Winning the Fight Against Corruption:

A Sustainable Path to Afrika’s Transformation

Delivered at the Afrikan Liberation Day Commemoration
University of Seychelles
24 May 2018

By: Thando Sipuye

Introductory Remarks:
Uhuru Afrika!

Harambe Afrika!

Nguvu Nyeusi!

Black Power!

Jah RasTafari!

Uhuru means ‘Freedom’. Harambe means ‘Let Us Pull Together”. Nguvu Nyeusi means ‘Black
Power’.

Sons & daughters of the Soil, brothers and sisters, we are taught in Afrika to always begin every
important occasion by inviting the presence of the Divine Ancestors, and I can find no other
important occasion than this Afrikan Liberation Day commemoration here at the University of
Seychelles.

And so as we begin this occasion, we invoke the spirits of the Afrikan Gods. In one part of the
continent he is called Ausar (Osiris) and she is called Auset (Isis), in another part of the continent
she is called Oshun and he is called Ogun, in another part of Afrika she is called Mwari,
uNkulunkulu, uMvelinqangi, uModimo, Qamata, Olorun, Kalunga, Nzambi, Nyame, Yala, Imana,
Mkhulumncandi, Meketa, Chuku, Oludumare

We invoke the spirit of our Divine Afrikan Ancestors, the First Way Ancestors, those that came
before us and sacrificed their lives for freedom. Descend upon us; dwell amongst us, and arouse
our souls and consciousness.

We invite the presence of the Founding Father of Afrikan Unity, that Great Son of Ethiopia, the
Lion of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie The First who crushed and defeated
the fascist Mussollini

Queen Yaa Asantewaa, Mother of Ghana who fought against the invading British imperialist
forces.

Queen Muhumusa of Uganda, Queen Nzinga of Angola, Mbuya Nehanda of Zimbabwe.

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, the mother of Fela Kuti, Queen Nanny of the Maroons in Jamaica,
Urbania Mothopeng of the PAC.

We invoke the spirit and invite the presence of that great son of Afrika, Robert Mangaliso
Sobukwe, Bantu Stephen Biko, Zephania Mothopeng in Azania, Samora Machele in
Mozambique, Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Marcus
Garvey, Malcom X and Khalid Muhammad in the United States of America.

Divine Afrikan-blood Ancestors. We invite your presence here. Descend upon up, be with us and
amongst us and fill up our minds and hearts with renewed rigour and vigour towards Afrikan
freedom. We invite all those named and un-named, those known and un-known, those who have
gone before and those yet to come. Divine Afrikan Ancestors, may your spirits ever reign.
I greet you all in the name of Emperor Haile Selassie I, the Founding Father of the Organization
of Afrikan Unity (OAU) and a champion for the cause of Afrikan liberation. I greet you all in the
divine names of our Ancestors, on whose shoulders we stand, whose blood runs through our
veins, and whose experiences are encoded in our genetic memory and our collective
consciousness.

It is a great honour to be given this great opportunity to speak to you on a very important subject
as we commemorate the 55th anniversary of the founding of the OAU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on
the 25th May 1963, as well as the 17 years since its reconstitution as the African Union on May
26, 2001. I’d like to extend my thanks and appreciation to Ras Pyek of Bling Bling Poetry
Association and the Creative Industries and National Events Agency (CINEA) for inviting me to
be a part of this historic event.

I have been asked to speak on this year’s theme of the African Union for Africa Month, which is:
“Winning the Fight Against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Afrika’s Transformation”.

The subject of corruption in Afrika is indeed a thorny and complex subject; it is a subject deeply
intertwined with, coded, coated, structured and embedded in the age-old racist colonial narratives
and perceptions about Afrika and Afrikan people. Corruption is a subject of national importance
and discourse in various countries throughout the Afrikan continent, widely condemned and
detested. It has enriched a few politically connected individual, kleptocrats and elites, while
starving and killing off millions of ordinary people in Afrika. Corruption permeates all aspects and
facets of business, political, cultural and social life of people in Afrika, and it sis the declared
enemy of the people here, there and everywhere.

It is for this reason and in this context that the Afrikan Union (AU) has chosen this theme.

As you all know, the Organization of Afrikan Unity (OAU) was established on the 25th May 1963 at
the height of optimism when Afrika was decolonizing, as a continental body endowed with the
responsibility of facilitating the political, economic and cultural unit of Afrika. On the 26th May 2001
leaders of the Afrikan states reconstituted and reconfigured the OAU as Afrikan Union (AU) of
today.

But the Afrikan Union (AU) is a microcosm of the greater crisis of leadership, mis-rule and mis-
governance bedevilling the Afrikan continent. Since its formation, it has remained a toothless dog
in the greater scheme of world politics. The Afrikan Union (AU) has been nothing but a circus, a
jamboree of kleptomaniacs and stupendous oligarchs without vision for Afrika.

