The Failures of Decolonization and National Independence - Essay Example

The Failures of Decolonization and National Independence The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born is a novel written by Ayi Kwei Armah, who was a Ghanaian writer. The novel was published in the year 1968 by Heinemann Educational Publishers. The author was born in Takoradi, Ghana in 1939 and started his education at Achimota School before proceeding to Groton School and finally Harvard University (Head 2006, p. 40). The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born was the first novel by Ayi Kwei Armah and it features the post-independence Ghanaian society, which was dominated by moral decadence, poverty and ignorance. The Man, who is the main character in this story, is the protagonist, who seems to be the embodiment of good morals since he is not corrupt and has refused involvement in its gleam. The author wishes to communicate uprightness and good character through the Man, in order to awaken Ghanaians to the reality of corruption, materialism, poverty, political rhetoric and desperation. Promises made during the fight against colonialism were socialistic by nature, featuring equality and betterment of people’s lives, but none of them were fulfilled during the reign of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, or even after the coup. The novel brings out the reality of life in Ghana after independence, where people’s dreams of a better nation were shattered by the filth of corruption at that time. The Man’s dream was to go to the University of Legon, a dream that never came true just like most Ghanaians’ dreams of a better nation were shattered by the corrupt government system that came into power after colonialists had left. In this paper, I am to discuss in detail how the author uses symbolism to show moral decadence in the post-independence Ghana, and how it applies to other African states today. The theme of corruption covers the larger part of the novel, as witnessed by the Man on his way to his working place at the railway administration, when the conductor in the bus refuses to return the full change and keeps extra amount over the normal fare as his (Armah 1968, p.1). The conductor smells the cedi and says that it is strange that a man could have so many cedis pass through his hands and yet not really know their smell, implying that the conductor was money hungry. The bus in this case represents Ghana, the conductor represents its leaders, who are very corrupt and the passengers are the Ghanaians. The poor citizens in most African states participate in the economy through working but the money ends up in a few people’s pockets (Ferguson 2010, p. 170), no wonder the conductor is mocking the passenger that it is strange for a man to have so many cedes pass through his hands and yet really not know their smell. There was a filthy project to get filth out of the city, whereby litter boxes were to be put all over the city at strategic points. In the end, not many of the intended boxes were put at strategic points in the city despite large amounts of money paid for that project. Joe Koomson, a minister in the Ghanaian government wanted to buy a boat with the commercial bank’s money using someone’s name(Armah 1968, p.135).There are many ghost projects in Africa today, meant to enrich the political elites only, something that has resulted into intergenerational poverty among Africans. Most political leaders use the public resources for their personal gain; no wonder Koomson is able to afford living a very expensive life using public resources. In the same way, many good people get elected and then get corrupted by the power, becoming bad leaders in the process (Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser 2007, p.180). The wood logger tried to bribe the Man in order to be allowed to transport his timber by the train, but the Man refuses the bribe, to the astonishment of the giver. When the Man informed his wife on his refusal to be bribed, she is surprised because they needed many things in the family which he could not afford. She further argued that corruption is like driving in many roads, where some people get accidents, i.e., they get caught while others do not. Drivers bribe police men so that they can drive using their expired driving licenses which is a common feature among the police force of many African states for instance Kenya. Abednego Yamoah enriches himself by selling government petrol and uses the cleaner as a scapegoat, who gets jailed. Others like the Man’s wife who cannot get to the gleams by any means stick to the corrupt ones and are always ready to justify their supporters’ corrupt deeds. This can apply to the entire African continent, whereby there was a lot of hope during the struggle for independence, a time when many promises which appeared achievable were made but were not fulfilled because of corruption. To the frustration of many, colonialism was simply transformed into neo-colonialism, meaning nothing actually changed and that government positions were used to enrich those in power at the expense of the citizens. African leaders became colonialists in the sense that they were being controlled by European powers in trade pacts. Corruption in post-independence Africa was actually inherited from colonialists, evidently through centralizing political and economic power, whereby jobs in the private and public sector were given only to fellow political elites (Adesola & Ako-Nai 2010, p.140). This was the same case in the colonial Africa where these positions were reserved for fellow colonialists. 