My People Africans, What Happened To Us?

About seven years ago, I wrote an article that was published by the then Campus Newspaper of the University of Cape Coast. The article was titled, ‘God is not proud of Africans.’ In that article, I articulated how Africans have failed to follow the divine high call to exercise dominion over the world. I expressed how Africans, though blessed abundantly with potential resources, are the poorest in the world. In Africa, Bob Marley is right, “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty.”

I have never ceased to wonder why we Africans continue to behave the way we do. In their justification of slavery and later colonialism, the Europeans and Arabs projected Africans as sub-human beings. In the logic of social evolution, Africans were pegged at the base of the racial hierarchy. Africans were robbed of their contributions to world civilization, however difficult such an expression is.

In response, Africans and people of African descent, such as Cheikh Anta Diop, George James, and W.E.B. DuBois, have written copiously to show that Africans did not only contribute to civilization, but Africa was the best place for the emergence of all forms of human ingenuity. Another scholar, Martin Bernal, a non-African, in his book, The Black Athena has demonstrated how several sources intersect and converge to prove that Africans gave the world its knowledge in science, mathematics, philosophy, agriculture, engineering, and architecture. Mary Lefkowitz has provided a scathing critique of Martin Bernal. She argues that Greeks, who are believed to have provided the foundation for European civilization, never borrowed from Africa, particularly ancient Egypt, as argued by Martin Bernal.

In recent scholarship, Molefi Kete Asante, who popularized Afrocentrism, has written amply to celebrate Africa’s blazing the trail in human history. Other scholars, such as John Henrik Clarke, have even argued that the notion of monotheism, which is the foundation and fulcrum of the so-called Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, could be traced to ancient Egypt. The centrality of Egypt in the narrative on African civilisation has prompted some scholars to develop the notion of Egyptian exceptionalism.

The invocation of ancient Egypt as the birthplace of world civilization, and the concern on the part of some Eurocentric writers to deny Africans of any contributions to civilization has resulted in the popularization of what is known in scholarship as the Hamitic Hypothesis. The Hamitic Hypothesis attributes anything of worth in Africa to have been engineered by foreigners. Consequently, using the Hamitic Hypothesis, some scholars have dismissed ancient Egyptian civilization as the brainchild of Africans.

Others who are also interested in claiming that civilization did not spring from Africa have questioned Egyptian origin of civilization. They have interrogated the perceived non-transferability of ancient Egyptian civilization to other parts of Africa. The question that is asked, especially by Yaacov Shavit, to this effect is that: “If Egypt was the foundational home of world civilization, why didn’t other African states experience the lustre and glory of ancient Egypt? Afrocentric scholars have responded to this question by making reference to other late civilizations in Africa such as the Great Monomotapa and the Western Sudanese Empires. And very recent ones such as the Asante Empire, Buganda Empire etc have been mentioned to explain the widespread nature of African civilization.

All the minuses and pluses considered, I still would want to ask the question about what has happened to Africans. During the slave trade and colonialism, Africans suffered much humiliation: their dignity was thrown to the pigs. There was a mental transmogrification of Africans from humanity to the level of animals. Africans, of course, with the support of fellows Africans, were bundled and sold into slavery as chattels. While slavery predated Arabs and Europeans in Africa, the type of slavery that was introduced by the Arabs and Europeans was overwhelmingly dehumanizing. Akosua Adoma Perbi, a don of history at the University of Ghana, has documented explicitly the nature of premodern slavery in Ghana.

While premodern slavery in Africa did not dehumanize the slave, the type of slavery introduced by the Arabs and Europeans undermined completely the humanity of the African. The Arabs were, perhaps very brutish. They castrated African slaves that they both captured and bought. And that, according to John Azumah, who has documented the legacy of Arab-Islam on Africa, explains why there are less Africans in the Arab world compared to Europe and America. But common to both Europeans and the Arabs who traded in Africans is the fact that both groups de-culturalised the African and deepened the social Darwinist theory that Africans are a little above beasts of burden.

As if the humiliation of the enslavement of Africans was not enough, just after the Europeans had reluctantly abandoned slavery, the Arabs continued with slavery to the extent that it was only in the 1960s that some Arab countries abolished slavery. The end of slavery paved way for what was called legitimate trade. Here, the robustness of the industrial revolution marked new demands – raw materials and market for finished product. Europeans decided to keep Africans on the continent to work to produce raw materials to feed nascent industries in Europe, and to also consume the surplus of what was produced in Europe. This marked the beginning of what Ali A. Mazrui refers to as, ‘Africans consuming what they don’t produce, and producing what they don’t consume.’

Again, colonialism did not die: it metamorphosed into what Nkrumah and Nyerere have called neo-colonialism. Neocolonialism is said to be more dangerous than colonialism, because it is subtle, but real in manipulating Africans. It is a diplomatic way of plunging the resources of Africa.

The challenge of slavery and colonialism did not end the status of Africans as the whipping boys of other races. Recently, we have had some expatriates maltreating Ghanaians, and it appears Ghanaians have lost the sense of their dignity and energy in protecting their humanity. My late dad used to tell me that in the early days of Nkrumah’s regime, Ghanaians could not be tampered with anywhere in the world. Those were the days when Ghanaians walked with their heads up. But alas, what happened to our balls? Foreigners have had the temerity to maltreat Ghanaians in their (Ghanaians) own homeland. If you dare complain, you are said to be either a xenophobic or racist. It is politically incorrect to voice against injustice especially injustice that involve foreigners. Foreigners have been emboldened by the challenges the continent of Africa is facing to treat Africans like apes, the so-called grandparents of humanity.

