ABSTRACT
Africa’s considerable progress in recent times makes the pitiable image of a “basket-case continent” worthy of serious rethink even by the most vociferous of Afro-pessimists. There have been considerable improvements in the economic sector; the political situation is becoming more stable and military coups that once dominated its political spaces have all but disappeared; the socio-economic situation is showing visible signs of positive change; some of the conflicts that brought the continent to the tribunal of international attention, like the Rwandan genocide and the civil wars in Angola, Liberia, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone, have been resolved, and all the other continents of the world have realised the considerable promises coming from Africa. Despite all this, some important contradictions continue to make Africa something of a mystery, dictating the need to be cautious and reject any euphoria. The paradox of a decade of stellar economic growth that has failed to reduce poverty and has even increased inequality; the improving indicators of good governance amidst entrenched rule, persistent corruption and continuing repression; the welcome pivot away from traditional aid towards new partners (China), taking the continent away from one set of neo-colonial relationships to new relations that can be argued to be equally if not more exploitative; the irony of a youth that is impacting the world through innovations in music and sporting talents, but still sees itself as the neglected majority in an unjust social order; the set of international organisations making giant strands at harnessing regional and continental resources for the advancement of regional and continental growth but at the same time having members that treat each other more as rivals than partners, and so on, are some of the contradictions that make an enigma out of Africa’s transition from a “problem to be solved” into an “Agency”. This concluding chapter, has four objectives: the first is to provide an overview of the “problem to be solved” phase of Africa’s history; the second is to reiterate the features exhibited by the metamorphosis from problem to voice; the third is to interrogate the various 184politics and issues surrounding the “African voice”, while the fourth is to discuss the challenges Africa still faces in its search for audible and enduing “voice”.
