¶ … Kwame Nkrumah, were the roots of Africa's "backwardness" in comparison to the west, and what did Nkrumah see as the solutions to Africa's problems? To what extent might colonialism be responsible for continued political, social, and economic unrest throughout Africa today?

According to Kwame Nkrumah, because of its potentially rich natural resources, Africa could develop into a wealthy economic powerhouse. Unfortunately, the legacy of European colonialism is still manifest Africa's fragmentation and the extant rivalries between the continent's many nations, all of whom are at different levels of development. Africa may have succeeded in fighting European dominance, but now too many African nations are fighting between one another. Africa, the victim of colonialization, is now engaged in a kind of 'divide and conquer strategy' against itself. "Can we seriously believe that the colonial powers meant for these [twenty-eight nations] to be viable states?" asks Nkrumah, implying that the creation of so many nations after the Age of Empire was deliberately designed to subvert Africa's potential power and growth.

Nkrumah calls for unity amongst African nations, despite many differences in terms of language, history, and culture. Sharing information amongst national leaders, attempting to advance the self-interest of the region rather than individual nations, is a vital step of overcoming the legacy of colonial fragmentation. Nkrumah also calls for a new way to define national success: instead of building up a military arsenal of nuclear weapons, African cooperation and prosperity should be the ways that achievement and strength is measured by the continent. Africa must prove that a great power need not be founded upon the values of "fear, envy, and suspicion."

In conclusion, Nkrumah calls upon African leaders to pool their human and natural resources, which have been divided because of colonial map-drawing as well as the ravaging of Africa's natural bounty. America was founded from a myriad of states and became a great power. Thus, so must Africa, he says.