The Sunday News
Kisi (2007), writing on the topic of independence says; “We must learn a lesson from one of Africa’s great thinkers, Attoh Ahama whose reflection on “The Gold Coast Nation and National Consciousness” was printed in Gold Cost Leader, 1911. He states: “As a people, we have ceased to be thinking Nation. Our forebears, with all their limitations and disadvantages, had occasion to originate ideas and to contrive in their own order.
They sowed incorruptible thought-seeds, and we are reaping a rich harvest today, though, for the most part, we are scarcely conscious of the debt we owe them. Western education as civilisation undiluted, unsifted, has more or less enervated our minds and made them passive and catholic. Our national life is semi-paralysed; our mental machinery dislocated, the inevitable consequence being, speaking generally, the resultant production of a race of men and women who think too little and talk too much. But neither garrulity nor loquacity forms an indispensable element in the constitution of state or nation.”
The Ghanaian writer goes further to argue that a number of things dear to us as Africans have lost their cultural, historical and philosophical significance and have acquired the opposite meaning of what our forebears meant and intended. In short, we appear to have forgotten lessons from our elders, and we even fail to pay homage to the sacrifices they made to make this world a better place for us.
The fundamental building blocks of any nation are political structure, legal structure and economic structure. These blocks apply to any African country after the continent set itself free from colonial bondage, yet we still have many among us who hound the founding fathers of liberation movements across Africa, and even pour cold water on national events like the Independence Day. Opposition political parties have often claimed there is nothing to celebrate about Zimbabwe’s independence. Really? Would we be enjoying political freedom if it were not for the brave sons and daughters of the soil who took up arms to fight the Rhodesian government? Would we be talking of economic empowerment and boasting of being one of the most literate countries had it not been for our independence? Would opposition politicians and supporters even be enjoying freedom of association and expression?
We can say what we want, do as we please in independent Zimbabwe because of our liberation heroes and heroines, and as we celebrate our Independence Day tomorrow, let us remember the sacrifices made by those who fought to liberate the country, bearing in mind that apart from those who went to the battle front, there are many who sacrificed their lives one way or the other. We can honour them by keeping at the back of our minds that Independence Day is a day that should be commemorated by Zimbabweans as it unites us, no matter political affiliation, race, religion or tribe.
We should also take lessons from sentiments by President Mugabe when he was addressing the nation on the occasion of the burial of two heroines, Cdes Victoria Chitepo and Vivian Mwashita at the National Heroes Acre last Wednesday. He said:
“Determination now on the part of the younger ones is to defend the nation at all costs, to remain vigilant, to remain prepared to defend the country and to follow the path of acceptance that if you want to be leaders, you must first want to also be followers. You must be prepared to be followers in the first place. And to the leaders who lead honestly, leaders who are not selfish, leaders who do not think of themselves first, who do not think of their positions first, who think of the people and the people and forever the people because it’s the people we fought for and the people include, naturally, our women.”
Happy birthday Zimbabwe!
