Postcolonial Dysfunction

Here is the lowdown: as long as postcolonial dysfunction blocks our ability to rule ourselves, there will be hungry mouths to feed.

Divide and rule is still here

"Divide and rule" did not leave with the colonial masters. It still dominates the land. And citizens, often poorly informed, keep behaving as if their country were still being governed from far away.

Politics and religion

People who lived together in peace after colonization have become enemies, divided along political and religious lines. If you are looking for the leftovers of colonial "divide and rule", you will find them in two places: politics and religion.

Governing after the colonizers

Managing a post-colonial government is hard. But it is not impossible. It should be a government of the people, not a rubber-stamp copy of a colonial system that is already dead and gone.

Centralized power breeds dictators

In colonial times, power sat in the colonial office. Orders came from the top and flowed down: command and control. Unfortunately, many post-colonial nations kept that same system, and it is fertile ground for dictatorships. Look at Cameroun. A clear example.

Hunger drives everything

Colonizers or no colonizers, at the end of the day it comes down to food. Everyone is sensitive to hunger. People will go to great lengths to feed themselves, even selling their family's land for a pittance.

Why did they come?

Question: were the colonizers themselves looking for food when they set out to conquer other people's land? And would a once-colonized person now want to dominate others? The answer may loop right back to why the colonizers set out in the first place. You tell me.

Eyes open

Think about why, and how, Africa (or any homeland) was colonized. That reflection is a good tool for the long journey of post-colonial development. The journey needs constant awareness, and readiness for whatever comes. Are you ready?

TM

— Wanaku Verdzekov