African-Americans: The Power and the Glory (I)

Louis Egbe Mbua

Saying zero to hero: will grossly underestimate, if not demean, the spectacular rise of people of African decent in the United States of America; moreso if we apply that phrase as a qualification for the phenomenon. That there are no appropriate words to phrase these remarkable achievements means that it must be classically -- though not the same -- as biblical as the story of the Israelites.

The election and then inauguration of an African-American complete with his African-American wife as the first family of America is an achievement that compares well with that of Joseph being appointed the Prime Minister of Egypt straight from slavery almost 4000 years ago.

The African-American story is one of the most amazing events to have come to pass since recorded history began. Not only is the rise meteoric but was covered in blood; and then power and glory. Just how they managed to carve such a shinning and promising destiny for themselves remains a mystery which has to be demystified: so that other oppressed peoples of the human race may emulate and master these strategies to benefit and free themselves from the vice-grip of tyranny and terror.

While it is evident in historical records that slavery was officially abolished in America by law in 1865 under the watchful eye of the great Abraham Lincoln Presidency, it can be clearly induced that enslavement of African-Americans; and all its symbols and implications was spiritually and utterly destroyed in all its forms and remnants the world over on the 20 January 2009 when Barak Obama was inaugaurated the 44th President of the United States of America . Today, all Americans are free regardless of race.

It has been a long and extraordinary story that will outlive history: for the story is history on its own. When the first captured Africans arrived Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, never did it occur, by any stretch of their imagination, that it would take 390 years for their time to come in the new world. Nor did the pioneer slaves envisaged the despicable cruelty and the unimaginable suffering they were to endure under their new masters. How they managed to survive physically and spiritually in the face of such unceasing attack on their dignity and physical being is a mystery; and a subject that should be explored.

For a people to effectively determine their destiny, there has to be a powerful leadership in place to meet the challenges of the defining moments. A poor leadership structure at a time of epoch-making events may set back the course of a people several hundred years back. The author believes that after the abolition of slavery, powerful African-American leaders quickly emerged to wrestle with the newly found freedom; and meet the challenges of poverty, psychological trauma and civil rights abuses but with no material resources.

It would seem that one of the first institutions the leaders created and established in rock was the African-American church. As much as a human law can destine a man's rights and being to be three-fifth of a man it is agreed that in a free world, we cannot deny a man the right to worship. Again, a solid Christian base will expose a people to moral values, high expectations on accountability, forgiveness of a fellow man, theology, spiritual strength, knowledge, love and education. Foremost and ingrained within these values in the rise of the African-American is the knowledge of the God of Justice.

The African-American Church base gave them the knowledge of social justice and its anti-thesis: gross social injustice and violations of human and civil rights. Thus, just within 100 years after slavery was abolished in 1865 entered Dr. Martin Luther King, a firey baptist minister of the church, pioneer fighter of modern American Civil Rights and an African-American leader of outstanding leadership qualities. Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

African-Americans established a strong leadership structure, found a power base in their churches and delivered themselves from the shackles of oppression when Lyndon Johnson guided the passing of the Civil Rights Bill envisaged by the assassinated American President John F. Kennedy so that all Americans could be free.

Academic Achievements: Passport to Success in Life?

Louis Egbe Mbua

A controversial discussion is brewing in Cameroon’s most popular yahoo group, camnetwork, as to whether it is right of a child to walk straight into a vocation at 16 or to follow the conventional path to Further and Higher education ;attaining University degrees. In one corner of the argument are the extremists on both sides who take an antipodal stand against their respective foes: believing that one or the other is a complete idiot for not attaining a degree while the vocationally inclined claim those with degrees in “worthless” subjects such as History and possibly literature are the total fools. And there are those, on the other corner, who stand in the middle believing that both parties are right in one way or the other (how they arrive at their conclusions nobody knows.) The writer believes that this kind of arguments are misleading and of little relevance. However, to allow some light into the darkness of “who is who” in the world, it is of consequence that one puts forward an opinion as to clarify points of interest on this particular.

There is the fundamental birthright at play here because every human being is born free. While one’s ancestors, parents, relatives and siblings have a say as to how we turn out to be in the future; and possibly what one may become in life, this fundamental law of choice remains. It is a child’s right to go on to Further and Higher Education if they feel this will enhance their chances of the future success (career) in life. The trouble here is that as a teenager, future achievements are not a priority in life: the most important aspect being to live and let’s live.

