There is this surreal experience about being an African that dissociates one from the lived experience. Throughout the course of the last century till modern times, African nations have fought trial and error to consolidate their traditional values with Western viewpoints. African governments never seem to operate as efficiently or as swiftly as their Western counterparts, although we place blame on corruption—and rightfully so. Once we delve behind the corruption we notice considerable cracks in the socio-economic reality of most African states.

African corruption stems from greed—a greed so imbedded in the identity of many African governments that it has become the status quo, the impoverishment of freedom withheld for so long coupled with the lack of opportunities and resources denied to Black people developed a systematic hunger that is still yet to be quenched. When most countries gained independence, the nourishment of having disposable opportunities created overindulgence in many politicians. They just couldn’t have enough after having so little for so long. The assessment of this article is from the viewpoint of the civilian state, how the effects of governments have impacted our worldview, and how it’s affecting our thinking as well as our outlook on many things.

What happens when the cultural characteristics that are influential to the advancement of our society cannot fully reveal themselves through African institutions because they are buried under Western institutional systems that we adopted? Institutions don’t conform to our traditional values or character since the cultural realisations that affect how we perceive the world are distorted by the ineffective ability of governments to provide the necessary tools and systems that fully enhance African development.

In a globalised world where the quote on quote first world countries lead us in nearly all societal categories, we are always playing catch up, always on the back-foot, always receiving the short end of the stick. We blame corruption, but behind corruption are people who are in power, people who live on our continent who know all too well the struggles we have.

We find that there is dissociation between African people and the government institutions they run, work for, or develop because they are disconnected to the value surrounding their work, and to a certain extent they are disconnected from any emotional attachment to a national cultural system. This usually develops in two ways. The top end of government positions where the bureaucracy operates is disconnected to the frailties of the normal civilian, but more importantly they have disjointed networks with the civil servants who implement the necessary policies. The civil servants on the other hand are disconnected to the importance of these policies and their work. They understand the plight of the everyday man, but they don’t have the means to do anything about it.

This usually means that even when government institutions have the right mindset of developing the necessary policies that advance societies and communities, they hardly ever reach the intended outcome. What one finds is that implementing structural policies is difficult due in part to broken systems that are disjointed in their workforce culture. Without compounding advancement of our values, ideas, schools of thought distinct to Africa, we are stagnant in our innovative pursuits hence we are always behind everyone else. The feeling of this ineffectiveness is highlighted by a 20th century movement known as Negritude.

“Négritude was primarily a cultural movement with political aspects being indirect and secondary. It was devoted to defining and expressing the special, distinctive, cultural characteristics of Black people and then to asserting the worth of those distinctive characteristics.” The assertion of the worthy distinctive characteristics which drive Black people is what most African governments lack. We have defined identities as individuals, as communities, and even as ethnic groups, however, the national identity is lacking specifically in government institutions.

“If Blackness shrinks or feels limited under the crushing, often insidiously damaging weight of Western systems of oppression, specifically the endemic tolls of structural racism, then the extraordinary space to construct new realities is absent and is replaced by absurdist visions that reconfigure what Blackness can achieve. The negative connotation of this oppression leads to a break in how the mind handles information. This dissociation affects all areas of life in one way or another. Dissociation is a break in how your mind handles information. You may feel disconnected from your thoughts, feelings, memories, and surroundings. It can affect your sense of identity and your perception of time.”

The absurd reality of this dissociation has manifested itself in modern times negatively towards non-patriotic arrangements that leave individuals and communities in a continuous loop that is fixated on systems that do not serve them. They cannot rid themselves from the bondage because there is nothing behind these government structural systems to fall back on. It’s easier to continue the absurd reality of serving a regime that you know is not in your best interest rather than question its social value.