This was a well-researched and well presented video on Houphouet-Boigny. It seems like he didn't want to shake the tables a lot and was quite comfortable with the status quo. I learnt a lot, keep up the good work 👏.
This is one of the problems we have in Africa we have leaders who spend time being submissive to foreign powers and failing to develop their own country it is really sad thing to see.
I've always known that both Boigny and Tubman objected to pan-Africanism. Didn't realize his colonial masters-loving and ass-kissing was this deep. This man played a significant role in Africa's sub-standing in the world today.
You forgot to add that he supplied money and equipments to those who overthrew Nkrumah and gave them shelter after the coup. This man hated Nkrumah and his ideas to the core
@@schoolboy7193 because it’s not talked about and it’s so sad. Felix was a colonials foot soldier and because of his support there were dozens of not hundreds of coups that was carried by his actions with the orders from the French. This guy is an embarrassment to Africa and shouldn’t be celebrated at all.
Because Nkrumah was nothing but a power drunken, unprincipled opportunist helding the whole nation ransom. Nkrumah took Ghana from one of the richest to one of the poorest in less than a decade. He adopted the colonial system against the advise of the British. He declared war on all traditional rulers. He tried to hive off Western Asante region (Bono Ahafo) to reduce voting powers of Asantes. Nkrumah and his people becoming billionaires over night. He arrested anyone without charge or trial. He destoooled chiefs that opposed him and elevating those supporting him. He arrested even farmers going on strike when he kept windfall of world rising cocoa prices. Before coming to power he was the one protesting for the right to go on strike. Ghanaians wonder why this silly colonial construct called "Republic of Ghana" still doesn't work, because it's not only foreign but was never meant to govern but to rule and control. Its based on the winner takes it all attitude by controlling everything from the centre. If we are talking of real democracy there is nothing more democratic than our highly sophisticated ancient system of governance as passed down by our ancestors. In fact in terms of social formation and organization our so called illiterate ancestors were far more advanced than our present generation with their academic credentials. Nkrumah and his people became millionaires over night. The CPP was not all that strong in the country as a whole. The government had little authority, in particular in Asante. By the end of the second World War, Ghana was more advanced economically and socially than most other African countries. By 1945 Ghana had the best road system, a railway and a deep water harbour and had one of the hightest per capita incomes of all the countries on the continent. Ghana then had a sizable educated elite and a rising middle class of teachers, contractors and private businessmen. By the end of 1964 Ghana was completely bankrupt. The national foreign debt grew from 64 million dollars in 1957 to 524 million in 1959 and to 770 million in 1964. Moreover, while Nkrumah urged the ordinary people to tighten their belts, he and his ministers led a life of luxury, rode in huge cars and erected buildings in the main towns from funds received from corrupt deals and bribes.By the time of the coup his wealth had increased to a total of £2,322,000, whereas his lawful earnings from 1951 to 1966 amounted to only £134,000.While he continued to place funds in foreign banks from 1962, he made the holding of foreign accounts abroad illegal. He vigorously opposed all the regional groupings, saying they would be "just another form of balkanisation".He constantly quarreled with other African heads of state, the vast majority of who opposed his dream of his "United states of Africa" and feared Nkrumahs desire to become president of Africa. He introduced the Preventive Dentention Act, which enabled him to arrest any person without a trial (any person that was suspected of opposing his government). He turned the whole country into one concentration camp of fear, insecurity and uncertainty. He even dismissed the Chief justice and other judges, who did not rule in his favour. He turned Ghana into a one party state and made himself president for life. He seized and occupied all the key positions within his party, therefore his own party had turned against him. Nkruamhs megalmonia and power-drunkness were the main cause for his downfall. He showered upon himself ridiculous titles such as "Showboy", "His essianic Dedication", "Osagyefo","Fount of Honour", etc. His megalmonia made him see himself as the man destined by God to become the first president of a united Africa. It also drove him to excessive use of the Preventive Detention Act and the use of spies on his own people. The death in the confined