The Path to Liberty in Africa

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THE PATH TO LIBERTY IN AFRICA By Adewale R. Bankole . Liberty is the ability to live one’s life as one wishes while respecting the lives of others, “You own your life”. In order to live, one must produce those things that sustain life. What you are able to produce or invent turns out to be your product, or "the fruits of your labour’’. Your product is your property, which is the result of your creative thinking, your time and energy to innovate and bring unimaginable ideas to reality, which are valuables that can be exchanged with mutual agreement. In turn, a good government will exist only to protect this liberty, "your liberty’’, not to redistribute wealth, nor to grant special privileges, nor to interfere with the lives of individuals. The government of a free country, properly speaking, rests not in its elected officials but in its laws. This is usually known as "government of laws, not of men". Taking it up from this premise, Africa more than any other continent has suffered most from the near absence of liberty. The distortion of African freedom dates back to the days of the slave trade and the colonial era. The colonial period is gone and long forgotten; still many African nations have spent their post-colonial era trying various forms of failed government, including Marxism and military rule. Of all the several effects of slavery, of which Africa had more than most, the slavery of the mind is the greatest and worst. Slaves don’t have the rights even to think on their own or to experiment with new ideas; slaves don’t own anything; slaves don’t invest or buy because they have been bought. This is the only effective method slave-masters use in retaining lordship over their subjects. Consequently, tyranny in modern governments is to some extent a carryover from the colonial era which is long over but has bequeathed a seemingly everlasting effect.

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