ABSTRACT
Ghana's independence in 1957 marked the beginning of the end of direct colonial rule in Africa. In the short period between 1957 and 1961, most of West and Equatorial Africa had won its independence. The imposition of the European notion of centralised power and authority, perhaps more than anything else, account for the fragility of the African continent in the modern world. The parochialisation of the political realm has not only exacerbated the socio-political and economic disparities between and within African states, but crucially it has also played a central role in institutionalizing corruption. In retrospect, Fanon's notion of renovating violence, that real freedom for Africans could be won only by destruction, true liberation only through fire, has proved to be an ultimate perfidy. The Commission for Africa and the resultant focus of the 2005 and 2006 Group of Eight industrialised countries meeting on Africa reflects a renewed international soul searching about how best to arrest the continent's underdevelopment.
