African nations wrestle with colonial past after Queen’s death by LeahMahon_
Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister of Ghana, visits Queen Elizabeth and Princess Anne at Balmoral Castle in 1959.
He said: “We would like to remind the British, and the incoming King of the British, that it is not necessary for them to continue using weapon of mass destruction, sanctions, against Zimbabwe because it is evil for any nation to think that any other human being black, green or white does not deserve to develop socially and economically and politically.”
Queen Elizabeth II, who was just 25-years-old when she took to the throne, was head of the Commonwealth where 20 African nations still currently reside. Togo and Gabon, both former French colonies, were the latest to join the longstanding club. However, in August this year he led calls for reparations to be paid for the horrors of the trans-Atalntic slave trade for which the British royal family played a key role.
In Kenya, government officials flocked to sign a book of condolences upon the monarch’s passing. Raychelle Omamo, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for Foreign Affairs, said Queen Elizabeth’s leadership was one of “dignity and with grace.”