Page 158 - Volume 1_Go home mzungu Go Home_merged with links

Decades of post-colonial chaos

"Veni, Vidi, Vici, numquam reliquit - ego adduxit inimici mei !"

“Those who would judge us merely by the heights we have achieved would do well to

remember the depths from which we started.”

Kwame Nkrumah 147
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There is a perception common amongst many m'zuŋ u that Africans need the m'zuŋ u.
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That Africans depend on the m'zuŋ u. This is a racist misconception. Much of that
misconception can reasonably be linked to the many crises, both humanitarian and civil
strife, African states experienced during the 2nd half of the 20th century. The reality is that
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the causes of those decades of chaos lie much more squarely with the 'zuŋ u than
many would like to believe.

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Africa at "Independence,"

“ By breaking up Africa into economic and commercial compartments the colonial
powers did their greatest harm. The effect of their policy has been the economic

isolation of peoples who live side by side, in some flagrant instances within a few miles
of each other, while directing the flow of resources to the metropolitan countries. For

example, although I can call Paris from my office telephone here in Lomé, I cannot place
a call to Lagos in West Africa only 250 miles away. Again, while it takes a short time to
send an airmail letter to Paris, it takes several days for the same letter to reach Accra, a

mere 120 miles away. Other problems are more serious.

Trade is the most effective method of creating good will among nations, but in Africa
trade barriers are legion. Railroads rarely connect at international boundaries, and where

they do, differences in gauges necessitate transloading. Highways have been
constructed from the coast inland, but very few connect at economic centers of trade.

The productive central regions of Togo, Dahomey and Ghana are as remote from each
other as if they were on separate continents. These are the problems which we must
tackle first. Then we will be on the way to true African Unity."

"African Problems and the Cold War," 148
Sylvanus E. Olympio, Foreign Affairs (October 1961)
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