71% of the ministers in the cabinet of President Kwame Nkrumah were from his tribe, which was against the philosophy of consciencism that he claimed to subscribe to (Hess & Quarcoopome 2006, p.16). Nkrumah’s appointments were not based on merit as evidenced by unlearned people like Joe Koomson, who was ignorant about ideology and politics being given the position of the minister. Up to date, Africa still struggles with the problem of nepotism, as clearly shown during elections, when people vote along their tribal cocoons thus electing unfit and corrupt individuals, who in turn make skewed appointments to reward their tribesmen. Rhetoric is a common feature in African politics during campaigns since this is when most promises are made politicians but when they get into power, they concentrate on eating rather than service delivery to the people who elected them. The corrupt nature of Kwame’s government bred dictatorship, since he was paranoid, brutal and repressive, a behavior echoed by the current president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. Kwame begun by lobbying the government to enact a law allowing jailing of anyone suspected of harming national security just a year after independence. He expelled opposition parties, impeded with the courts and as a result many of his critics were jailed, with two of them dying in prison under cryptic situations. Political assassinations as a result of insecurity among politicians in Africa have since taken a center stage, with many opposition leaders, critics and potential threats being the target group. Dictators like Mugabe handpick electoral bodies to ensure that they remain in power, whereas Kenya was under one party dictatorship until 1992 when multiparty democracy was embraced. Most African insecure leaders embrace sycophancy, threats and execution of critics and gagging the media to ensure they remain in power (Chege 2009, p.55). Political coups and unrests are triggered by those who feel oppressed by those in power (Waddington 2015 p.55), although they too never yield much in most cases since the organizers of these coups are corrupt too. According to the Man, the new government that ousted Nkrumah was not any different from the old one, but a continuation of the old decadence. He actually saw this as an opportunity for the new government officials to enrich themselves through plundering public resources, meaning the coup did not guarantee a Utopian State. According to Armah, there is no difference between the white man and the then apes, and now the apes of apes, our party men, and after their reign, nothing will change. Only the system had changed, man never changed. The policemen for instance continue to take bribes at barriers. This case applies to many African nations who are experiencing civil wars as a result of skewed distribution of resources. South Sudan for instance had to secede from Khartoum due to allegedly inequitable sharing of oil resources, where they argued that the north was benefiting more (Obi 2007, p.8). Nkrumah was ousted the same way, when he allegedly shared most of the country’s resources, including top government jobs inequitably by favoring his tribe, against what he promised people during campaigns against colonialism. The post-independence Ghana was characterized by extreme poverty, which resulted into prostitution, whose returns were very low. Joe Koomson was one guy who used to hire young women for sex in Ghana, the same problem experienced in Africa where politicians use poor women for sex and then dump them. Today, many women flock in towns in most African cities for commercial sex working, which is the effect of poverty (Sori 2012 p.680). The philosophy of materialism is evident among most Ghanaians in that those refusing bribes are equated to murderers. The Man’s wife branded him a murder for not accepting a bribe from the timber contractor thus taking the side of Joe Koomson, the then corrupt minister in the government (Armah 1968, p.53). This implies that in the Ghanaian society, just like in most African states, there is lack of good will to fight against social injustices by ignoring and even suppressing those who are against it. Even close friends and family members can turn against those standing for moral uprightness like the man and the teacher, who the society view as abnormal for not being corrupt. Egya Akon was brutally murdered by his friends who thought he had money, simply because he tried tobe virtuous all his life. Robbery is a common problem across the African continent, which has resulted into many deaths of those thought to be having money or business rivals (Ikejiaku 2009, p.15). Joe Koomson is living an expensive life because he has money and power; all he gets are praises from desperate citizens when he drives around in his expensive Mercedes Benz. Ghana was not really independent according to Armah, since