Mkpesęism: A Philosophical Ideology Towards Africa’s Development

Abstract

This work discusses “Mkpesęism” as a philosophical ideology with a view to showing how its essential ingredients can solve the problems of development in Africa, for the lack of interest in projecting an African socio-economic cum political ideology, has really affected development in Africa. This is so because of Africa’s continuous romance with Western ideologies. Against this back drop, we argue that the projection of African cultural values for the development of Africa is based on the view that the socio-cultural milieu of Africa is different from that of the West and that the cultural and social policies that benefited the West may not necessarily be productive in Africa. Therefore, the need to terminate imperialism, by rejecting dependence on foreign ideologies. This will make Africa’s 
development internal. However, we propose Mkpesęism as a philosophy of resistance and a new science of African ideas which will aid in the development of Africa. Indeed, we use the construct of Mkpesęism to address the issues of social, political, cultural and economic 
predicaments in Africa. The work set out to address these problems with its emphasis on African culture as precursor to Africa’s development. To achieve this, using historical, expository and critical methods, it is argued that Africa’s future does not lie in spurious and neo-colonial ideologies but in her own ability to make internal development initiatives. This study finds out that Mkpesęism does not only elucidate the socio-political, economic and cultural problems confronting Africa, but also that it is a valuable tool towards resolving the problems of development in Africa and its associated contradictions. The study concludes that Mkpesęism can be an instrument for Africa’s development.