'Rule of gerontocracy has ended': Africa will no longer be 'lorded over by moral rule of old men'

On the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit at Strathmore University, François Picard is pleased to welcome Cameroonian-born historian, writer, and political thinker Joseph-Achille Mbembe. He offers deep insight and a multidimensional analysis of a continent in the midst of profound psychological, sociopolitical and economic transformation. Author of The Earthly Community and one of Africa’s leading voices on postcolonial sovereignty, Mbembe argues that while institutional change remains uneven, a deeper rupture has already occurred: “What has ended is the rule of gerontocracy… It has ended in the minds of the people. And that is what matters.” For Mbembe, contemporary Africa is neither a story of collapse nor uncomplicated renewal, but a continent moving “in multiple directions at the same time,” where “chaotic situations, almost cataclysmic” coexist with “attempts at reinventing democracy from below.” Driven increasingly by young people, women, intellectuals, and civil society actors, these struggles, he argues, may determine whether Africa’s new sovereignty becomes merely another scramble for resources, or the foundation of more open, durable societies. Ultimately, Mbembe insists that Africa’s future will not be built on deficit narratives, but on civilisational confidence: “Africa must build not on the basis of what it lacks, but on the basis of what it already has.”