Reaction of Africans on Queen Elizabeth’s death
There are conflicting emotions among some Africans regarding Queen Elizabeth’s death and her country’s colonial past on a continent, where Britain once controlled more than half the territory as condolences flowed in from all around the world following Queen Elizabeth’s passing.
Some people had warm memories of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who visited crowds in 20 different countries across the continent throughout her 70-year reign and smiled and waved.
Others, however, have kept their resentment of British colonialism alive and remembered events like the brutal suppression of Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s as the British Empire came to an end, as well as a massive diamond that the British royal family had taken from colonial South Africa in 1905 but which the queen refused to return despite requests.
When Elizabeth learned of her father King George VI’s passing and her ascension to the throne on February 6, 1952, she was just 25 years old and visiting Kenya with her husband Philip.
Those who mourned
She visited Africa as queen numerous times. Vincent Rwosire, a retired postal worker told, “When the queen visited Uganda in 1954, I was a young boy in primary school. She was a young and small woman who looked very humble. She was very admirable and smiling”.
Another from Mbarara, western Uganda, “We could not believe that such a young woman could have so much power”.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose country the queen visited in 1961, lowered flags and declared Ghana was happy to be a member of the Commonwealth.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose first name is Swahili for freedom and whose country earned independence in 1963 says “She was referred to as “a towering emblem of selfless service”.
Ex-presidents John Mahama tweeted, “She carried her royal duties with grace, poise & dignity. An icon of pride not only to the British people but the Commonwealth. Our hearts go out to King Charles III and the Royal Family. May God grant her peaceful repose.”
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda says, “The modern Commonwealth is her legacy”.
Many expressed anger
Many people expressed anger against honoring the life of a monarch whose nation has a complicated history in Africa.
Like a 98-year-old Kenyan Gitu Wa Kahengeri who joined the Mau Mau rebellion against British rule who was very young at that time, “They occupied my land; my birthright, recalled being detained in a camp by British forces, beaten and denied food. But we are mourning the queen because she is a person, a human being, we are sorry for people to die”.
The Economic Freedom Fighters said: “We do not mourn the death of Elizabeth. Our interaction with Britain has been one of pain, death and dispossession, and of the dehumanization of the African people”.
Uju Anya, an Igbo professor tweeted: “disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome”.
Reaction of Africans on Queen Elizabeth’s death
Since the monarchy in Britain primarily serves as a symbolic institution, even though the queen officially nominated prime ministers and met with them frequently, she did not make policies.
The remarks reflect the various attitudes toward the UK that exist after independence of 60 years. Even though post-colonial linkages still exist, many link Africa’s poverty and conflict to Western policies and pre-independence choices.
