THE BIG DEBATE: Did the Coming of the White Man to Africa Do More Good Than Harm?

Dear GC Readers and fellow debaters who may take me up on my stand in making the obvious clearer, that indeed, the coming of the white man to Africa brought more good than harm…

In my entire life, I’ve heard about people throw stones at the coming of the white man to Africa, saying, Africa would have been better today if they did not come to steal from us, if they did not to enslave our people and if they did not come to divide our people among others. What most of these people who forget is the fact that, there is always going to be two sides to every situation at any point in time and it is when the two sides are carefully weighed that you can actually establish where to position yourself.

Of course, the coming of the white man to Africa did a lot of harm but this debate is not about whether some harm was caused, rather, if the harm caused was more than the good—or the vice versa.

I will start by saying, one of the greatest things the white man brought to Africa that has become the underlying architecture of everything we do, ranging from our source of morality to our understanding of life is CHRISTIANIY & ISLAM. It was estimated in 2002 that Christians formed 40% of the continent’s population, with Muslims forming 45%—and it is believed that these percentages have increased astronomically, today.

Even if we decide to go by the above percentages, the traditional African religion will just have about 10-12%, making room for those who have no belief. If indeed the white man brought these religions to Africa which we have in might accept in such high percentages, was their coming to Africa not a great force for good, considering what Christianity and Islam has brought us?

Secondly, the coming of the white man to Africa introduced western or formal education to many parts of Africa. I would have loved to say, the white man brought formal/western education but that would probably be too far-fetched. Even if we cannot agree on the fact that the white man actually brought formal education/western education to Africa, I believe we will all agree on the fact that, the early missionaries were instrumental in taking formal/western education to all the corners as they propagated the Gospel and the teachings of Mohammed.

Can you even attempt to imagine Africa without formal education/western education some centuries back and today? Education they say is the key to success—and therefore, I believe I can boldly say, the white man brought to Africa our key to success.

Furthermore, the coming of the white man to Africa brought us trade. With the early Africans engaging in profitable trade enterprises with these foreigners, what else would we have asked for? We had Gold, Diamonds and several resources but what was the point if we could not trade them for the things we really needed or wanted—things like gun powder, mirrors, gin and at some point money and developing technologies.

Again, how can people even assert that the coming of the white man to Africa brought more harm than good, considering the ‘countlessly uncountable’ developmental projects such as building of schools, hospitals, railway lines, factories and other socio-economic facilities that the white man brought to us—through colonization and trade. For example, under the leadership of Governor Gordon Guggisberg in Ghana from the short period of 1919 to 1929, there was the energetically and much needed development and extension of railways, and he created the deep-water harbour of Takoradi. He also commissioned the Accra’s Korle Bu Teaching Hospital which was the finest and most modern institution of its kind in colonial Africa at the time. And today, it even stands as one of our greatest national assets…

Apart from the above, Guggisberg in Ghana extended the Accra – Tafo rail line to Kumasi.  A new line from Kade to Huni valley was constructed to serve the Cocoa and timber areas of the Central Province, and by the time of his departure, 128 Kilometers of rail lines had been completed.  Guggisberg added 168 Kilometers of rail line to the 430 which existed before he took over.

Let us not remember that, the Achimota School among others were build by him too. Across Africa, such developmental projects were the hallmark of the white’s invasion and activities…

Importantly, the white man brought western democracy to Africa—which by far has not been a total blessing but still remains the best form of tested system of governance the world has ever known. I cannot even imagine Africa without western democracy which gives voices and rights to the poor to be able to part of national governance and political situations…

Let me also add that, without the coming of the white man to Africa, we would probably not have had some of our most cherished persons like Jomo Kenyatta from Kenya, Kwame Nkrumah from Ghana, Nnamdi Azikiwe from Nigeria and others who were all educated in the West through the established connection of the white man coming to Africa…

Just as I stated in the beginning, surely the coming of the white man to Africa did some harm but the numerous good the coming brought which only a few could be highlighted, far outweighs the harm…

Now let’s hear the other debaters and commenters….

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