African Agenda is the Solution to Salvage Africa - Halifa Sallah

Presenting a paper on Pan-Africanism last Tuesday as part of activities marking 2008 African Liberation Day at a ceremony held at the TANGO office in Kanifing, Mr Sallah acknowledged that development work is about people, hence the readiness of development workers to talk about people.

He lamented that Africans hardly reflect on why Africa is the way it is today. He noted that unity is a pivotal tool for a total liberation of the African continent.

"Pan Africanism is not about narration of events as history is a road map. Thus we should understand the pillars that enable us create Africa whose people can be the architects of their own developmental projects," he said.

Dilating on the causes of African isolation and marginalisation, Mr Sallah explained that some Africans in the Diaspora went into research and discovered that history of people changes and that Africans came to be subjected to subjugation when colonial masters discovered vast land and resources in the continent. This, he noted, tempted the colonial masters to turn to Africa and subject its citizens to torture and killings just to demonstrate an obscure idea of superior class, noting that that marked the beginning of racism. "This was how the colonial masters started to organise fraternal solidarity to maintain their dominance. If we are to liberate ourselves, we must learn from the history left for us in order to understand the kind of society we are facing", he concluded.