It is safe to say that Africa may never recover from the exploitation done to it by the white people. However, what would be unfair is for Africans to continue to suffer and smile when the very people that oppressed them still stare them in the face.
This comes with the fact that several streets in Africa still carry the names of colonialists and infamous slave traders.
A typical example of this is Ternan Avenue, a long stretch of road named after British Col. Trevor Ternan which lies beside the presidential state house in Uganda.
In the heart of capital city Kampala, another street named after King George VI leads visitors and lawmakers to the country’s parliament.
Originally called the Kazinga National Park, Uganda’s most popular game reserve was renamed after Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate the monarch’s visit to the British colony in 1954.
Streets and monuments named after colonialists and British monarchs can be found throughout Uganda, a former British colony. CNN reports that there are now campaigners who say it’s time to remove and rename them.
They have petitioned lawmakers to trigger a legislative process to rename these landmarks after their national heroes.
“There were local names for these parks, lakes, roads, and landmarks before they were named after many members of the British royal family across Uganda. That is just problematic,” said rights lawyer Apollo Makubuya, who is leading the campaign.
Makubuya told CNN there was no justification for the continued display of these landmarks in Uganda even after it gained independence from Britain.
We can conclude that this renewed desire to decolonise the country and the continent generally comes from the global reckoning that has followed the killing of George Floyd as well as statues of men involved in the slave trade being toppled in the US and across Europe
“We don’t want to vandalize or go the route of pulling down statues or monuments, that’s why we’re talking to the government,” Makubaya told CNN.
Makubuya said streets and monuments named after Sir Frederick Lugard, who he said was “responsible for some humanly degrading treatment,” remain in Uganda and Nigeria, glorifying his colonial conquest in Africa.
Lugard, credited with furthering British imperialism across West and East Africa, governed regions in Nigeria for many years in the 20th century. A street in the commercial city of Lagos is named after him.
It is only fair that Africans do not continue to face this sort of reminder as they cannot erase the past. Do you agree with these colonialist-named streets getting renamed?
