I had a moment of clarity while doing fieldwork for a research project a while ago.

On a fundamental level the African political elite do not see other regular/ordinary Africans as humans...

... worthy of dignity, respect and care

Our lives do not matter to the African political elite.

Our deaths mean nothing to them. We are nothing to them. They will casually watch us die.

What does human life mean to the descendants of people who sold their fellow humans into slavery?

I’ve said this before, but there is no “old money” in Ghana that is not directly from the slave trade. Same in Nigeria.

None. These are our political, economic and social elite.