Abstract
political independence that the people of Africa attained over the last four decades was not a gift from the Western colonial powers. It was however the result of the struggles of the African people against foreign domination and exploitation. political independence of Africa however did not yield good results for African people. colonial powers having looted the African continent and its rich natural resources left Africa an empty shell. independence of Africa could not lead to genuine development of the former colonies. To change the state of affairs which Frantz Fanon describes as The wretched of the earth, has forced African people into a new form of domination, called neo‑colonialism in various forms. This new form of colonial domination was defined by the All African People's Conference (AAPC) which took place in 1962 in Cairo as 'the survival of the colonial system in spite of formal recognition of political independence in emerging countries which became the victims of an indirect and subtle form of domination by political, economic, social, military or technical means' (Machyo 1996:35). It was also pointed out that this new form of foreign domination was the greatest threat to African countries and sovereignty. reason being that the neo‑colonial powers had the tendency to resort to 'economic and political intervention in order to prevent African leaders from directing their political, social and economic policies towards the exploitation of their people and their natural resources. problems of modern Africa in the post-colonial period are a mockery for the so-called independent or liberated Africa. conditions of the African people are worse than they were in the colonial period. However other problems of Africa were not of colonial design but African design like under-development, corruption and human rights violations. purpose of this article is to examine the problems plaguing post-colonial Africa.
Highlights
In 1885 the “Scramble for Africa” began with different European nations, namely, Portugal, Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and England, sought to carve up Africa in order as an integral parts of its empires
As Nyerere observed in his Preface to a book by African scholars significantly sub-titled, ‘Beyond Dispossession and Dependence”: Africa’s history is one of slavery, exploitation and colonialism’ it is a story of struggle against these evils, and of battles won after many setbacks and much suffering. (Adedeji ed. 1993: xv)
It is clear that political independence did not bear any fruit for African people due to poor economies or lack of economic power
Summary
In 1885 the “Scramble for Africa” began with different European nations, namely, Portugal, Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and England, sought to carve up Africa in order as an integral parts of its empires. Slavery of African people was a product of European intellectualism as expressed by Hegel: “Africa proper, as far as history goes back, has remained for all purposes of connection with the rest of the world, shut up. The introduction of capitalist relations of production and distribution, -- for instance, the International Trade Commodity (ITC) exchange systems and values -- created such dependency Rodney (1976) asserts that "previous African development was blunted, halved and turned back" by colonialism without offering anything of compensatory value While these efforts practices were effected, the primary objective was economic, and these practices became political tools to affect them
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