While some are sensible enough as to work hard (or apply their talent wisely) and excel with flying colours in either the academics or sports or music, it would still be early to apply the full laws of choice in this instance. The following is that a significant majority of young people follow the advice or foot steps of their family: chances are that one goes into higher education when an uncle or a parent or sibling or close relative has been to University. Furthermore, the teenagers usually, wittingly or unwittingly, follow the professions of one of their university educated parents. Consequently, if there is a medical doctor in the family, there would be at least three more in the next generation. This means that although we are free to exercise the power of choice, we are also influenced by those closest to us. Given, what about children who have no such advantage?

There lies the crux of the argument: as the disadvantaged child has no role model, they would have to start exercising their power of choice very early in life to get ahead. Although the child may have excellent upbringing and sound home guidance, the child is already disadvantaged by their inaccessibility to knowledge relating to the vocations and professions in life. On the other hand, this disadvantage may serve to bring out the strength of the child who may decide to act on the power of choice to enter into an occupation that fully fits their talents hoping to work their way to the top. This scenario is commonly seen in the areas of music, the art, and sport.

Generally, they usually reach the top of their respective professions at a young age. The problem with this socially-induced arrangement is that one’s lifetime achievement is totally dependent upon one’s unending performance; and that one has to be of youth, almost certainly be of good looks; and always physically fit. This is also a disadvantage as using one’s mind as in the academia to earn a living is not as dependent on youth and physical prowess as the early developer who choose the vocation rather than obtaining a degree.

Furthermore, a Higher Education beneficiary will continue utilising their knowledge gained at University until the end of their lives while the vocation can be short-lived, generally-speaking due to an unforeseen misfortune. In addition, there is no reason why a child may not attain Higher education while following his dreams in sport. To add to the disadvantage is the factor of luck. While one would never obtain a university degree by pure luck, the vocation post-16 years old is riddled with danger. Consequently one’s achievements would hang on the unpredictability of chance and luck.

While the University graduate has these advantages, it is true to say that there are certain areas in life and profession where a university degree may be a redundant qualification as a passport to greatness. Such areas include: leadership including Presidents, parenthood, and entrepreneurial fleur, show business, music composition, Poetry, languages, artistic design and Astro-physics. This requires but extremely high intelligence: which can never be taught in a University. Nobody teaches naturally High Intelligence because it cannot be taught although Artificial Intelligence can be taught.

President-Elect Obama and Africa

Louis Egbe Mbua

So far, President–Elect Barack Obama has been tight-lipped about his African Policy he is to follow nor has he attempted even to define them through an aide. Whether this is a wise strategy or not is open to debate. But when one watches helplessly, from the sidelines, the head-strong octogenarian Robert “Bob” Mugabe, a man who used to command international respect as an African statesman, being ridiculed in the Western press and himself refusing to go quietly for the sake of his country, the lack of policy statement by Obama seems unappealing.

One should not in any circumstance expect Obama to treat Africa differently from the rest of the world; at the same time one expects fairness as he represents the superpower of the world. Consequently, it was right for Obama to come out directly against the brutally savage attacks on civilians by deranged religious terrorists in Mumbai, India last month; and his arguments put forward to support his proposed continuance of the “war on terror” against those who “come against America”. While it would be interesting to “wait and see” how his policies unfold, it is a matter of concern and urgency that one can carry out an analysis of the situation on the ground which may serve as a guide on what problems need fixing in Africa.

The problem in Africa are two folds: Mass incompetence that has wrecked havoc on the economic, political and social front dragging the entire continent several decades back and eroding some of the gains made after independence; and economic paralysis the latter dependent or independent of the former, further depending on the school of thought. This surreptitiously malevolent incompetence has permeated the entire civil life of the continent; and as a result this malaise must be the first vice that has to be eradicated in the continent since an incompetent continent cannot compete in the international scene or even against itself. The cause of this mediocrity is not quite clear. However, there are many fingers that are pointing to the top of governments in both the civil and the political arm. Stories about wholesale looting of the continent’s treasury with a total disregard of responsibility to the people; and the shamelessly and obscene blatant overlook of the rule of law by men in “suits” need not be repeated. On a sounder note of reason, this seems to have degenerated into a clichéd art for writers; but this writer believes there is deeper cause to Africa’s problems: unqualified leaders – not necessarily corrupt for the latter vice emanates from the former.

