An Open Letter To African Leaders

Your Excellences,
I bring you warm greetings from Ghana. As we celebrate African Union day, I cannot help but to pen down some issues bothering my mind for your consideration and implementation.

Africans are made to believe that we are independent whiles frankly speaking we are not. African Union as an organization do not have a say in the global economic management, political and social issues. We are only busy getting western countries and our former colonial masters richer, and impoverishing our own continent. If this trend continues, a developing continent like ours’ will never be second world continent nor first world continent.

Why does the West determine the price when they sell to Africa, and again determine the price when they buy from us? Why do the West provide free education and medical services to their people and demand that Africa, as part of loan conditionality in our respective countries, charge for education and medical services?

Africans are cheated to believe that we are all be equal in a global village, but denied to assume military strength of the same magnitude as that of the West and developed countries.

It is sacrilegious to develop nuclear arms as this is the sole prerogative of only the ‘Bigger’ countries. This is absolutely wrong, for there should be a new world order whose power is shared equitably by all. In the face of all these obstacles to economic progress on the continent, Africans migrating to the West, are treated worse than animals by our former colonizers.

With thousands of young African lives lost on the desert and on the shores of Europe, the West still pontificates human rights to us. Such hypocrisy must stop! African leaders must be original in their policy fundamentals and thread the paths that serve the interest of their people rather than trying to please their former colonial masters.

We become enemies to ourselves and by so doing, deter Africa from attaining prosperity and progress. It is time to put our money where our mouth is, otherwise, we will remain as we are now; helpless, hopeless, sick, hungry, and starving beggars at the mercy of the West and foreign NGOs. African leaders must honestly come together and liberate Africa, and come with comprehensive strategies to save our continent from sinking. Our leaders should muster the courage to say enough is enough to our oppressors and chart independent ways for the advancement of a rising continent, whose resources will be used for the benefit of her people.

Corruption, a canker, which contributes greatly to our downfall, on the part of our leaders must stop! Corruption is a major factor that has impoverished our own people. The ‘creating, looting and sharing’ by our leaders must stop. Until we all come together with a common agenda to make Africa great and strong, not only through long speeches, but through our actions, the organization we are celebrating this day is USELESS! A word to the wise is always enough.

Yours sincerely,
Douglas Peters.
(A passionate African and a trainee teacher from Ghana).

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