Under the authority of this elitist institution, the Afrikan continent has stagnated and regressed
into the abys of human civilization, subtly recast as the worst and less developed nation in the
world. The Afrikan Union (AU) has produced no real substantive and qualitative changes for
Afrikan people. To the contrary, it has proved itself to be a mickey-mouse body incapable of
asserting the dignity, interests and sovereignty of Afrikan people in the 21st century.

Largely dependent on our erstwhile enslavers, colonisers and white imperialist business
conglomerates and tycoons for its operational funding, the Afrikan Union (AU) has failed to unite
African people. And if we are to move forward and build Afrika today we must be honest with
ourselves and speak truth to power without any fear or compromise.

As we are gathered here today at the University of Seychelles, the carnival of Afrikan leaders is
descending into Addis Ababa, assembiling at Afrika Hall. But as history informs us, this meeting
of the Afrikan Union (AU) will bear no fruits for the millions of suffering and struggling Afrikan
people at home and abroad. Afrika leaders will merely wine, dine and make sweet speeches that
will have no bearing or positive impact in qualitatively changing the lives Afrikan people. The
Afirkan Union (AU) has failed to deliver on its mandate, failed to serve, advance and protect the
geopolitical, economic and cultural interests of Afrikan people.

But why has the Afrikan Union (AU) failed us; why has this constituted body of Afrikan leaders
proved itself incapable of administering the affairs of the Afrikan continent?
The answer to this critical queston was given to us 50 years ago by the Osagyefo Dr Kwame
Nkrumah when he spoke and warned Afrikan leaders about neo-colonialism. Deeply concerned
about the state of Afrikan leadership after independence – and the continued dominance of
European colonialist powers over Afrika – the Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah developed a
theoretical framework for the completion of the Afrikan world revolution.

He wrote the book ‘Neo-Colonialism, the Last stage of Imperialism’ in which he exposed in great
detail the mechanics and operations of white supremacy in the continued oppression and
mismanagement of Afrika after so-called independence. Nkrumah agitated and warned that
without a united Afrikan continent the isolated and fragmented Afrikan states would continue to
be outposts of imperialism, whose domestic and national affairs would still be dictated and
directed by Europeans in Brussels, London, Paris, Lisbon or Washington.

Kwame Nkrumah said:

“The neo-colonialism of today represents imperialism in its final and perhaps its most dangerous
stage… The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is, in theory,
independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic
system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.”

On the 17th January 1961, the neo-colonialism that Nkrumah had warned against reared its
venomous head. This period saw the emergence of neo-colonialist puppet military dictatorships
accompanied by civil wars in Afrika, sponsored and financed by white imperialism.

Congolese nationalist leader and Pan-Afrikanist, Patrice Emery Lumumba was savagely
murdered along with two of his political associates, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. Lumumba
and his colleagues were driven to an isolated spot in the forest of the Congo where three firing
squads had been assembled. They were lined up, tied to a tree and shot to death. Their bodies
were then mutilated and dismembered, thrown into tin drums, dissolved with concentrated
sulphuric acid and burnt to ashes. Their bones were crushed and scattered. The Belgians, the
English and Americans had conspired together with the neo-colonialist puppets in Congo to
destroy Lumumba.

On the 13th October 1961 Burundian Nationalist leader, Lousi Rwagasore, was assassinated.
Military coups followed in Congo, Dahomey, and the Central Afrikan Republic.

On the 13th January 1963 the Togolese military staged an armed coup that led to the
assassination of President Slyvanus Olympio.

On the 24th February 1966, while away on a diplomatic mission to the Vietnam and China, the
government of the Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown and Nkrumah was forced into
exile in Guinea as guest of President Sekou Toure who made him honourary co-President of
Guinea. Nkrumah was betrayed by his most trusted military official and generals.

On the 03rd February 1969, founding President of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO),
Eduardo Chivambu Mondlane, was brutally killed by a bomb planted in a book.

On the 20th January 1973, revolutionary leader of the African Party for the Independence of
Guinea and Cape Verde (PAICG), Amilcar Cabral was murdered by Inocencio Kani, a fellow
comrade and naval commander in the PAICG.

And on the 15th October 1987, the Upright Man, revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso, Thomas
Sankara, was killed by an armed group with twelve other government officials in a coup d'état
organised by his best friend and former colleague, the traitor Blaise Compaoré.

These are just some of the orchestrated murders and assassinations that opened way for neo-
colonialism to thrive in Afrika. All the genuine leaders who placed the interests of Afrikan people
before personal benefits were killed. All these leaders were betrayed and sold out by trusted
friends, comrades and colleagues who collaborated and colluded with the imperialist enemy.
Since then, Afrika has been mis-ruled and mis-governed by a spate of traitors, sell-outs and neo-
colonialist military dictatorships with narrow selfish interests, many of whom run the state in Afrika
as their personal properties. In fact, in some parts of the continent these neo-colonialist puppet
regimes have given birth to political dynasties that have seen some of the children of politicians
ascend to political office without any legitimacy.