cell of the higly respected Dr. Danquah in February 1965 turned more Ghanaians against Nkrumah than any other single episode.All classes of Ghanas population turned against Nkrumah.It was J.B. Danquah, who actually gave Ghana its name, presumbly personal research had done into finding out about the link between ancient Ghana Kingdom and the Akan. Unfortunately he fell out with Nkrumah and ended up dying in prison. This man should be one of the great names mentioned among Africans. In my opionion, Danquah made a great attempt to enlighten his fellow Ghanaians. His book "the Akan doctrine of God" was the first book dealing with ancient Akan history. He also wrote some other books in the Akan language to help children and young adults identify with and learn to read their own language. It also must be noted, that it were mainly wealthy families from Asante, who enabled the CPP to finance their nationwide boykotts. This man was so desperate for power that he tried to hive off the then Western Asante region from Asanteman to reduce voting powers of Asante, which of course didn't work. So he went in for the political option by renaming it Bono Ahafo, which had no influence on the traditional authorities in the area. If people really believe Nkrumah was such a hero, then they should name the entire country after him. Why are you using the name "Ghana", a name that was based on the historical research of the late Dr. J.B. Danquah? The biggest mistake by Asanteman was to encourage the British to let the Asante Native Council and Gold Coast colonial council merge to represent all citizen both living in Asante and in the colony.
One of the most forgotten about African leaders with an interesting story, unfortunately after his death Cote d'Ivorie fell into chaos. Well done on the video, this is one of the best African history channels on youtube.
So was every colonized african countries. After the first European installed leader and a puppet, these leaders behaved like black Europeans and governed their countries in a way to look like developed ones by focusing on physical buildings at the expense of an effective and an independent organs of their government. And, this is why there were chaos after their death. On the other hand, if these pseudo monarchs, had focused on the political stability of their countries, they would have allowed a term limit which would allowed a refresh after every term through a solid and lawful election systems. In this way, the outgoing government then serve in advisory capacity a liason when needed. A good pension and retirement benefits that would be enough to sustain a lifestyle. As in the "developed" countries, they could spend time giving lecture to our youths in schools and colleges. This, in my opinion would greatly help develop a mature citizenship and a better built future leaders.
Great and very informative videos on Felix houpheit boigny. I thought he was practical and perhaps brought more prosperity to his people than the pan africanist at the time. Very controversial leader for sure.
He is the brains behind Captain Thomas Sankara's downfall with the help of President Francois Mitterrand of France. He feared Sankara might bring a serious revolution in West Africa
I've been on a binge recently, watching videos of African leaders; Bokassa, Mobutu, Nguema et al. Compared to them Boigny was a saint. Unless this video left out a lot of information, he was not that bad by African dictator standards.
He was not a bad leader, he was a great leader. He put pragmatism over ideology as he knew that aligning closely with the French and the West would lead to more economic development which he used to make Ivory Coast a prosperous nation while Pan-African nations like Nkrumah ran their countries to the ground
@@jokerofmorocco pragmatism itself is an ideological framework, his government was used by the French to destabilize and assassinate thomas Ankara. He was stunchly against the creation of the OAU... The man was anti-African in every imaginary way possible. Sold out his own people to the French, he is the main reason why Cote d'Ivoire's treasury has to deposit the monetary yield into the French national Bank before they can engage in international trade...fuck him!
He aided in the overthrow on Nkrumah and Sankara and attempted an overthrow of the government of Benin he was good for Ivory Coast but bad for his neighbors
Another excellent and informative video. However, again it shows the central theme of post-colonial Africa, which is that most African countries are actually not poor they are just mismanaged. Mismanagement is the curse of post-colonial Africa. Indeed most of Africa's wealth is held outside of the continent than in it simply due to Africa's corrupt rulers.
He used money that doesn't belong to him and bequeathed to a foreign church. Where had that ever happened in the world and of what benefit is that cathedral to the Ivorien people?
