A couple of weeks ago, I was in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, witnessing a new phase of Africa – France relations. Several Heads of State, government officials, investors, entrepreneurs, industry captains, development partners and youth leaders from across Africa, France and the rest of the world converged in Nairobi for the highly publicized Africa Forward Summit 2026.
The summit, aimed at creating actionable frameworks to foster new economic partnerships in technology, green energy, health manufacturing, and security, moving toward “Strategic Autonomy” in African-led solutions to shared challenges facing France and African countries.
On the morning of 25th May 2026, a day for the annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union, I found myself in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo, participating in the African Development Bank Meetings. The Kintele Conference Centre, an architectural gem nestled in a green setting opposite the Congo River in the central African nation with rainforest reserves that are habitats for gorillas hosted over 3,000 delegates from around the world and the fifty-second edition of the African Development Fund (ADF).
African leaders attending the African Development Bank Group’s 2026 Annual Meetings marked Africa Day with the host, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, announcing that the Republic of the Congo would waive visa requirements for all African nationals from next year, 2027. In addition, the event brought together participants of the Annual Meetings and Bank staff to showcase Africa’s cultural richness, contemporary creativity, and enduring sense of identity.
As I sat through the event attended by Heads of State and Government, Bank Governors, Executive Directors, Management and Staff, Diplomatic Corps in Congo, Development partners, the private sector, civil society youth in Congo, the media and interested participants from around the world, I reflected on whether the aspirations of the African leaders who gathered in Addis Ababa on May 25, 1963 to found the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has been met? Has the African continent truly achieved liberation, or the Africa Day celebration has become a mere symbol of continental liberation?
Several pan – Africanists and thought leaders seem to share this sentiment. Sixty-three years later, there are unending questions about who controls wealth, technology and global influence, and how that control shapes everyday life across the continent. Is it enough for the continent to mark Africa Day by flags and anthems or by Africans possessing political sovereignty over the continent’s 54 nations, governing their own domestic and foreign policies?
Irrespective of this debate, the Africa Day celebration serves several core purposes. Key amongst them is commemorating liberation, honouring the bravery of those who fought to end colonialism and apartheid, marking the ongoing journey toward true economic and political sovereignty. It fosters continental integration, solidarity, and a shared sense of identity among Africans worldwide.
In addition, Africa Day celebrates African culture by highlighting the rich diversity of African languages, art, music, fashion, and culinary traditions. It is also an opportunity to focus on resolving modern continental issues—such as economic development, governance, and sustainability.
Generational rift
For the older generation, Africa Day remains a deeply emotional milestone, a reminder of a hard-won victory against colonial rule and political oppression that reshaped the continent’s history. There is a widening gap between generations and a growing sense that the promises of independence have not fully translated into present realities.
Did political freedom automatically bring economic freedom or rather resulted into struggle with the high cost of living under debts? For many analysts and young Africans, money, jobs and economic control now sit at the centre of how liberation is understood today.
The debate has shifted from flags, borders and national anthems to deeper questions about who controls economies, who makes financial decisions, and who ultimately benefits from growth on the continent. In several African countries, rising debt burdens have become a defining challenge, with governments increasingly constrained in their spending choices. In many cases, fiscal policies are shaped by negotiations with international financial institutions, leaving limited room for independent decision-making.
This tension between historical pride and modern frustration has deepened a generational divide into how Africa Day is understood. More than 60 percent of Africans are under the age of 25, and many say the language of anti-colonial struggle from the 1960s no longer reflects their daily experiences of unemployment, rising costs and economic uncertainty.
Debt pressures
It is said that true liberation cannot exist when a continent produces what it does not consume and consumes what it does not produce. Digital technology, once seen as a clear pathway to opportunity, inclusion and economic growth, is now also raising difficult questions about ownership, control and long-term dependence. Who builds the systems, who owns the data and who benefits from the digital economy are becoming central concerns.
Many policymakers argue that Africa’s next phase of development will depend less on political ideology and more on whether countries can turn their resources, labour and innovation into real industries that keep value within the continent rather than exporting it abroad. The real test will be whether these shifts lead to meaningful structural change in how African economies operate, or whether they remain repeated promises in policy discussions that do not fully translate into lived reality.
Digital battle front
That shift is also visible in the digital economy, where a new front in the struggle for influence has emerged. Mobile money, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure are spreading rapidly across cities like Nairobi, Lagos and Kigali, turning them into some of the continent’s most visible technology hubs and symbols of a fast-changing digital landscape.
Despite this growth, much of the underlying digital backbone remains controlled from outside Africa. Undersea cables, data centres and cloud computing systems are often built, financed or owned by multinational technology corporations. Digital extraction is the new frontier of neocolonialism and if African data is taken out, processed on foreign servers and sold back to us in the form of systems Africans must pay for, then Africa has simply replaced old colonial control with digital dependence.
Unfinished struggle
It is now a moment to reassess how far the continent has come, and how far it still has to go in translating political independence into everyday economic reality. Liberation is no longer seen as a completed historical moment, but as an ongoing process still unfolding. While political independence laid the foundation, many argue that the next stage requires economic self-reliance, digital control and stronger public accountability. Until Africa’s resources, innovation and labour translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives, many say the struggle for liberation remains unfinished.
Story by Chris Koney
Chris is a thought leader in Marketing Communications, Stakeholder Relationship Management Professional and International Cooperation Specialist. Over the last fifteen (15) years, he has made tremendous impact within Africa’s corporate communications and creative arts sectors. He can be reached at [email protected] / +233 20 854 1480.
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