Need for a brighter Africa

Monday, December 8, 2008
Editor,

Please allow me space in your widely read newspaper to express certain concerns hindering the development of post independent Africa.
Is the African continent moving forward? My article begins with a rhetorical question of whether our continent is moving at a rate at which you and I appreciate.

However, I am proud to say my beloved country, The Gambia, is moving at a rate at which many in the world would appreciate. This could be seen in areas of infrastructural development, peace building, heavy investment and modernisation, all being the result of the vision of His Excellency, Professor Alhaji Yahya Jammeh. This should be the aim of every government.

The continent of Africa is a continent faced with serious, countless problems. Life is wasted everyday in every region of Africa for no reason other than greed and selfishness.

The revolution that Africa need is a technological revolution that will enable her to add value to raw materials she produces, so that she can gain from her resources, rather than a technological revolution of killing a brother and embezzlement of public funds.

As far as agricultural and technological production is concerned, Africa needs huge vision that will give birth to huge ideas and remarkable development.  Instead of seeking financial assistance from the United States and other counties in the first world, Africans should be thinking of how to penetrate and dominate the markets of the First World.

This is not the domination of the markets with primary products, it is the domination of the first world markets with secondary, improved and value added products.

This suggestion many sound far-fetched. Be that as it may, it is precisely that kind of thinking and planning that will move Africa forward into our desired future.  This could only be achieved if there is a union government, as in the words of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, “that to enhance the position of Africa in world politics, political unity was desirable......”

Long live peace and development; long live Africa.
                                                                                                            


Author: By Peter Sylva, Ex-student St Peter’s