Trump’s humiliation is a wake-up call for African leaders

BY OLU ALLEN

What unfolded recently between former US President Donald Trump and African leaders was not diplomacy—it was ritualised subjugation. A spectacle of dominance broadcast to the world. And the most damning part? The silence. The sheepish smiles. The unprotesting acceptance.

First, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa was ambushed on foreign soil and subjected to a tirade unfit for private conversation, let alone global consumption. Then Liberia’s Joseph Boakai and Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye — the latter once touted as a symbol of Africa’s defiant new generation — reduced to props in a geopolitical theatre where they were never cast as equals.

The Scene

A sitting president asked where he learned to speak English “so well,” as if Liberia—a nation forged by freed Black Americans—were some linguistic backwater. The patronising tone was no accident. It was a calculated assertion of hierarchy, a reminder that in this “dialogue,” one party stands while the other kneels.

Then, Senegal’s young leader, instead of demanding investment in infrastructure or education, reportedly requested a golf course. Not a technology park, not a rail network, but a playground for elites. The symbolism is grotesque: a continent hemorrhaging talent and capital grovels for frivolities while the world watches.

This is not leadership. It is the 21st-century echo of the colonial masquerade—same submission, finer suits. Where Kunta Kinte resisted his enslavers’ renaming, some of today’s leaders auction their dignity for photo ops and vague promises. The whip is gone; the will to resist went with it.

The Core Crisis

Africa’s problem is not poverty, nor geography. It is a dignity deficit among its ruling class. No resource-rich nation that grovels will ever be respected. The colonial hangover has outlasted colonialism itself because we’ve preserved its psychological architecture:

Education systems that prize fluency in French and English over mastery of local languages and histories. Economic models predicated on external salvation, not internal innovation.

A political culture where summits with Western leaders are conflated with achievement, and “aid” is mistaken for partnership.

When African presidents fly to Washington or Brussels not to negotiate but to beg, they perform a role written for them centuries ago. The tragedy? Many still believe it’s the only script available.

The False Outrage

Many clutched their pearls over Trump’s racism—as if the real scandal isn’t the dehumanisation, but that we accepted it with bowed heads. The issue isn’t how the beggar is treated; it’s that he’s begging at all. When did we normalise this? When did we decide that a continent capable of feeding, powering, and educating itself must queue for crumbs?

The Way Forward

1. Reject the Begging Bowl: No more “aid” that infantilises. Demand trade, not tribute. China extracts minerals but at least builds roads; the West offers sermons and scraps. Both are inadequate. Africa must negotiate as equals or not at all.

2. Educate for Sovereignty: Schools should teach why Belgium’s King Leopold butchered millions in Congo, not just how to conjugate French verbs. Dignity begins with memory.

3. Reward Assertive Leadership: Celebrate leaders who reject theatrics—like Namibia’s Hage Geingob, who demanded German reparations for genocide, or Botswana’s Mokgweetsi Masisi, who threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Europe if trophy bans continued.

4. Uplift Quiet Victories: Recognise efforts like Ghana’s push to reclaim looted colonial artifacts or Kenya’s growing assertiveness in regional trade. These may not dominate headlines, but they are the seedlings of a new Africa.

Final Word

Africa’s rise won’t be gifted. It will be taken—by leaders who understand power isn’t granted but seized. By citizens who refuse to confuse visas for victory. Until then, the Trumps of the world will keep laughing, loudly, at the dignity we’ve yet to claim.