The Catholic church is not a foreign church. Saint Phillip in the bible was a missionary to an Ethiopian. Saint Augustine, saint Monica, Saint Cyprian, and Saint Athanasius are Africans. There also many other African saints. The Atheist may not like the Cathedral because the Atheist only wants money spent on themselves and not on the worship of God. The Atheist is quite happy to spend money on parades supporting Karl Marx a person who was described at different times in his life as a German/British/Jewish/Lutheran/Atheist, non African. Or visit the tomb of Lenin a Russian in Moscow. Or the Atheist might worship the British Adam Smith or Charles Darwin, or Pele the Brazilian footballer who at least has African roots. If indeed everyone has roots in Africa then no person is a foreigner including Jesus ! Best wishes my African brother and may your days be happy ones. God loves you.
Wow, this guy jus *loved* the French so damn much. What a damn shame this is one of our *issues* as Africans some of us just love our oppressors too damn much when they don't like you and they want you and your people to stay oppressed 😒😒
Great video ... But Guey Robert didn't flee....he was killed. I disagree with those, in the comments, who are saying that Houphouet was a sold out. He chose different approach that he thought was good for his people. That allowed him to build a country that everyone enjoyed including Guineans and Ghanaians. This country used to be a peace haven until after the death of Houphouet. Was he perfect? Never... but he was peace loving ( he wasn't a typical dictator) and to me it matters. Anyway, thanks to the person who made this video. You are doing good job. Keep it up 💪
At 9:38-10:45 Its sad that Boigny turned down the offer to go to Accra and meet up with Nkrumah to help Africa do well by becoming *unified* so that we can get rid of these borders that we have in Africa but him and other African leaders wanted to work with their former colonial masters instead of being free smh some of these leaders just love their oppressor's and its *disgusting*
Unified Africa LOL. You can count functional African countries on one hand, yet you think integration is the answer. It’ll be more tribalism and corruption on a greater scale
@@anonimus648 which is why we need to get rid of tribalism and curroption. It makes no f*ckin sense that in the 21st century we are still arguing about tribalism. We should be trying to fix our continent and get these Europeans out of our continent and out of our affairs that pertains to Africa because with them in the way it's hard for the continent to progress, but you have Africans worrying about irrelevant stuff like tribalism 😒😒😒
@@abby-a I totally agree that should happen. But policy must be made pragmatically, not idealistically. It will take a long education and development process. Which country are you in?
@@abby-a I'm a white german who spend his childhood in tanzania. i would love to imigrate there some day if i figure out some buissnes to support me there. would that be ok? i mean we have tones of african immigrants here in berlin.
Not bad if you compare him to clueless power thirsty tyrants like jean bedel bokassa. On a serious note, power has a funny way of turning good people into villains. I look forward to more of these well researched documentaries on African leaders/history.
@@7Bullseyes Building with French contacts and then allowing them to hijack regional currency so they can pillage more money from other West African nations? Neo Liberal policies are not good,they deprive us of ownership and they allow Colonizers to maintain a grip on our economies and decisions. Ivory Coast is not even free,they are controlled by France,if they discover anything, it's controlled by France.So those roads and bridges don't mean anything, unless our people have full ownership and control.
I don’t blame him! If you observe, most of the African countries who were quick to get indépendance, they all failed miserably, like the DRCONGO. Lumumba wasn’t that right either! The country wasn’t ready, with only a few people who even got to finish high school. Côte d’Ivoire went on to be a better country 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🙆🏽♀️
Hi sir. I have a question. As a boy back in 1994, I lived with my Norwegian godmother for 2 months, who was a medical teacher for a missionary school in Waninou, north west in the country. I have such fond memories of my visit, as I'm looking at the pictures now. I'd love to repay my godmother by retelling her what happened to the village/region and her former coworkers. She left when the rebels came and made threats. If you were me, where would you start? Thank you.
