“Detty December” should also be a Season of Reflection on Africa's Past, Present and Future

December festivities in Ghana have become known worldwide as Detty December. This season brings in droves of tourists especially the Black diaspora and has become a needed source of revenue for the country especially in respect to forex. This year has been another tough year for Ghana's cedi as well as other African currencies.

Well this should be expected when we make our nations damping grounds of surplus commodities from Western markets. We remain import dependent burdening our local currencies. These commodities compete with our local produce and enjoy unfair advantages in terms of pricing eventually kicking them out of market, in turn making those Western nations richer. Thereby crippling our manufacturing and agricultural sectors. This is one of the reasons why farmers in rural communities choose not to farm anymore because it is no longer profitable. They will prefer giving up their land and engage in galamsey (illegal small-scale mining) which has far reaching consequences for the nation and planet. The main problem driving galamsey in these communities is unemployment. They claim they are aware of the dangers but have no other means of survival. It is the responsibility of the state to create an enabling environment for jobs for its people and it is clearly failing at that.

Our arable farmlands, forest reserves and waterbodies are being destroyed because we do not value ourselves as a people. If we did we would prioritise our people’s livelihoods over trade and investment policies that favour other countries at their expense and in the long run affect our national development. Reminiscent of slavery and colonial era dealings that only favoured those colonial masters. It is important to look back and reflect so we can better understand our story, how we got here and still here. Do we even know African nations were prosperous in the past? Do we know our nations of old were weakened in the first place by fully embracing European commodities which affected local capacity to a great extent. Everything has to be measured or one risks falling in a cycle of dependence- poverty and slavery. I think this calls for much deliberation. How much influence does the past have on the present?

African countries since independence have confronted great trade imbalance largely due to cheap raw materials they primarily export as opposed to the high cost incurred for the import of industrial products from Western economies. These trade deficits lead to incessant borrowing from international financial markets which come with high interest rates that are not sustainable. It is not surprising to see African countries stuck in the cycle of going back to the IMF for relief. It is important to note that this model of relying on imports and focusing on production of needed raw materials for exports has been the classical framework for slave/colonial states of past times.

The continent of Africa experienced 400 years of slavery and about 100 years of colonialism which makes half a millennium of direct exploitation. It has been robbed of so much that would be hard to quantify even in monetary terms.

We need to reflect on our past, it is the only way we can put things into proper perspective and begin to tackle issues from the root. Detty December should not only be about fun, we must try to connect with the motherland and build bridges that will confront these structural inequities that still exist.

In my home country of Ghana I always wondered why we find it so hard to do simple things. This is because a few people benefit from it, and because we cannot do the simple things that need to be done we fail in achieving the bigger things as well. You have to walk before you can run.

We need to start taking ourselves seriously, no one will do that for us. If we cannot value ourselves no one will do that for us. Only we ourselves can emancipate ourselves.