We keep saying ‘Africa forward.’ It’s time to say what forward means.

"Africa forward." You hear it everywhere now — in the titles of summits, on the opening slides of brand decks, in the careful language of development funds and the captions of well-meaning posts. It has become one of those phrases that sounds like a destination while quietly avoiding the harder question of direction. Forward, yes. But toward what, exactly — and owned by whom?

By Kenneth Darko