Book Review: No More Lies About Africa

Best selling author of "Lords of Slavery", Chief Musamaali Nangoli is a Ugandan and a prolific writer whose pen revolves around the days of slavery and colonialism in the African continent. A self-educated lecturer and a gifted researcher who travelled the world extensively in search of Africa's concealed past antiquities, Chief Musamaali Nangoli has produced and re-written a reliable history fitting today's African literary taste. 'No More Lies About Africa' is a must read for any African yearning to uncover the credible truth about Africa's distorted and hidden historical facts.

Full of humor, the book, 'No More Lies About Africa', has been described by the New York Post as unputdownable. It is exhilarating, well researched, educative, captivating, controversial to some readers, entertaining and articulately written. Born under a Mango tree many, many years ago in his native Uganda, Chief Musamaali Nangoli does not know his exact age and begs the reader not to ask how old he is. The only thing he remembers about his coming to the world is on a rainy season when circumcision ceremonies were going on.

'No More Lies About Africa' covers details of European slavery of Africans and colonialism-two inhman practices that underdeveloped and brainwashed many Africans. He has lost trust in those who undermined African prosperity, stole African resources, and plundered African heritage. He is proud of African ways of life; he showers praise on select African leaders who fought for African unity and freedom. He is much obsessed with the struggles of Marcus Garvey whom he considers to be a historical figure and a doyen in the struggle for black freedom.

To him, Egyptians are African and that Egypt is the craddle of human civilization. He makes note of past African kingdoms the likes of Abyssinia, the Great ruins of Zimbabwe, the Kingdom of Mali; he traces the footsteps of Mansa Musa and how the 'once in a lifetime' Islamic pilgrimage he made to Mecca affected the economy of the regions he traversed. The BBC, in its commentary of the book, described it as "skillfully written, intricately woven and meticulously executed". One reader engraved it with better a comment by observing how "Chief Nagoli's pen fires like the French G3".

The long held view by Europeans that Africa was a "Dark Continent" before the white man came meets with bitter challenge from the author who unearths the superiority of African civilization and African cultures. He finds relief in African lifestyles: African customs, African family, artwork, and African hospitality. In essence, the White man abused African generosity by stealing Africa's properous lands and substituted them with religious scriptures.

To the author, circumcision is an act of courage and a gateway to manhood; polygamy helps deter homosexuality; believe in the creator and creation is ingrained in African minds; he believes there was law and order even before the arrival of the so-called European discoverers and explorers.

He gives credit to the courageous leaders of Africa who fought European injustices. Mention is made of Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Marcus Gravey of Jamaica, Martin Luther King Jr., Kinte Kunte, and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. He feels disturbed by the traces of colonialism and how oppressor-trained African leaders continue to put Africa in jeopardy by singing the same old tunes.

For the thousands of Africans who fled the West causing brain-drain to the African continent, it is time you use your literary talent decently and embark on ways to salvage the continent from distorted and perverted foreign literature. Revival can only come about when the might of the pen is meticulously executed so as to create awareness in every corner of the globe. "No More Lies About Africa" is a must read for anyone seeking African humor and African historical facts.