Independence: The challenges of reconstruction

We have already looked at Africa before colonialism and I’m sure you understand the possible effects of such drastic and sudden changes to African culture and government occurring with the arrival of colonialism. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Africa was divided randomly by various European countries (click here to see map). Colonial powers also imposed their native languages all over the continent (click here to see map) and heavily disrupted traditional social and political structures. In this article, we will discuss a few of the most important challenges that Africa faced at the time of independence.

The independence of African countries was not something which came suddenly. Actually, as early as the early 1922, Egypt had gained independence. Of course one must not forget the two nations which were never colonized at all: Ethiopia and Liberia. Liberia was founded as a state for freed slaves who wanted to “return home” to Africa. The major issue for Liberia even today is that most of the returning slaves had not only never stepped their feet on African soil; but were definitely not from Liberia. Yet, the United States gave them control over the territory despite the effects it would have on local Africans who had lived there for generations. The struggle between “new” and “old” Liberians is something which has affected the country continuously and which has its role to play in the current violence and war in the country.

Other than the three countries mentioned above though, freedom from colonialism began in the early 1950’s and continued until very recently when Zimbabwe gained its independence on April 18th, 1980. Zimbabwe was not an isolated case in Africa. Eritrea gained its independence in 1993! There are still colonies in Africa to this day. You probably remember that the island of Reunion which is just off the coast of the African nation of Madagascar is a department of France to this day!

As we learned in the previous articles, the colonists didn’t regard ethnic or language barriers when deciding how to carve up Africa into regions which would later become the African nations of today. Therefore, it is easy to understand the problems that these new nations faced after reaching independence.

There are two excellent examples of the effects of trying to build a nation with borders that didn’t respect ethnic group boundaries. Let us look at the two extremes: Case one is the nation of Somalia, which at independence happened to be the only country in Africa where the people inside the country’s boundaries are of the same ethnic and cultural group, (we call this monoculture). Yet even though Somalia had Somali people in its borders at independence, they were not all in Somalia. Many of them found themselves cut in two, with part of their family living in Somalia and the other part living across the borders of either Kenya or Ethiopia. It is easy to understand why there has been border fighting between these three countries ever since as Somalia tries to gain the territory that it considers “its people” to live on.

The second case we will look at is Nigeria. During colonization, power was split between the three major ethnic groups: the Hausa/Fulani in the north, the Yoruba in the west, and the Igbo in the east. The colonists used the age old concept of “divide and conquer” to keep constant tension between the different major ethnic groups. This style of leadership also ensured that the many less populous ethnic groups who were left powerless would remain fragmented. With police power in one group’s hand, education in another and financial power in yet a third; it made the idea of mass revolt less likely. This split has led to conflict ever since. In a nation with a large population where so many ethnic, religious and language groups share a country, it is already quite difficult to give people an idea of nationality. With the addition of the tough colonial legacy of division; it makes the task even more complicated to achieve.

Governing these new countries after independence was a hard undertaking! Despite the fact that freedom from colonization was definitely a good thing; self rule was not always as simple as electing a President and building a government. Many of those who took power were trained in European schools and/or shunned traditional methods. Many of the men who led Africa’s newly independent nations were trained to lead in the European style, despite the fact that the European models were not adapted to the culture, history or traditions of Africans. These foreign governing systems were left in place and simply taken over by local people.

Women had also lost their role in society. This led to serious problems which persist even today because a large portion of the population is left out of the decision-making process. Women remain the caretakers, the ones who produce food for their families with subsistence farming and are those who often sell their wares at the marketplace to make ends meet. Therefore, it is a serious matter if they are left out of the process since they have the hands-on knowledge which could serve to build lasting and durable growth and development.

Speaking of development, most African economies at the time of independence were “one crop” economies. As we discussed in an earlier article, Europe used Africa to provide them with raw materials which were later either consumed (such as coffee, tea and chocolate), or manufactured and later sold, (like oil, wood or minerals). Some countries produced primarily one crop such as cocoa which wasn’t a staple. So if the world economy wasn’t doing well and foods such as these “dessert” items weren’t in high demand, the economy of a nation was at stake. Without diversity in their production, they were often left completely at the mercy of western consumers.

Finally, we must remember that the West might have left African soil but it had no desire to give up its influence. It has been successful at maintaining that influence even today. Whether through aid, arms sales, or outright coups and assassinations, those who used to have colonies in Africa a few decades ago, still manage to have their influence today.

We can not know how African cultures would have evolved without the introduction of colonization. Yet we can safely say that the evolution would have been one which was natural and which remained in the context of Africa’s history and various cultures. Now it is up to us Africans to do what we can to improve our situation in a way that remembers the past and looks forward to the future…