The following was contributed by Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a Charter Team member from Nigeria.

At the just-concluded Students For Liberty West African Regional Conference, a participant asked SFL President Alexander McCobin how the “white man” intends to make “reparations” for his bad deeds and contribution to the under-development of Africa during the colonial era. I was so angry at this question, to say the least, that I walked out of the conference hall. After some minutes outside pondering why this young man is so shamelessly naïve, I felt nothing but pity for him. I had a feeling that he must have been made to believe over time, that the problems we have in Africa are a result of the white men setting foot in Africa. And like I mentioned in the last article I wrote on my experience at the conference, one of the problems with the Nigerian (and indeed, African) youths is that we have so much faith in our elders whom we perceive to be so wise that we forget to a large extent old age comes with a loss of touch with reality. This is not to say that old African men are foolish, but that some have taken advantage of the privilege bestowed upon them by our cultures to distort history and to psychologically lead youths astray.

While I cannot deny the fact that a lot of atrocities occurred during the colonial period in Africa and other parts of the world –and  will always happen where the territorial integrity of a nation is breached –I also think we should look inwards to the causes and possible solutions to our problems.

Politics in Africa has been nothing more than a comedy of some sorts, where there are tribes and even families that believe they are superior and should be the only ones to make the laws or be president. They take pride in controlling the affairs of their fellow countrymen, without regard to the basic human rights of their people. These people go into politics with no clear-cut agenda or ideology, but the vague promise of better infrastructure like new roads that lead to nowhere.  Instead, the properties of citizens are taken away from them without compensation or alternative to housing, and no one speaks out for them to avoid being hunted by law enforcement agencies on the orders of the government. Corruption is rife in the abundance of human and natural resources and certain individuals are always marginalized and never allowed the freedom to participate in the development of their country. Hence, development is always skewed in favour of a certain ethnic, religious or tribal group. We have presidents, old men, who have remained in power for so long and have made policies through their parliaments to remain in power indefinitely.

Mr. Yoweri Museveni, born in 1944, has been President of Uganda since 1986; Jose Eduardo dos Santos, born in 1942, has been President of Angola since 1979; Robert Mugabe, born 1924, has been in power as President of Zimbabwe since 1980, while economic inflation rocks his nation every now and then. The list goes on, and yet our very own ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo (born 1937) in Nigeria, made an attempt for a third term in office between 2006 and 2007 (after being in office for close to 8 years), an action that was fought against by the National Assembly.

The President of Equatorial Guinea has been in power for the past 34 years while 76 percent of the citizens of the West African country live below the poverty line. His property in Paris, worth 15 million British Pounds, along with eleven cars worth 5 million British Pounds were confiscated by the French government. These properties were believed to have been acquired using money given to his country as aid. The cars were auctioned off by the French government at a value of 2.1 million Pounds. What if the former amount was channeled into building classrooms or equipping a health center?

Former Nigerian dictator, Gen. Sani  Abacha earned the country the status of a pariah state in the international community and robbed the country so blind that successive governments are still trying to recover the stolen loot.  This has been successful so far as western governments have been cooperative in helping recover and return Nigeria’s stolen resources.

James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State in the south of Nigeria is serving his jail term in the United Kingdom for money laundering and has had his assets in the U.K confiscated. The man is still being celebrated among his people in his state, and a clergyman was quoted saying youths should emulate him.

The presidential seat in Kenya is almost always vied for along ethnic lines, such that the current president, Uhuru Kenyatta, is wanted at the International Criminal Court for helping to incite post-election violence that resulted in at least 1000 fatalities in 2007. The same thing played out during this year’s election in that country, though on a smaller scale.

Charles Taylor is currently paying for his war crimes thanks to “the white man” who thought it wise not to let him go free. What has the African Union been able to do except ask for aid upon aid from the Western nations only to fly to Europe, America, Saudi Arabia and other states to acquire properties and oil blocs while their citizens suffer in penury?

How can we move forward if we have people who are averse to change in power? How can we account for men who, out of a quest for power, a desire to oppress people of other tribes while enriching those of their tribes and allies and a strong tendency to amass wealth to the detriment of their citizens, suppress the voice of reason and reign supreme? Are we still blaming “the white man” for our problems in Africa? All I see right now is the white man helping us out of our problems, giving us the platform for our voice to be heard, bringing our criminal leaders to justice for us, and returning stolen loot to our government coffers.

Mr. Adedayo Thomas, who spoke on “Free Markets and Africa’s Historical Past” at the SFL WARC talked about personal development without recourse to negative events of the past. He encouraged the youths to forget the past and carve a niche for themselves, regardless of what their fathers did in the past, regardless of their background, and without the inhibitions cast upon us by religion or culture. He was telling us to move on. And I couldn’t agree more; hence I bring the same message to you through this article. It is time to solve our problems for ourselves and our unborn generations. After all, we have created and continue to create these problems for our continent.

I went back into the hall to listen to McCobin’s response to that annoying question, and he made it clear that freedom is not just a Western ideology, but what we all yearn for. For liberty knows no race, religion or tribe.