Almost 60 years ago, Africa awoke from a long colonial slumber, rose up and began the process of breaking its chains to assume self-determination.

At the time, visions of our future were sweeping, with promise, hope and also extraordinary caution. Harold Macmillan, UK prime minister at the time, famously described the emergence of African nationalism as the “wind of change” signalling the beginning of a new era. Then President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana declared that Africa’s awakening would become the “cardinal fact” of our modern times, and that nothing would deter the newly independent nations from pursuing their path...