AFRICA'S NEW PAN-AFRICAN GUARD

They say respect your elders, but what happens when those elders are clinging to power, fumbling at global summits and peeing themselves on national TV, while the continent they lead suffers under the weight of neocolonialism and corruption?

This piece isn’t about age. It’s about leadership, or the outrageous lack of it.

From South Sudan’s Salva Kiir to Cameroon’s 92-year-old Paul Biya and Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, too many of our so-called leaders are clearly out of touch, unfit or both. Meanwhile, Africa’s real hope is emerging not from old-guard politics, but from a bold, mostly young, unapologetic generation of pan-African leaders reshaping the future.

In Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré is building a state gold refinery and shutting down foreign looting. In Niger, General Tchiani is reclaiming uranium mines and investing in food and energy security. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are creating a joint military force, a shared currency and biometric passports under the new Alliance of Sahel States. And in Senegal, President Faye is auditing resource contracts and laying the groundwork for true economic sovereignty.

This isn’t a trend, it’s a tectonic shift. A wave of pan-African self-determination is rising, confronting neocolonialism not with slogans, but with structure, sovereignty and strategy.

The message is clear: Africa’s youth are done waiting. The era of puppets and old men is ending.