I have always struggled with one ritual at African Union summits. Leaders gather to discuss development, integration and prosperity, and sooner or later return to the familiar catalogue of colonial sins: borders drawn by Europeans, resources plundered, economies distorted and peoples exploited.
While the indictment is not without merit, there is something increasingly uncomfortable about generations of African leaders. Most of these are very old people who have spent decades in power, blaming a historical cause for problems they have had decades to address.
After these forced history lectures, I thought it’s high time we asked ourselves a different question: If Europe underdeveloped Africa, as Walter Rodney argued, how much have Africans themselves, or at least their purported “leaders,” contributed to keeping Africa underdeveloped?
In this first episode, walk with me on a brief, general tour of history vis-à-vis reality.
The Rodney account
Walter Rodney’s history masterpiece, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, published in 1972, remains one of the most influential accounts of Africa’s economic predicament. He argued that Africa’s underdevelopment was not accidental but was deeply connected to European expansion, exploitation and colonialism. He was right.
Colonialism was a profound historical setback. It disrupted political systems, reorganised economies around external interests and extracted African labour and resources. In some cases, colonial powers conducted mass murders and amputation punishments, critically depriving the continent of the productive workforce.
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Belgium’s King Leopold II, alone, is allegedly responsible for about 10 million lives in the modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo.
But beyond the amputations, massacres, theft and exploitation lies a necessary self-evaluation more than half a century after Rodney wrote his book. Colonialism explains how Africa was put behind, but it cannot indefinitely explain why Africa has remained behind. That is where our uncomfortable story begins.
The Black colonialist
I remember my grandmother so very well. She was never a Nyerere fan, and we never understood her. Every time something didn’t work, say, medicine, schools, or coffee prices, she would tell us how Mwingereza (The British Colonialists) used to do better!
Call it mental slavery, but granny was offering a brilliant comparative assessment of colonial and post-colonial government performance. And Nyerere lost the duel all the time!
She took her final bow in 1997, and when I look around, I still see the same disappointment she decried about then. It would have killed her either way, I guess! The bottom line is that political independence seems to have changed who occupied the colonial state, rather than how power was exercised.
In many countries, citizens who expected improvement found themselves confronting governments that could be distant, brutal and unaccountable. The colonial official disappeared; the African political elite took his place. The colour of the ruler changed, but too often the relationship between ruler and citizen did not.
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The tragedy of the black colonialist is that the state has ceased to be a public trust and has become more of a personal property. They don’t report to London, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon or Brussels like before, but they answer to no one at home either.
States have since become private entities where close relatives and loyalists are the ‘only’ qualified professionals. Public resources are distributed through patronage, and government contracts are treated as political currency.
To protect the gains, these local colonialists have also mastered the art of weakening state institutions. Forgive me, Walter, but this is not about colonialism, at least not in the way you studied and described it.
Corruption is yet another common indicator of our black colonialists. Six decades after independence, corruption has expanded from just being money to political connections and access to power, further isolating the common mwananchi.
As you read this article, Sub-Saharan Africa ranks as the world’s lowest-scoring region on the Corruption Perceptions Index, with corruption directly linked to weak institutions and inadequate political accountability.
We fought for sovereignty, but failed to build states in which the citizen can be sovereign.
Militarisation of the state
Militarisation of the State is another tragedy in postcolonial Africa. Between 1956 and 2001, a study by Patrick McGown recorded 80 successful coups, 108 failed attempts and 139 reported coup plots across 48 sub-Saharan African states.
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The study also found that military-led political instability harmed economic growth and human development. These stats don’t include the latest surge in the militarisation of the Sahel States. And there could be more to come.
But militarisation is way more than a political problem. It is a development problem. Whenever political power is settled through force rather than institutions, constitutionalism is weakened.
Citizens learn to fear the state rather than trust it, and political succession becomes a security question. While other countries plan for economic development, Africa diverts resources toward political survival. A clear sign of this is in the amount of resources invested in armed defence of sitting governments, especially in elections.
We have seen more deaths caused by elections across the continent than terrorist attacks. Africa cannot build democratic development while keeping democracy at the mercy of the barracks.
Currently, it’s very difficult to separate the state from government. The sight of an army chief warning a civilian against democratic demonstrations or an army General warning opposition candidates is becoming more common in Africa.
If you like homework, follow Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba on social media. See his statements on democracy, rule of law, opposition figures in Uganda and his appetite for action in defence of his father’s government.
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A country that fought colonialism, then survived dictatorship under General Idd Amin, certainly deserves better. Well, neighbours are not different either, but we will go deeper in the next pieces.
The history cover
My assessment here does not mean colonialism ceased to matter after independence. Nor does it absolve Europe of responsibility for the historical and contemporary structures that continue to affect Africa. However, there is a difference between recognising history and becoming imprisoned by it.
As bad as colonialism was, it can still be an explanation without becoming an excuse. After six decades of independence, African leaders must be willing to ask not only what Europe did to Africa, but what African governments have done with the sovereignty, resources and opportunities inherited from independence. Something to show for 60 years of self-rule.
Africa has had presidents, parliaments, constitutions. We have had universities, development plans, policies, regional organisations and a continental union. At some point, we must admit that the continent did not merely inherit underdevelopment; it has also reproduced it in vast numbers.
Rodney taught us to look outward, to understand how power and exploitation shaped Africa’s history. I am suggesting we try to look inward. This should not be seen as romanticisation of colonialism or defence of Europe, but an attempt to hold African leadership accountable for the choices they have made since independence – for once!
The greatest tribute to independence would be to build competent, accountable and prosperous states so that colonialism ceases to be a permanent explanation for why we failed.
Festo Mulinda is a political analyst and freelance columnist focusing on international relations and geopolitics. He can be reached at mulindafesto@gmail.com or on X as @fmulinda_III. The opinions expressed here are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Chanzo. If you are interested in publishing in this space, please contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