the leaders continued copying a lot from the west, including the accent. The office clerk tries to talk with an American accent whereas Estella Koomson prefers foreign drinks to local ones by asserting that the local ones would make one ill. Africans were never willing to support their local industries and as a result, they prefer goods manufactured in the west, providing markets for goods from the west instead of their own. Africans leaders preferred being referred by European names to African names, commercial shops were still given European names e.g. the French CFAO which was a clear indication of neocolonialism. Most African leaders still look to the west for economic development and political culture, for instance the members of the commonwealth (Kesall 2008, p.630). European powers still control African politics, as was the case in Angola when the socialist MPLA which was supported by Russia and Cuba came to power (Graham 2011, p.35). The NATO countries started sponsoring two alternative movements; the NFLA in the North and UNITA in the South. Africans are borrowing a lot from the west in the name of civilization thus neglecting their culture and lacking their own creativity. The clashes between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram sect has forced Nigeria to outsource intelligence personnel from France and the US, implying that Africans are not yet independent (Pham 2014, p.250). Most Africans still envied foreign education after decolonization as shown by airlifting in post-colonial Kenya, where individuals were sponsored to go for further studies in the US or in Russia. Today the Zimbabwe economy is in chaos due to economic sanctions imposed by the EU, and although these sanctions were recently lifted, their ramifications are still evident in the economy (Masunungure & Badza 2010 p. 215). This also serves as the best example of neocolonialism in Africa. The public lavatory, the vomit at the train station and latrine graffiti as used in the novel refers to the exhibition center for people’s evils. Ghana in this case is considered an exhibition center for the society’s moral decay and the decaying banister which resists efforts of paint refers to the corrupted minds of Ghanaians. It appears that all members of society are responsible for moral decay (Ikerd 2008, p.18). People are not using the few available litter boxes correctly; they throw dirt from a distance which in most cases does not fall in the boxes, resulting to a lot of litter and dirt in the city. The fight against corruption should be a societal affair, rather than an individual effort (Bertot, Jaeger, & Grimes 2010, p.265). Most ignorant Ghanaians like the man’s wife, the conductor, the wood logger and Joe Koomson openly support corruption. Only the Man and the teacher are conscious enough to resist corruption, which forces the teacher to escape from the corrupt society into the world of books, asking himself whether the rots and weaknesses were not after all the external curse of Africa itself against which people could do nothing that would last. The teacher shows moral pessimism, which is the case in most African states where people think they cannot change the current political scenario and therefore continue accepting rotten leaders to serve them. In the last chapter, the man is actually doubting his sanity, he is not sure whether he is the one doing the wrong thing by being morally upright or it is the rotten society doing the right thing. The fact that even his wife Oyo could not stand with him in the fight against corruption made him feel he was the one who was on the wrong side. The morally upright consider themselves more sinful than evil doers in the society showing that we have quite a number of good people in the society but they feel odd to stand up against corruption. The selfish politicians therefore continue embezzling public funds as we watch, we who should cooperate and fight against corruption (Bukuluki 2013, p. 5). The Man feels guilty upon differing with his wife on corruption matters, exposing our own inability to fight corruption as Africans. The Ghanaian case is significant to the current political scenarios in Africa, where corruption, nepotism, poverty, ignorance and dictatorship are so rampant. This has resulted to frustration and disillusionment, which has in turn led to emergence of rebel groups that recruit minors as their army. Single party dictatorship, detentions to deal with political opponents and intimidations are evident in countries like Uganda and Zimbabwe (Teshome 2009, p. 8). Corrupt and insecure leaders do not want to give up power, but are always seeking constitutional amendments in order to remain in power. Poverty is a reality in Africa as evidenced by most sub-Saharan countries being hunger stricken, often resulting to deaths, children being the most affected. In the novel, Oyo is unhappy with the Man for not accepting the bribe since their family was poor, something that made the man feel guilty afterwards. Political rhetoric makes good part of our politics. The politicians say a lot during campaigns; write good manifestos which they never implement when they get to power (Richards 2009, p.110). 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