Africans have also not been able to extricate themselves from the chains and apron strings of the colonialists. Our inability to restructure the education system that we inherited from the colonisers to suit our daily needs as a people is emblematic of how we have failed ourselves. Yesterday, on BBC, it was reported that the Liberian government is thinking of liberalizing and privatizing the education system. As I listened to the news, the question I asked myself was: Has privatization, since it was heralded by the Bretton Woods institutions in the form of Structural Adjustment Programmes in the 1980s, ever inured to the best interest of Third World countries?

At the opening of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, in October 1963, Nkrumah was clear: our education system should reflect the cultural and historical background of Africans. Our education system should cohere with our aspirations as a people. Our education system should be connected to the lived-experiences of Ghanaians. In connecting what happens in the ivory tower to the society, Nkrumah said, “The GOWN must come to Town.” As I write, I ask myself whether the gown has indeed gone to town. Most of our academics today are so arrogant that they think they are better because of their western education than others who have not had western education. They are so egoistic, arrogant and pompous that they would not want to even speak their native language with their children! As I write, I am reminded of Okot p’Bitek’s, ‘Song of Lawino.’

The western education we receive often de-culturalises us. Just after I had finished my first degree, I decided to visit my paternal uncle in Takoradi. When he heard I was visiting, he was so happy, because he thought I was an academic genius, since I had had an impressive class. Little did I know that he was going to test the level of knowledge about myself. Of course, I had learnt so much about Americans, Europeans, and very little about Africans, especially Akan people of Ghana. Though an Akan, I had not learned anything about the Akan people, especially their culture. I had read briefly in my history class about the historicity of the Akan. But in terms of cultural norms and ethos, I was very illiterate.

My uncle, who had basic western education, put my brain to test. He engaged me: “Kofi, I am happy you have graduated from the university. I am happy to see you, because I am told you have discovered the magic of the Whiteman’s language and knowledge. But Kofi, please tell me, what is the name of your clan?” I was quick to answer: Bretuo. He responded: “Good.” What is your appellation? Hmmm, I started scratching my hair as if a bee had stung me. He saw how I was sweating, and said, “Ok, enough.” “Now, tell me, what is the meaning of your name, ‘Charles?’ I was quick to answer: “Strong, bold, courageous etc.” He said to me, “Good.” Now, tell me what is the socio-religious significance of your names: Kofi, Nomafo, and Prempeh?” I was found wanting. I could not give any answer. Right away, he told me, “Kofi, I think you need to come home for another degree from me.”

I was embarrassed and walked away. I cursed my teachers for not teaching me my traditions, and blamed my parents for not bringing me up in the village, where I could have sucked from the breast of my grandmother [abrewa], who is deeply respected for her superb knowledge. Among the Akan, for example, when epistemological conjunctures come to a crossroad, it is the abrewa, who is consulted.

As I write, I am aware of the debates over the medium of instruction in our schools. It is as if we don’t know that children learn their L2 well and with ease if they specialized in their L1. I have a challenge with the L1 language policy in our country. About four years ago, I used to provide teaching assistance at the Kanda Estate ‘2’ Primary School, Accra. And I noticed that the children were compelled to learn to write and speak Ga. I was concerned and worried, because I saw the exercise as very fruitless: fruitless in the sense that most of the pupils come from communities, Maamobi Ruga, Four Four One, and Nima etc, where Hausa is the lingua franca. Why won’t the government encourage the pupils from these communities to learn Hausa and master the language both in written and speech instead of Ga, which is linguistically very far from them?

I proposed that Hausa should be taught to these pupils, because, while Hausa is not originally a Ghanaian language, the language is widely spoken in virtually all Zongo communities in Ghana. The language has economic and religious significance. There is a market in Nima (Kasoa Lariba), also known as ECOWAS market, because on Wednesday, which is the market day, the market attract traders from other West African countries, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Benin. And when most of these traders meet, it is the Hausa language that serves as the medium of instruction. It is the Hausa language that binds these traders from different countries in the West African region. Hausa is also important religiously. It is one language that most Muslim clerics use to spread the Islamic faith. As a Zongo young man, I know of some Muslim clerics who purposely travel to Northern Nigeria and Niger to better their proficiency in Hausa.

Hausa is the Kiswahili of West Africa. It is one language that is spoken in several West African countries. During the colonial period in Gold Coast, now Ghana, the colonialists deliberately encouraged the speaking of Hausa among the lower rank members of the police and later the army. These lower rank officers were recruited from the Savanna regions, extending from today’s Northern Ghana to Nigeria. I never learnt Hausa in school, but I speak the Ghanaian variety of Hausa with great competence. Meanwhile, I learned Ga in school from primary to junior high school, and yet I still cannot speak Ga. This is because, I don’t live in the Ga language community. I suggest we think through the language policy again, and make it possible for Zongo children to study Hausa language in communities like Maamobi and Nima. There is now a radio station, Maraba FM, which runs programmes in Hausa. I think that if we encourage the study of Hausa, we would benefit in twofold: one, we would be able to connect with other West Africans, and two, those who study the language could be employed to teach and also work with social medias in the country.

Africans should be encouraged to brace themselves to undo the colonial legacy of underdevelopment, characterized by widespread poverty, poor squalid conditions, illiteracy, diseases, and political instability. Africans should also end the mis-education of their children. Our education system should be about ourselves, even as we learn about others. This is imperative because until we know ourselves, we cannot make any headway. As I conclude, I want to challenge all of us to see the continent as having a prospect to emerge as a giant. We must change the narrative that places us at the base of the social hierarchy.

Satyagraha!!
Charles Prempeh ( [email protected] ), Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, Uganda