How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a seminal 1972 book by Guyanese historian Walter Rodney. It argues that Africa’s current poverty is not natural, but a deliberate political and economic creation.
Walter Rodney was very much right in his views, as he based his analysis on the prevailing events of immediate post- African independence period of late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He completed his book just about a decade after most African countries got their independence. At the time his book was published in 1972, some African countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Namibia were still under colonial rule. Therefore the issues he raised were very much relevant at that time.
We are now in 2026, 54years after the book: ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’ by Walter Rodney was published. Half a century gone, yet Africa is still in search of development.
This time around, we truly know who are under developing Africa, certainly not the Europeans. Had Rodney not being assassinated by a walkie talkie bomb in 1980, I have every reason to believe that he would have lived to develop a different viewpoint about the underdevelopment of Africa. Probably, he would have written a new book with the title: ‘How Africans Underdeveloped Africa’.
African elites didn’t underdevelop Africa by accident. They did it by design, through choices that prioritized personal gain over nation-building.
– Instead of building industries, elites turned government into the main business. Oil revenue, contracts, waivers, and forex arbitrage became the fastest route to wealth. Production took a backseat to patronage.
– Elites switch policies with every administration, not to improve outcomes but to reset access to new loopholes. When no one is punished for stealing budget codes or inflating contracts, corruption becomes the operating system.
– They send children to schools abroad, seek healthcare abroad, and keep money abroad then come home to make policies for people who have no such options. That distance kills empathy and accountability.
– To stay in power, elites weaponize identity. “Our son” must eat, so competence is sacrificed. This keeps citizens fighting each other instead of demanding service delivery.
– Security, power, roads, and education were left to decay because elites could buy generators, guards, and private schools.
Rodney was right about 1972. We must be right about 2026.
A continent rich in potential, poor in systems. Development won’t come until elites are forced to live with the consequences of their decisions, right here at home.
That choice can be reversed. But only if we stop blaming ghosts and start holding the living accountable.
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