A People Without History Are Always Easy Prey For Manipulators – Africans Think!
I recently came across a fabulous draft by an astute Ghanaian Business
Facilitator named Baba Seidu Abdul Rahman online, and I couldn’t help but smile because the Economics, History, and Policy Consultant reverberated a fundamental truth I have also been trying to teach many people worldwide for decades.
I have often said that people who do not know the truth about their history, heritage, and culture do not know where they’re coming from; hence they cannot understand what and where they’re supposed to head as a people and race. These are almost irredeemably lost, and this lack of touch with their ancestral history and heritage will make them easy prey to be manipulated, misguided, and misled by anyone strong enough to exert any power and influence over them.
Reading Baba Seidu’s apt, humorous-yet-deeply truthful depiction of what the African continent would look like if all the countries were to live as an extended family, I couldn’t help but remember this sad truth, and I shook my head even as I smiled while reading through. He said:
“If Africa were an extended family, it could be described as follows:
The Chaotic Relatives: Uganda🇺🇬, Congo🇨🇩, and South Sudan🇸🇸, are always wrapped up in some sort of drama. They never fail to be the topic of family gossip. On top of the chaos, Uganda is also a known drunkard.
The Pompous Relatives: Kenya🇰🇪 believes they know it all. They bully the rest of the family members and will shout until you declare them the winners of any argument. They are also drunkards like Uganda.
The Peaceful Relatives: Tanzania🇹🇿, Zambia🇿🇲, Malawi🇲🇼, Botswana🇧🇼, Gambia🇬🇲, Eswatini🇸🇿, Sierra Leone🇸🇱, and Namibia🇳🇦 are soft-spoken and laid back. They are generally sweet to other family members.
The Disciplined Relatives: Rwanda🇷🇼. They are strict and follow rules to the dot. They will not allow any family member to do otherwise in their presence or disrespect them.
The Loud Relatives: Ghana🇬🇭 and Nigeria🇳🇬. They go all out on whatever they set out to do, good or bad. They were born loud and proud. You will know every little milestone and achievement in their lives whether you have ears or not. They adore each other but act otherwise in public.
The Rich Relatives: South Africa🇿🇦. They live in a mansion and never miss an opportunity to flaunt their wealth. Their kids are gifted dancers and singers. Sometimes, other relatives send their children to work for them.
The Distant Relatives: Madagascar🇲🇬, Seychelles🇸🇨, Mauritius🇲🇺, Mauritania🇲🇷, Comoros🇰🇲, Cape Verde🇨🇻, Sao Tome and Principe🇸🇹. They live outside the family compound and never attend family events or respond to WhatsApp messages in the family group.
The Private Relatives: Chad🇹🇩, Djibouti🇩🇯, Niger🇳🇪, Mali🇲🇱, Benin🇧🇯, Guinea-Bissau🇬🇼, Equatorial Guinea🇬🇶, Guinea🇬🇳, Liberia🇱🇷, and Lesotho🇱🇸. They keep their affairs private. They live by one rule: date in private, propose in private, marry in private, and divorce in private. All their power moves are made in silence. They hardly feature in any family gossip.
The Two-Faced Relatives: Egypt🇪🇬, Morocco🇲🇦, Algeria🇩🇿, Tunisia🇹🇳, Libya🇱🇾, Sudan🇸🇩. They don’t want to be associated with the family. They attend family meetings and events, but they also willingly denounce family ties at any given opportunity.
The Abroad Relatives: Senegal🇸🇳, Burkina Faso🇧🇫, Mozambique🇲🇿, Angola🇦🇴, Cameroon🇨🇲, Togo🇹🇬, Gabon🇬🇦, Central African Republic🇨🇬, and Ivory Coast🇨🇮. They speak with an accent and prefer to deal with each other since other family members can’t relate to their abroad lifestyle.
The Struggling Relatives: Zimbabwe🇿🇼. They would be well off, but life has beaten them to a pulp. Things just don’t seem to be working out for them at the moment, however hard they try.”
No matter how hard anyone from these countries tries to argue, deny, or dispute these descriptions ascribed to each of them, any neutral observer with any knowledge of the continent would only look at such and laugh even more. Baba Seidu’s words cannot be more accurate, yet my focus and aim are not to criticize and point fingers at any – as I am sure he also doesn’t intend with this piece, too.
The aim of this analogy is simple: Africa, we are better and incredibly stronger when we leave unnecessary squabblings and bickering, cut out the hate and internal segregations, and unite as one family! There are no known limits to what we can achieve as a continent and as individual nations if only we can all do this.
For centuries our continent has been pillaged and stripped of its glory and resources. Still, it is even more painful to see that many nations in Africa today have almost lost their ancestral and cultural heritages entirely, even as they’ve become lost in those of their colonial masters and slave drivers.
We are a glorious continent with limitless power, resources, and abundance, and there is no end to what we can achieve if only we can all accept and embrace this reality.
Remember that no house divided against itself can ever stand, hence the prevailing deplorable state of many African countries when we are all supposed to be affluent, developed nations.
Africans, think!
Remain richly blessed always.
Prof. Mgbeke loves you all ❤️
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https://mgbeke.com/product-category/mgbeke-publishing-book-shop/
