny and how to attain it, no leader in whichever country can overpower the rest of the region/continent. If we invoke Prof. John S. Mbiti’s philosophy of African solidarity, “I am because we are; and since we are, therefore, I am”, we should, internally, ably rise together against and thwart dictatorial leadership. Why should any country endure cruel despotism, genocide, or external aggression, and the rest simply look on under the shallow-mindedness of colonial borderlines, or even alien diplomatic considerations?

In 1979, Tanzania, under deceased President Julius Nyerere, helped Uganda get rid of President Idi Amin’s dictatorship, but when successive regional leaders make similar attempts, self-seeking political antagonists, aided by contemptuous foreign meddlers in African internal affairs, label them war-mongers! Really?! Did we like the atrocious murder of Libyan President, Col Muammar Gaddafi? Had we been strategically united, could we not have fortified and saved Libya from the ravages currently witnessed? Is calling for African unity, self-knowledge, resources refocusing, re-strategising, rebranding, and repositioning to salvage her God-given destiny redundant?!

The writer is the Former Buhweju County MP Aspirant, Founding Advocate - African Potential Forum, patkatagata@gmail.com / 0782680492