I’m sitting in a café with a bright and insightful young person, discussing the challenges facing today’s youth—work, inequality, climate change, attitudes and limited access to resources.
Amidst this conversation, they also open up about their dreams and aspirations. I share some of my own reflections, and soon, the dialogue shifts to the pressing question, “How did we get here?” With a thoughtful pause, the youth suggests a more empowering approach: “Perhaps the better question is, how do we get out of here?”
To address this question, we must take a step back in time. Instantly, the words of Prof P.L.O Lumumba come to mind: “The impact of American, European, Russian, and Chinese interference is a raw wound; it’s not something that’s in the past; it’s something that is happening as we speak…”
The scars of Africa’s encounter with our global partners are not merely etched on the pages of history books; they still follow the continent’s present, leaving an indelible mark on its identity, economy, and society. But should we continue in this lamentation? It’s worth asking: Is this historical trauma still devastating Africa, or have we simply learnt to live with the pain, like a man limping from an unhealed wound?
This interaction, way back, when the first European ships docked on African shores, brought promises of trade and civilisation but unleashed a torrent of disruption. Chinua Achebe, our Nigerian author, captured this rupture in Things Fall Apart: “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has put a knife on the things that held us together, and we have fallen apart.”
This “knife” is now showing in systemic challenges: economic dependency, weak institutions, corruption, the haemorrhage of African resources, and an identity crisis. Africa was carved up like a farmer slicing a ripe mango, with no regard for the tribes, languages, or traditions. Today, we are fractured into camps of pro and anti, much like grasshoppers devouring one another in a confined bottle.
The puzzle of Kwame Nkrumah is still true: “Africa is a paradox that illustrates and highlights neocolonialism.” Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich not Africans, but those who exploit her labour and resources.”
This is the economic model we adopted—capitalism, a devastating monster that puts a price on everything as it seeks profit, ravaging the hopes of so many.
The trauma lingers in everyday life. Imagine a farmer in Nyamiyaga, Uganda, who tills their fertile land, rich with coffee and cattle, but earns pennies while multinational corporations profit. Then they threaten to quit, then job cuts, etc. Our encounter may have begun centuries ago, but its ripple effects drown countless livelihoods today.
Meanwhile, in the café, we were enjoying some foreign cuisines. We quickly discussed how this encounter also unleashed a cultural identity crisis; education systems, languages, and religions that uprooted indigenous knowledge and belief systems. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, our Kenyan neighbour, argued that colonisation was not just about territories but also about “the colonisation of the mind.” This has created the attitudes.
We can discuss their leagues more than we know who lined up for Uganda against South Africa. The youth engaged me in very topical issues, and I quickly asked them, “Are there many like you to get us out of here?” They replied, “Yes. It requires patience and a leopard’s strategy. Working within.”
Now, despite these challenges, Africa should not simply be a victim chained to its past. We are a continent bursting with resilience, innovation, and hope. As we beamed with hope in our conversation, we later agreed that, however, our progress is still thwarted by new forms of colonialism—economic imperialism, exploitative loans—even from our own lenders, despite the policies on interest rate capping, and the subtle dominance of global narratives.
The question lingers: has Africa truly broken free, or has the master simply changed his coat?
The youth are the torchbearers of this revolution, like the one in front of me discussing issues in Nigeria and their partnership with a Kenyan organisation. The youth are writing poetry in Yoruba, designing software in Kiswahili, and pushing back against stereotypes on global stages. It is as if Africa is reawakening, like a lion shaking off the dust of slumber, ready to roar once more.
The trauma left behind cannot be denied. It is etched in borders that divide, economies that exploit, and minds that wrestle with dual identities. But Africa is not a continent defined by victimhood; it is a continent of warriors, dreamers, and builders. Let us borrow the words of our Mwalimu Julius Nyerere: “The African continent is not the giant of tomorrow. It is the giant of today.”
While history can shape us, it does not have to define us. Let us stand, not as people who have fallen apart, but as people putting the pieces back together—stronger, wiser, and determined to claim the future that Africa deserves. Our conversation paused, keeping us hopeful and optimistic about Africa’s future!
The author is a concerned citizen.
after more than 60 years since the colonial left after staying for 60 years half of it trying to find how the can make it, Ugandans fight tooth and nail to keep their dealing Uganda.
When they check all national coffers are dry, the start talking about the wound of colonialism. You can’t tell which sector you are happy with, however they keep demonstrating their mighty with guns regardless of the lacking essential social needs. The fact is, blacks we have done more damage to our communities than what really the colonizers did.
Indeed it is a never ending devastating trauma of the African peoples. But then when one watches the First and Second World wars such countries that suffered greatly from such brutal conflicts are actually getting on these days after that devastating misery of 70 years ago.
Over 30 million humans suddenly died in only a few years. Look at Japan with its imperial ambitions and two nuclear bombs dropped on their heavily bombed territories by airplanes. God knows how it gradually survived through such trauma.
Now that much of Africa has passed out from imperialism or colonialism of over 500 years, and now being organised and run by African people and governed by African leaders, it is only God who might just help the African people to recover from such phenomenal devastation for now many years and counting!