By Mwalimu George Ngwane*
On December 5, 1958, Kwame Nkrumah convened the first-ever pan African Congress in Africa specifically in his home soil of Accra-Ghana.
George Ngwane Samia Nkrumah (the daughter of Kwame Nkrumah)
The main objectives of that Congress were to "accelerate the liberation of Africa from imperialism and colonialism and to develop the feeling of one community among the peoples of Africa with the object of enhancing the emergence of a United States of Africa."
Fifty years later, the continent's search for a united Africa has been bedevilled by two kinds of leaderships; one which appeals to global sympathy and the other which arouses continental empathy.
Bala Usman, the late renowned Nigerian Political Scientist, defined globalisation as 'an empty political cliché with a neo-colonial outfit'. His compatriot, Tade Akin Aina, defined globalisation as a new phase of capitalist expansion, focussed on exploitation, accumulation, inequality and polarisation.
In its most basic form, Senegalese writer, Demba Moussa Dembele, regards globalisation and structural adjustment programmes as being among the main instruments of the West's recolonisation strategy of the African continent.
The concept 'globalisation' can be traced back to the 1970s. It was during that time that some European scholars developed the concept of the 'New International Division of Labour - essentially, the concept refers to large-scale companies in developed countries exporting more of their production to less developed countries, thereby taking advantage of the lower labour costs.
While this happened, developed countries remained at the centre of these international companies, due to their advanced position in communication and transport (CODESRIA Bulletin, 1997).
Eurocentric discourses on globalisation have focussed on its advantages vis-à-vis Africa. Apologists say globalisation would fight inflation and secure financial stability through liberalised economies. They maintain that through observing the rules of open trade, fair competition and unfettered capital movements, globalisation is potentially the most effective way to end world poverty and spread the benefits of modernisation throughout the world.
On the other hand, Pan African scholars argue that due to the harsh realities of unequal exchange, income polarisation between developed and developing countries, and the continued deterioration of developing countries with regard to trade, neo-liberal globalisation is an illusory concept.
Weakened economic control - due to the policies of the IMF and the World Bank within the framework of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) - will give globalisation the impetus to confine Africa as the supplier of raw materials and commodities, and the consumer of manufactured goods from developed countries. Consequently, this means that globalisation will more than likely increase the income gap between the developed North and the less developed South.
In fact, a recent United Nations Human Development Report revealed that a fifth of the world's people are living in the highest income countries enjoy 86 percent of the World's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 82 percent of the world's export markets, and 68 percent of the world's direct foreign investment.
Meanwhile, the bottom fifth - mainly the poorest countries in Africa - has about one percent in each sector. The report further highlights the wealth gap by stating the fact that the richest 200 people in the world have a net worth of US$1,032 billion - equivalent to the income of 41 percent of the world's population (AFRICA Today, 1999).
This inequality, according to columnist Tunde Obadina, reflects a stark reality of life in our globalised world - wealth tends to generate more wealth, poverty breeds poverty.
How does one reconcile this paradox of African poverty when, in addition to its reservoir of human resources, our continent has 97 percent of the world's chrome reserves; 85 percent of the world's platinum reserves; 64 percent of the world's manganese reserves; 25 percent of the world's uranium reserves and 13 percent of the world's copper reserves (without mentioning bauxite, nickel and lead); 20 percent of the world's oil trade; 70 percent of the world's cocoa production; one-third of the world's coffee production and 50 percent of the world's palm produce (Organisation of African Unity handbook).
In spite of all these riches, Africa has 34 of the 48 poorest countries of the world. Debt cancellation, or admission into Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs), has not proven to be economic antidotes for Africa's debt burden.
Owing to the blatant double standards in globalisation, African leaders and scholars have been trying to circumvent it by proposing concrete Pan African agendas. Various resolutions and declarations adopted by African heads of state in Algiers in September 1968 and in Addis Ababa in August 1970 and May 1973, stress that the economic integration of the continent is a prerequisite for the realisation of the objectives of the African Union.
Successive declarations, such as the Monrovia Declaration (July, 1979), the Lagos Plan of Action (1980) and the Abuja Treaty (1991), have been adopted to promote economic, social and cultural development to integrate African economies, thereby increasing economic self-reliance and promoting an endogenous, self-sustained development.
In 1999, Muammar Gadaffi relived the dream of Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Cheik Anta Diop, Um Nyobe and Thomas Sankara - the dream of a continental village by way of an African Union.
It is only logical that African leaders continue with this coherent and collective strategy, aimed at defending the basic interests of Africans. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Congo that was in the spotlight immediately after the 1958 Pan African Congress due to her invasion by the Belgians is still making news today for the wrong reasons. Zimbabwe, Somalia and Sudan cannot boast of a government.
More than eight African leaders have tinkered with their country's constitution with the aim of perpetrating their stay or dynasty in power. Without a people-oriented leadership, Africa will remain marginalised and exploited, without an economic integrated Africa the continent shall continue to be a mere pawn in the global game.
In the end, instead of being a member of the global village, Africa shall become a victim of global pillage. African leaders must break away from the 'herd' mentality that makes them followers of another's path. Instead, they should be 'blazers of their own trails'.
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