The Political Philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah on Neocolonialism and the Current Debt Situation in Africa

The Political Philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah on Neocolonialism and the Current Debt Situation in Africa

Abstract

The paper examines the political philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah on Neocolonialism and the current debt situation in Africa. To achieve these objectives, the study used qualitative and content analysis methods in analyzing the information generated for the study. Cases and instances from the content analysis showed that: most African countries were in debt almost as soon as they gained political independence. The amount of debt has been constantly rising since then. Findings of the paper observed that currently, African governments spend huge chunks of their annual revenue just to service loans, money that could go quite a distance in developing their economies. From this, it is evident that Africa’s wealth is being repatriated to the richer countries in the west, just like it was in the colonial days, but masked under “debt servicing”, and thus Nkrumah’s notion of economic colonialism. The paper concludes that decade and a half after the massive debt forgiveness; African countries face another debt crisis, since 2013, the region’s debt has been on the rise, with the median debt ratio as per cent of GDP increasing from 31 per cent in 2012 to 57 per cent in 2020. The study recommends that Fiscal policies will need to play a greater role in maintaining debt sustainability in the future, Capacity building and strengthening are needed at all levels, including in the area of debt and risk management, financial management, research, and knowledge generation to foster commensurate regulatory capacity.

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