Story by, Paul Mensah Nsor
In a groundbreaking International conference commemorating the 5th Pan-African Congress in Accra, Ghana, leading scholars delivered a scathing historical critique of Africa's persistent economic challenges, tracing the continent's systemic underdevelopment to centuries of brutal imperial exploitation.
Dr. Gamel Nasser Adam, Vice President of Islamic University, led a compelling presentation that meticulously deconstructed how the transatlantic slave trade and subsequent colonial policies systematically dismantled Africa's socio-economic potential. The research presented a stark narrative of how external forces deliberately arrested the continent's technological and industrial evolution.
The scholars revealed shocking statistics about the transatlantic slave trade's devastating impact. Approximately 60 million Africans were forcibly uprooted, with an estimated 345 additional people dying for every single slave captured. This wasn't merely a demographic catastrophe, but a targeted extraction of the continent's most productive human capital.
"The slave trade removed the flower of African manhood," one researcher noted, emphasizing that those taken were not just laborers, but skilled craftsmen, artisans, miners, and technologically sophisticated segments of society. This selective depopulation effectively "castrated" Africa's developmental trajectory.
Contrary to prevalent narratives, the researchers highlighted that pre-slavery, African technological capabilities were often superior to Western counterparts. African mining technologies were so advanced that the first wave of enslaved Africans were specifically transported to South America to assist in silver and gold mining.
The constant slave raids created perpetual population instability, preventing the normal generational transmission of knowledge and technological achievements. This disruption meant that while Europe was experiencing its Industrial Revolution, Africa was systematically prevented from participating or developing parallel industrial capacities.
The conference critically examined the notion that colonial powers brought infrastructure to Africa. Speakers argued that transportation networks—typically running vertically from coastal regions to inland territories—were designed exclusively to extract resources, not to develop local economies.
"These infrastructures were physical arteries for bleeding colonies of their wealth," one scholar explained, noting that colonial powers deliberately avoided establishing even basic manufacturing facilities. As a stark example, British colonial authorities in Ghana never established a single factory, not even a match-making facility, during their entire colonial presence.
The researchers also unveiled the dark financial origins of prominent institutions. They noted that banks like Barclays were directly funded by slave trade profits, with the Barclay brothers being prominent slave traders who used their earnings to establish their banking empire.
The discussion extended beyond historical analysis, arguing that contemporary African economic challenges are direct descendants of these imperial strategies. The continent remains structurally dependent, with economic models and intellectual frameworks still fundamentally neo-colonial in nature.
Scholars recommended key texts for deeper understanding, including Walter Rodney's seminal work "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" and Kwame Nkrumah's "Africa Must Unite", which provide comprehensive examinations of these historical dynamics.
The conference concluded with a powerful call to reimagine African development, challenging current economic models and advocating for strategies that genuinely center African technological and industrial sovereignty.
As one researcher poignantly stated, understanding this history is not about assigning blame, but about comprehending the structural challenges that continue to shape the continent's economic landscape.
The 5th Pan-African Congress thus emerges not just as a historical commemoration, but as a critical platform for redefining Africa's developmental narrative.