It is against this background that we must overstand the monster bedevilling Afrika today.
Corruption in Afrika is a symptom of the persistence of white supremacy. Corruption is the logical
state of existence and being under neo-colonialism, and for as long as Afrika is still controlled by
white supremacist institutions like the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), World Bank, European Union and the G8, as long as Afrikan leaders still receive perks and
order from Brussels, London, Paris, Lisbon or Washington, the demon of corruption will never be
exorcized. It will continue to erode Afrikan governments and kill Black people by the millions.

Corruption is neo-colonialist violence, prevailing because our leaders have internalised white
supremacist values and ways of being. We have lost our soul and consciousness.

Afrikan leaders are corrupt today because the State institutions they have inherited and manage
were established through murder, genocide, land dispossessions and corruption of the values
and lives of Afrikan people. We Have become corrupt through a process of coercion, deceit,
manipulation, whitemailing and treachery.

The origins of institutional corruption in Afrika has its genesis in the Arab and European invasions
of the continent and the subsequent destruction of Black civilizations. It is these invasions of
colonial conquest which started in the 14th and 15th centuries as stated by Dr Chancellor Williams
in his book the Destruction of Black Civilizations, that obliterated our indigenous knowledge
systems, perverted our cultural rituals, norms, politics and economics, and arrested the Afrikan
worldview, corrupting our sacred value systems.

Consequently therefore, we see that in fact Afrika’s major problem is that the foundations upon
which our social, economic, cultural and political insitutions is established is completely flawed.
Afrikans have not built any institutions that assert their dignity and sovereignty in the 21st century.

Afrikan leader have become self-serving stoogies of global white supremacy, having internalised
and embraced colonial values such that their very modes of behaviour, their very modes of being,
modes of governance emulate the oppressor. In true eurocentric mimicry, our governments are
largely patriarchal and centred around male figures, silencing, erasing women.

So in speaking about corruption, we must emphasize tha this is not a uniquely Afrikan
pehnomemon; Afrikan people are not inherently corrupt. Corruption is in fact the necessary by-
product of white western world democracy and we have seen its persistence throughout the
world.

Recently we have heard the stories of how Donal Trump and his family are enriching themselves
at the expense of the State in America.

We have heard of the stories of corruption in South Korea which hs resulted in the arrest of
former President Park Geun-Hye.

We have heard the allegations of corruption levelled against Samsung’s acting head, Lee Jae-
Youg.

We have all heard the scandals of corruption of FIFA bosses including Sepp Blatter.

In Brazil, we have also herd of stories of corruption levelled against frmer presidents, Dilma
Rousseff and Lula Da Silava.
And in the youngest settler colony in the world, the illegitimate state of Israel, every Prime
Minister since 1996 has been a subject of a corruption scandal, including the current murderer,
Benyamin Netanyahu.

And so we must never fall into the trap of thinking that corruption is uniquely an Afrikan problem.
It is not. And in fact Afrika’s number one problem and challenge is not so much corruption than
the acceptance of continued domination by European cultural, political, economic and social
institutions.

Afrika’s number one problem today is how to position itself as a world-super power in the 21st
century in the midst of white supremacy disguised as ‘democracy’, ‘good governance’, ‘human
rights’ and ‘constitutionalism’ which serve colonial interests.

And so what must be done:

There are four main threats to Afrikan Survival in the 21st century that we must be aware of:
Chemical & Biological Warfare (the poisoning of our food and inventing diseases in military
laboratories to depopulate us), Foreign Land invasions by corporations (as evidenced by the
advancement of the Chinese in parts of Afrika), cultural genocide (with the acceptance of
degenrate European behaviour and values as universal) and integration (leaders who want to
serve ‘humanity’ and everyone but the Afrikan).

Nigerian scholar, Dr Chinweizu says that:

“The Black race will be exterminated if it does not build a black superpower in Afrika by the end of
the 21st century”

And it is this threat of extinction that we must guard against. Our global genocide is already
currently underway. And indeed our values and our worldview are on the verge of extinction.

We must therefore look into building the great superpower that Marcus Garvey dreamed of
establishing, a state that will be Pan-Afrikanist in content and serve the interests of Afrikan people
wherever they are in the world. This will be an Afrikan super-power with authority, asserting the
dignity and sovereignty of Afrikan people.

We must build Afrikan-centred institutions to ensure that this happens. The educational curricular
of institutions in Afrika must be Afrikan-centred and based on the Afrikan experience and our
worldviews. We must rethink our approach to spirituality as we have been colonized and captured
by Arab & European religions.

We must reimagine our old cultures and invent new cultures to serve Afrika. And culture is not
simply things like music, food, dance and clothing. Culture is the immune system of a people,
their supreme defense against alien invasion. And when a people’s culture has been
compromised, they have been completely annihilated.

And I want to end with the words of two great Afrikans: Patrice Lumumba who said to us “we
must dare t invent the future” and Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe who said “Afrika will not retreat.
Afrika will not compromise. Afrika will not relent. Afrika will not equivocate. And she will be heard.
Remember Afrika”.

I thank you.