The final remark was for on. He was a good Ivorean but a bad African as seen by how he hung on to France, fitness an organisation to oppose the OAU and giving citizenship to the guy who assasinated Sankara amongst others. I guess he wasnt perfect 🤷
Yours is the only channel I have subscribed too this year! Can you kindly do a video on the corrupt leaders of Nigeria, Niger Republic, Chad and the way they have captured the oil wealth for themselves while the masses are dying. Can you also do a video for us to understand why our African leaders start out as benevolent but end up as monsters. What is the root cause and how do we address it.
People need to understand international polotics isn't as easy as go guns blazing indapendence you need support. So I get why he did what he did even if I dont agree with all of it. On the other side the african countries which did go full gunsblazing independence just ended up looking for support from the soviets.
Your videos are interesting. May I make a few positive suggestions ? Please speak a little slower as sometimes you become harder to understand when you speak to fast. Secondly there are too many adverts, so that the video is swamped by adverts, which must put people off watching your videos. As so much effort is put into making your good videos it is unfortunate if there are too many adverts that stop people watching them. 3 short video adverts is ok. One at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end. More than that is not wise. Best wishes for your future endeavours.
"Les montagnes de fric volées par la Françafrique Les tyrans complices les gardent dans les comptes en Suisse Les coups de fouets d'Houphouet Les crédits des Deby" Tiken Jah Fakoly - Ivorian Singer
Imagine how great Africa would be today if Nkrumah had won . As for Boigny at least he is one of the few of the era that did not have a killer instinct . Most of them were such murderers .
You know, the idea Kwame had was the best. There is no way forward for Africa if not the federated state! Only fools believe we can subsiste as insignificant states as we are.
alassane ouattara was never elected by the Ivorian People, he was installed by the french army in 2010 to maintain french neo-colonial system in place. France owns the CFA Franc currency of 14 African states including Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. france is the only one to print this colonial currency without the control of the African countries who use it. This enables france to get Africa's natural resources for free and finance rebels to overthrow non submissive African presidents without spending one euro.
Your video is very wrong Please tell us what was positive actions made by your heros like krhuma, seikou Touré ?? Who killed Olympio ? Who killed armiral Cabral? And now where is Ghana? The same one who ask money each 5,7 years to Europe or America What is this kind of independence
This is the speech of the only US Senator who spoke the truth on the US Senate floor US Senator: French Colonialism Must End ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BFwpkiKPoUs.html
Just saw this video today in August 2022,. As an Ivorian born almost 20 years after the independence, who had the opportunity to witness the late part of Houphouet Boigny leadership and studied history of Africa, I disagree with the end of the commentary in this video, quote “ Houphouet Boigny was a great Ivorians but a bad African”. This can’t be say. We are in the future of Houphouet Boigny time, and from what we see now, we can confirm that the anticolonialismes where right but not strategic, Houphouet was. He was smarter than the others even than the colonists . He wanted to use them (the colonists) to go ahead with is people (africains). He did not discriminate Ivorians from other Africans, he wanted Africans to take time to learn more from the people who where able to put us into slavery. It takes time to become a master when you where a slave. Houphouet sent people in Europe to learn, he used them as the first generation of administrators when they came back. He was participating in building Africa without having to fight… the truth that is missing in this video is that the French administration’s respected him and where even scared of him. He was the one directed them about what to do with west Africa, we needed to be trained in order to develop our young countries. I really like Sankara and what he was doing. The only thing is that, it wasn’t the right time. I know many people disagree on that, but think about it, even nowadays, look at what they are able to do when they are not happy with African leaders. Think about Gaddafi… Houphouet boigny believed in a future that is happening now. Our countries are full of educated people who can now counteract all of the strategies that former powerful countries used to put us against each other and steal our goods. Now we are becoming more knowledgeable as a group, as a community, and this is influencing the relationship between Europe and Africa. I have always believed that Houphouet was right. Now it is the time to be creative and protect ourselves against the others because we have more educated people, that was not the case in 1946.