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RE-ORIENTING THE AFRICAN MIND

Onward Chartered Soldiers, on to heathen lands,

Prayer books in your pockets, rifles in your hands.

Take the glorious tidings where trade can be done,

Spread the peaceful gospel – with a Maxi gun.

Tell the wretched nati!es, sinful are their hearts,

Turn their heathen teples into spirit arts.

 "nd if to your teaching they will not succub,

#i!e the another seron with the Maxi gun.

$hen the Ten Coandents they %uite understand,

&ou their Chief ust hocus, and annex their land'

 "nd if they isguided call to account,

#i!e the another seron – with a Maxi fro the Mount.

- The anthem of Cecil Rhodes’s mercenaries in Matabeleland in !"#

Fellow Africans, sisters and brothers, hotep!

Please be rest assured, that your past was a royal heritage. Yes! The antecedents of what we

call this modern age today, was what our indefatigable ancestors left behind as a firm

foundation, to which the West arbitrarily erected a structure abylon, and termed it Western

"i#ilisation.

The latter is the neon sign we hapless Africans, ha#e tagged in our errant minds, as the

direction we must follow...$amlin%s piped song, children that we ha#e become, moths on a&ami&a'e flight to so-called light...whilst disparaging our profound past because ours was not of

gun boat diplomacy...ours was not of the rat -tat- tat of a (a)im gun...of con*uest and

despoliation...ours was not of the imposition by force of our belief systems on #ast swathes of

lands on the globe...ours was not of the thief that came to a home and sei'ed and raped by the

barrel of a gun, hitherto peaceful fol&, and became their lord and master. "i#ilisation they term it,

barbarity more li&e.

Who amongst you brethren, has not heard of or read the documented history of the singular

greatness of ancient (ali, +emet gypt, +ush, Punt, /ubia, 0onghai, 1hana, enin, +anem

ornu, +ano, 2imbabwe, 3yo, 4gbo 5&wu, Timbu&tu, 1aramantes, etc6 "i#ilising forces, them

all, in what they achie#ed and abo#e all, what they left behind, be it in scrolls, hieroglyphics,

hieratic writings, ideograms, technology, pharmacology, sculptures, paintings, symbols, epics,

pro#erbs, language s&ills, di#erse culinary fare, inspired music, dances and abo#e all

organi'ational s&ills, ha#ing created a distinct sense of community our much #aunted

communalism, the #estiges of which we still e)perience today in bits and pieces, here and there

on the continent.

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4n fact, at an e#en earlier time, at man&ind%s dawn, ions ago, our African ancestors disco#ered

and created the basic fi)tures of humanity which we ta&e for granted today. They were the

original scientists and not a few may ha#e died as a result of e)perimentation that went wrong.

The renowned late ritish historian, asil 7a#idson, in his boo&, 8The African 1enius9, was

une*ui#ocal about his stance on our ancestor%s ingenuity which we ha#e forsa&en. $e statesthis succinctly(

))$ithout suggesting that the achie!eents of the ancient"fricans were *the sae+ as those of

the #reeks, it ay bereasonable to think that they were in one great aspect superior. They

really did e!ol!e uch out of little or out ofnothing at all. f one should praise *the #reek spirit+

assplendidly creati!e and in!enti!e, one ay perhaps express soe adiration for an *"frican

spirit+ which wasfar less fa!ourably placed for the elaboration of the arts of life, but none the less

ade this continent supply theneeds of an. $here, after all, lay the precedent for thesocial

and ideological structures built by the "fricans, so!arious and resilient, so intricately held

together, so ucha skilful interwea!ing of the possible and the desirable- $here did these

systes draw their sap and !igourexcept fro populations who e!ol!ed the out of theirown

creati!eness- !en allowing for the distantprecedents of gypt, the peoples who settled "frica

hadsurely less to go upon than the ancestors of Pericles. The balance needs ad/usting here0.

Aside from a treasure tro#e of disco#eries, our ancestors left behind a copass – a humane

and sustainable direction a sacramental pathway for us, their progeny - to follow, despite our

di#erse nationalities. They left a holy grail for us to assimilate and build on, which ensured some

continuity despite the profound disruptions by the West and their Arabian cousins. 4f not, these

con*uering hordes would not ha#e found strong, able bodied fol&, to cart off o#er #ast seas and

deserts, for well fed, toned bodies, are a distinct sign of enablement...culinary options...of 4 dare

say, ci#ili'ation. The underfed indentured sla#es of urope and the (iddle ast, could not cope

under the e)treme conditions created by a mercantilist and wic&ed elite which sought analternati#e in Africa to build their societies. For the naysayers who are *uic& to chant: 12"$34

That%s all Africans are good for, please be reminded that this continent was surfeit with great

personalities before and after the "ommon ra.

Pray, which one of you has not read or heard about these great African personalities;

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)Plenty real. 6iberation is the "frican proble. The elite is interested in soething else, belly 

le!el.0 

)6ike oney.0 

)6ike oney. 6ike power. The agic ability to fly high abo!e faine, inflation, ci!il war. The

chared life while the continent burns. Money. Politics. The bureaucratic trip. 6ocal 

directorships in ultinational corporations. 7iploatic posts. 6ucrati!e positions in international organi8ations to fight illiteracy, disease, whate!er. Money traps, such /obs are called. That+s

where the "frican elite soul is headed. So you get one eber who chalks up an exciting

acadeic record and then decides the intelligent life is not the hunt for dollars and pri!ilege but 

the struggle to liberate the continent fro criinals. 6ook at it any way you want, that fellow is

aking a terrible criticis of his conteporaries as they claw their way up their bureaucratic

grease poles.0 

The purpose of Shèkèrè as a platform is essentially one of ser#ice to the African at home and in

the 7iaspora. We share the same concern of our re#ered thin&er Ayi +wei Armah, on the African

condition. "learly, We, Africans, need a new content and conte)t reframing of our minds. As we

say in local parlance, what we are looking for in Sokoto is already in our Shokoto.  >et us pro#e

to the world, that we are worthy of our great ancestors. Africans ha#e the ad#antage of history,

of a great past...let us utili'e it in coming up with original solutions to the challenges we face in

all spheres of our life from politics to economics, and much more, our belief systems. >et us

proffer African answers to our challenges. >et us again become our brother%s &eepers. >et us

ta&e to heart, >enrie Peters poem:

?4t is time for rec&oning Africa

  Time for ta&ing stoc&

  /e#er mind /ew Yor&, America

  4t%s ours; is here, and running short...@

Africa! Africa! A cow without a tail will be moc&ed by little flies.

O$an%a