African a new type of problem which ironically was just slavery by a new name and as the west took the moral high ground congratulating each other on the termination of slavery , they replaced it with colonialism .
With the abolition of the slave trade , the European merchants focused on legitimate trade as the obvious substitute to the illegal trade they had practiced for centuries which they had even managed to give a veneer of respectability .
The end of slave trade threatened the collapse of the European industries since their economic model was based on the availability of cheap resources and especially labor . The existing supply chain of a well-organized merchant navy was also in jeopardy .
It is again to the dark continent that the Europeans turned to secure the supply of raw materials and free labor and the resultant expansionism brought the European countries into conflict as they scrambled to establish their spheres of influence in Africa .
To avert an escalation of tension which would have resulted in a European war the then German chancellor Bismarck called a conference to amicably divide the African resources among the western countries without resorting to war .
The Berlin conference took four months to negotiate and by the end of the conference in early 1885 the powers represented in the deliberations had carved out Africa , dividing it among themselves . The partition of Africa had taken place .
The negotiated claims to African territory were formalized and then mapped . So , a group of Europeans sitting in Berlin sat and drew the boundaries of Africa which exist to this day without a single African present .
It is interesting that the countries represented in the meeting that included thirteen European states , the United States and the Ottoman Empire , did so in accordance to international law , thus legalizing another criminal act .
It is the height of hypocrisy to end slave trade on a moral high ground of putting an end to inhuman practices and immediately sign an agreement that would perpetuate the same exploitation under a different guise .
In effect , what the abolition of the slave trade achieved was the halting of the mass transportation of slaves but not the cessation of the institution of slavery . Europeans could de facto continue exploitation in situ .
To camouflage their intent and to maintain the façade of morality , the European powers justified the invasion of Africa on a morally correct mission to eradicate slavery on the continent and the targeted villain was the Arab .
They also declared that in repentance of the great anguish they had caused the African , it was the white man ’ s burden and duty to civilize the native by spreading Christianity and education to enlighten the dark continent .
Clothed in righteousness the European hordes invaded a much-weakened Africa after centuries of slave depopulation and using the insidious divide and rule technique made possible by the arbitrary partition of Africa .
So armed with a bible and a machine gun the civilization of Africa began in earnest . It must be noted again that even the occupation of Africa was achieved with the active participation of the Africans themselves .
It is inconceivable to imagine that even after centuries of mistreatment and treachery from the European , the African would still rather throw his lot with the white man at the expense of his fellow black person who he erroneously identified as the enemy .
The partition of Africa had economic , political , social and cultural consequences for Africa which are still felt to this day . Africa is still reeling from the aftershock of centuries of subjugation but it still reaches out to the same abusive partner for succor .
Colonization and its expansion agenda under many guises continued globally unchecked for the next eighty years until the whole world was dominated by a few European powers with the English sphere of influence being the largest .
The imperial boast that the sun never sets on the British Empire summarizes the extent of the British clout on global affairs , which was in itself a remarkable feat given the tiny European island where all that power was wielded from .
Then the tide began to change and in a thirty-year period after the Second World War , 1945 to 1975 practically all the colonized territories globally had achieved self-rule . This is where we pause to take stock of where Kenya is after more than a half century of liberation .
Every time in the past that the European adventurer was cornered to cede ground of oppression and economic exploitation , he has morphed into a new entity which appears to yield but in reality , maintains control .
The new buzz word is neo-colonialism where although he ceded political power a long time ago , his hold on the economies of the former colonies has continued to grow and many former colonies find themselves in an ever-deepening economic pit .
As the refrain has been the latest predicament is again only possible with the connivance and direct involvement of the African as he digs himself deeper into the economic morass of debt that is payable in foreign currencies .
How did Kenya find itself in this perennial cycle of debt and dependence on the very people that Kenyans were trying to get rid of ? How did Kenya get into this steep road of decline rather than finding the ascending road to prosperity ?
In contrast , how were the protagonists from Asia , with a special mention to China and India , able to raise their nations from abject poverty and in eight decades to have transformed their populous nations to major players in the global economy ?
The main culprit has to be the twin problem of education and religion which combined to create a mental slavery which is a lot more dangerous than the physical captivity that the African had become accustomed to .
The combination of education and religion created a powerful tool of indoctrination and were used surreptitiously to create a worldview of white supremacy and to perpetuate a sense of low self-esteem and low self-worth in Africans .
The British did not really conquer Kenya , they simply occupied the territory by setting up churches and education institutions , they asked the locals to allow them to settle in specific places and went about their stated business of civilizing the natives .
With education came the language of the occupier and in learning to communicate with the occupier the locals effectively also cut ties with traditional ways which were conveniently demonized by religion as being heathen practices .
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