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Prof Lumumba calls for African Unity

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The Pan-Africanist scholar Professor Patrick Lumumba has called on Africans both on the continents and the diaspora to unite.

Delivering a lecture on Pan-Africanism that was organised by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Prof Lumumba also warned Africans about the challenges that they are likely to face during and after COVID-19 pandemic.

He is known for raffling feathers and on Sunday, he didn’t disappoint as he delivered the virtual lecture from Nairobi Kenya.

“If Africans think that they can respect their so-called boundaries in these little unviable countries, then God save them. But God is not in the business of saving those who have chosen to embrace stupidity for its own sake…It is not our Tanzania-ness that matters, it is not our Kenya-ness, it is not our Uganda-ness or South Africa-ness that matters; it is our Africa-ness,” Lumumba says.

As the world is battling novel coronavirus, Prof Lumumba says Africans are likely to bear the brunt and effect of the pandemic.

The issue of Xenophobia continues to haunt the African continent. There have been reports of Africans being harassed in some countries around the world.

“When the Chinese are punishing our Africans in Guangzhou in China during this coronavirus period, they make no distinction between Nigerian and Ghanaian and Kenyan; all they see is our black skin. When we are being humiliated in European airports and are asked for all manners of vaccinations and I suspect that in the coming future, we will not go to Europe unless we have a vaccine which is manufactured by Roche or some other pharmaceutical in Europe; we will not be allowed to go to that part of the world.”

Pan-Africanism

Prof Lumumba made a passionate plea to Africans to continue pursuing Pan-Africanism. He also sent a strong message to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who is also the Chairperson of the African Union, saying he can lead Pan-Africanism in building a better and united continent

“How I wish that when he leaves that office of the chair of the AU, he will have embraced the spirit of Kwame Nkrumah, he will have embraced the spirit of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, he will have embraced the spirit of Thomas Sankara, he will have embraced the spirit of Modibo Keita, he will have embraced the spirit of Ahmed Ben Bella, he will have embraced the spirit of Amilcar Cabral, he will have embraced the spirit of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and he will lead the continent towards unity so that historians may remember him fondly.”

The message comes as President Ramaphosa’s plan to oversee the implementation of the African Continental Free trade agreement is likely to be derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic that has crippled the global economy.

The Pan-Africanist scholar Professor Patrick Lumumba has called on Africans both on the continent and the diaspora to unite. Below is his Full Lecture on Pan-Africanism:

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