I am in Tanzania; I am seeing young aspirational Africans, just like myself. Apart from my Kenyan Swahili, which by the way is heavily adulterated with slang, you cannot pick me out as a foreigner. Isn’t it amazing, that you cannot pick me out as Kenyan in this hot and humid coast of Dare Salam until I gear up to say something or the other. It consciously reminds me that all Africans generally share irrepressible similarities no matter the nationality. The last time I was here I met a Ugandan Lady from the Langó tribe, when spoke in her language I could understand her because I have a small ear for Dholuo from the Luos of Kenya.
Stories, I am here to support, ‘Liberty awareness Campaign,’ a libertarian outreach campaign run by very good colleague and friend Isaac Danford. I Like it, I like it that the roots of Libertarianism are taking ground in Africa. The project is similar to the Caravan of Liberty Kenya, the challenges the same, the joys the same and the satisfaction that comes from a new libertarian group formed, a new student hearkening to the message and ideology of liberty the same, a new institution affording us good will.
The biggest joys, I and my colleagues, in this business of spreading liberty have are quite a number. These are the joys that spring from a people whose thought system we change. In my country Kenya, people have undue and an almost infallible faith in institutions and authorities, people place their hopes on the government and other supra-national organizations such as the United Nations. They believe that these institutions have the power and ability to eradicate all their problems. Not once, do the people pose and reflect as to what the real wealth in society is. Not once, have the people ever realized that they are the real wealth of the nation. Not once have they ever realized that the national wealth is a collective that accrues from the hard work, diligence and intelligence of individuals in society. Not once have people, (large swathes of African people) realized that these institutions especially governments, are functions of contracts among people. Governments are institutions created in trust by people; citizens form the trusteeship of any government, this fact needs much more buttressing especially being that it is that African governments have a certain preponderance of being rapacious. African governments have this nasty knack habit of feeding the same finger that feeds them.
The joys of spreading Libertarianism spring from seeing a new generation of young Africans, develop a new sense of faith in themselves. The joys of spreading Libertarianism stem from bringing into the fore; a new sense of self-belief, a can do attitude among young Africans.
In most outreaches I have been to, most African students have been overawed by the correlation between freedom and development. Everyone on this hallowed continent has craved for development, every person has craved for a time when majority of the people would be free from the debilitating effects of poverty. There is such a strong correlation between freedom and development, that the motto of the Eastern Africa Policy Centre is, ‘Freedom and Development.’ Un-free people seldom prosper and there are hordes of institutions and cultures on this continent that instigate debilitating imperialism; government, a culture of dependence on foreign aid, supra national organizations and our very own defeatist mind-sets.
Of all things that have never been clear on this continent, it has never been clear that among peoples of the African continent that, ‘we have never had the freedom to escape from poverty.’
Freedom to escape poverty is among the very key freedoms we seek to claim for Africa. We seek to make Africans understand that the major tools to escape from poverty lie in us; our hard work and our intelligence. For Africa shall all sing a joyful song when we Africans believe in her ability to solve her problems.
[photo: A Libertarian Outreach event in Africa]
