Boris Johnson should understand how Europe underdeveloped Africa
The current British Prime Minister should understand that the underdevelopment of Africa is directly traced to European slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.
The British government compensated slave owners upon abolishment of slave trade because they believe that it was right for Africans to be enslaved.
According to a contribution made in the British Parliament, James Blair a Scottish – Irish MP who owned 1598 slaves was given the equivalent of €65 million in 1833 for losing his investment when slavery and slave trade was abolished.
This mentality of putting capital ahead of humanity is difficult for one to comprehend as the British government has not compensated those who were enslaved, dehumanised and killed.
Slavery is the darkest chapter in the history of humanity when Europeans left their homes and came to Africa to plunder, destroy and engage in atrocities worse than modern terrorism.
The British Prime Minister is allegedly not supporting the removal of statues that remind Africans of the dark history of enforced slavery and colonialism.
The British campaigned for the abolishment of the Slave Trade after making super profits and when they realised that it was no longer profitable to trade in Africa but to trade with Africans.
They came to stay in Africa and began another dark chapter of colonialism that further took away our resources to develop their country.
Colonialism resulted in the displacement of African communities as the racist colonial settlers took away our fertile land pushing our people to arid and bad soils.
It is well documented history that the Prime Minister knows but deliberately chooses to ignore for selfish interests.
Our African chiefs lost title to their land when Cecil John Rhodes and his mercenaries, the Pioneer Column settled wantonly on our ancestral soil.
The place we call Harare today was owned by Chief Mbari who was displaced and his chieftainship was equally lost even now 40 years after independence.
The city was commercialised and they built the CBD and suburbs of Harare after setting up the union Jack flag at Chihoka hill (present day Kopje) they murdered masses of Mbari clan members when they took over the land then made blacks build the city for them.
They also took control of Mbari’s fertile neighboring land of Mazoe which became Zimbabwe’s farming capital. They previously tried to set capital in Mount Hampden which is Mbari’s territory as well. In Mount Hampden they failed because it was a swampy area back then. British Colonialists totally destroyed Mbari clans way of life as they fled and settled in various parts of Zimbabwe till today.
The Mbari clan are still living as destitutes in other chiefs land and are now awaiting the Zimbabwean government to resuscitate the Chieftaincy of Harare. The delay in resuscitating Harare chieftainship has high negative impact on Zimbabwe as everything drives Zimbabwe is housed in Harare Mbari’s land and the murders committed on the land have soiled the land which needs cleansing for things to move forward. Mbari clan who are tasked by ancestors of the clan to cleanse the city cannot do the required ceremonies as the heads of the murdered spiritualists including Mbuya Nehanda and others are still in the hands of the British.
The British beheaded the spiritual leaders who led the resistance against colonialism and took the heads to London as war trophies. Zimbabwe’s correct economic situation is also due to unresolved spiritual and cultural practices and ceremonies which are still outstanding till today. Zimbabweans are working hard to repatriate the remains of their traditionalists and spiritualists stolen by the British. They are being kept at the Natural History Museum in London.
Boris Johnson’s utterances show a clear lack of respect for people’s cultures. A people are defined by their culture and tradition. Britain is very much aware of the negative effect that colonialism has on Zimbabwe and one wonders why Britain is still holding on to Africa’s looted artifacts and human remains. One of King Mbari’s descendants Princess of Harare HRH Princess Eugene Majuru is working tirelessly with other Zimbabweans to ensure the return of looted items and remains looted from Zimbabwe during colonialism.
Princess Eugene strongly believes that statues of offensive nature such as Cecil Rhodes’ and others should not be in the streets in full public view as they ” Are offensive and constantly remind us of how our ancestors were butchered and enslaved, colonialism is the root of all racism , that’s where it all originated from.”
Why can’t statues of high offensive nature such as Cecil Rhodes and Allan Wilson be removed from the streets and only be kept in museums so that those who want to see them can visit museums rather than force us to see such statues especially since racism and colonialism issues are not being sorted. One would expect Johnson to engage with Africans as well as protestors expressing their feelings and thoughts on the streets”
The British government should compensate for plundering our resources, acts of terrorism and abuse of human rights they committed during colonialism.
All problems that we face today in politics and economy are directly linked to colonialism.
The British established a system of government that is meant to benefit a few ruling elites and the governments that took over cannot use that system to achieve equality.
There is urgent need for African leaders to realise that chiefs should be the custodian of economic and political issues of their people not the central government that inherited colonial structures that were never meant to achieve equal distribution of resources.
Comments
About Author
