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African leaders of yesteryear were white and followed by their students the native black politicians and leadership is oftentimes trough education and indoctrination and what is evident is that the European mold of control have been emulated very well.
Many of them with a few exceptions have experienced life under colonial masters. The leaders of Africa for up until very recent history were Europeans. So any discussion of leadership on the African continent must take into account the lengthy period of colonial rule preceding the time of independence which came to most of these countries from the 1970s onwards. the quality of present stewardship is directly correlated to the quality of Colonial rule.

There isn't much to be said about how Europeans conducted the affairs of Africa than to say it was only of economic interest nothing more.The continent was invaded ,raided ,conquered and occupied for hundreds of years by ruthless men who saw only a country rich in natural recourses to be exploited and abundant defenseless humans to be enslaved for their benefit.
Colonialism just like any other isms had to be maintained by oppression and suppression and necessitated the Europeans doctrine of divide and conquer. Divide and conquer was enforced by brutality, murder ,rape and the systematic brainwashing of the colonized. The colonized are programmed to think of themselves as inferior and as a means of survival some were trained to collude with their masters and joined their oppressors to dehumanize members of their fellow race for reward.
Many of the current crop of leaders learned very well from their masters : exploit others for riches for the benefit of yourself and your inner circle and hold power through military might.
This also suits the European companies doing business in their former colonies as their yes men will keep renewing their contracts and keep the population from revolting and demanding their share of the continents resources.
The western educated leaders of Africa many of them dictators were given a by for their stand against Communism during the cold war period and so the cycle of corruption continues from the days of slavery up until now. Leaders like Robert Mugabe were revolutionaries and good soldiers seldom make good administrators such as in the mold of chairman Mao was to China. Mugabe fought the Rhodesians and is still in that fighting mold.
The populations that these post colonial leaders inherited is like taking over a school of delinquent children. They were mostly uneducated,angry, brainwashed and weary of authority.
The colonial powers developed Africa for their own security while there and established institutions to feel at home. But these did not take into account the well being of their subjects.
Yes precolonial Africa wasn't going nowhere fast and was gripped in their own destructive cycle of tribalism but when the strong came along it was not to help the weak but to finish them off.Those who are so hasty to dismiss the shameful legacy of colonialism on the state of todays Africa are mostly outsiders and in the words of a reggae singer "who feels it knows it".
It is just like saying "the car accident that Johnny was in has nothing to do with him walking with a limp". Lets be real here. The French still have contempt for Americans and the southern United States still climb a higher hurdle with regards to attitudes towards race than the north because of their plantation past. Everything in the present is framed in history believe it or not.
I dare say that the recovery from this beating is still in the foggy distant future.

Learn more about this author, Roger Grant.
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