Page 200 - Afrika Must Unite

NEO-COLONIALISM IN AFRICA
affairs, while actually conniving with the colonial powers to
mislead the efforts at m utual African assistance and unity. The
perfidy of these artifices cannot be too strongly denounced for
their fatal implications in the betrayal of African freedom. They
bring in question the patriotism of the leaders employing them
and give rise to suspicions of their sincerity and honesty. If they
had had to fight a stern battle for their independence, they
might have valued it more.
A point in our history has been reached where Africa’s interests
must be the prime concern of Africa’s leaders. The safety and
progress of every one of our states can be safeguarded only by
the acceptance of this precept, which can best be promoted by
our unalloyed unity. This means that where associations linking
African countries with European powers cut across basic African
interests at any level and offer impediments to the goal of union,
they must be discarded, and rejected where they are offered. In
all relations with the world overseas, the key consideration must
be not merely the superficial or even intrinsic advantage of
such relationships for the given African country but the obliga­
tion to the African continent as a whole. However much we may
protest our loyalty to the cause of African freedom and our
united destiny, our affirmations will be without value unless we
accept this approach as the cardinal guide to our actions.
States emerging from the tutelage of other colonial powers
have not always understood G hana’s attachm ent to the Com­
monwealth and the sterling area. T hat is because the loose, ad
hoc nature of the structure is not correctly comprehended by
those who have been or are members of a more formal associa­
tion. It is difficult for those not accustomed to a free connection
with Europe to appreciate that the Commonwealth is an associ­
ation of sovereign states, each of which is free from interference
from the others, including the United Kingdom. Each decides
for itself its own foreign and domestic policies and the pattern of
its government, as provided in the Westminster Statute of 1931,
which laid down th a t: ‘Dominions are autonomous communities
within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate
to one another in their domestic or external affairs though
united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely asso­
ciated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.’