Africans tend to qualify, rather mistakenly, their leaders wholly by academic qualifications. While the academia may be important, most prominent is the personal quality to serve the people rather than oneself – personal qualities take precedence over technocratic crammers for it is better to have a leader who can differentiate between good and evil as applied to his people and himself than to have a fool who went to university but believes he was born to rule by divination from the celestial realm. Consequently, a highly qualified individual in the academic sense, but who does not understand the passion of the people is totally worthless as a leader: the result being that he will neglect his duty with incompetence to follow. This mediocrity and lack of leadership qualities will evidently and eventually lead to inappropriate acts such as constitutional fraud, wholesale mortgage of a country’s resources, naked theft of money, laziness, neglect, oppression, assassinations of his people, subterfuge, nepotism; murders and other acts of entrenched turpitude, insanity and power madness.

Any seasoned diplomat will surely give an honest advice that this incompetence is slowly killing the continent: with diseases threatening to wipe out the entire youth population in some nations while wars, political oppression and poverty are driving millions to Europe and America. On this count, therefore, President-Elect Obama, after receiving his oath of Office in January 2009, should move swiftly and decisively, to seize the moral high ground by denouncing such acts of corruption in African countries that have instituted oppressive and incompetent regimes that are causing great suffering, terror and depravation to the people while the politically and professionally incompetents ride rough and shod over those who are more capable. He should refuse to talk to such corrupt regimes or have anything to do with the protagonists of such untold mismanagement while at the same time supporting institutions that are geared towards democratic reforms, rule of law and social justice. He should refuse to invite them for a visit; and he should frain from accepting invitations from African tyrants and thieves with blood in their hands.

Once the political front has been cleaned, the economics must take precedence. Africa needs massive injection of international finance. This writer is of the opinion that international finance was misdirected to the wrong region in the last ywenty years; thus causing the present global financial melt-down. For want of bluntness, one can say without reservation that Africa needs her own “Marshall Plan”. The African economy may be growing at an average of 4% per year but this is commodity-led growth; whose prices are always open to variations in industrial out put in Europe and of recentl the Bric countries. Thus, African states have moved very little from the colonial economy they inherited – rubber, cocoa, coffee, gold et.

To move from this dependence, the African economy needs capital – a joint international venture between the United States government, African entrepreneurs, all African governments in a united front, and the African Union as an overseer. Industrial giant marches in Iron and Steel that are the mainstays and fundamentals to industrialisation should be one of the main areas and so too with Green energy. Obama’s promise of confronting climate change and the immensely important energy transition from the dependence on oil and other fossils is a bold and sensible policy; and it is evident that Africa has almost all the raw materials and adequate land for the manufacture of bio fuels; the many rivers and rugged terrain bathed in 12 hour sunlight make the continent the potential front runner for Green energy: harnessed from wind, sunlight, geothermal. Since African entrepreneurs have no access to capital at a large scale, an Obama policy of a joint American-African venture will benefit both continents; and as a result, improve living standards in Africa, and may serve as part of a catalyst and stimulus for his economic recovery plan for his own country – the United States of America.

A Defining Economic Moment for Africa

Louis Egbe Mbua

It seems a hard-pressed exercise, in the current climate of international instability, to present an authoritative report on the consequences of the present global turmoil. The reasons being that they are sporadic, widespread, global and point to a problem nobody appears to have a solution – mindless violence, disorder, religious fanatics based on towering folly, economic and financial meltdown and African Presidents who plan to rule for ever (or live forever dependent upon one’s view on this great misfortune). On the other hand, however these troubles are seen; only a global solution will suffice. There is something fundamentally wrong in this present system of things; and the problem has a cascading effect that originates from the marginalisation of Africa at a great cost to the world.

At this time when the American Superpower status is being boldly challenged on the economic front, it is time to take a closer look on how Africa may emerge from this crisis as a power to be reckoned with.

There has been a number of analysis that mark out a power shift from West to East; to replace the vacuum created by America’s misrule of the world; and that America is on the decline and on her way to an eventual and ignominious collapse. While this may be a possibility -- if we consider the speed of the financial mayhem and destruction of the best and oldest of their financial empires -- it would be disingenuous to posit that power must suddenly pass to China, India, Thailand and South Korea on grounds that these nations have huge monetary reserves.

Recent events have shown that paper reserves can disappear overnight without trace; and that only those who can actually produce quality goods and raw materials and simultaneously pull their resources together as one will survive as a global power.

One of the endemic problems in Africa is leadership; and that the best minds are not applied to the most tasking problems. Leadership in this context is not narrowed to politics. It encompasses entrepreneurs in business, education, industry, commerce, banking, sports, engineering, the Art, Culture and manufacturing.

This has been a problem because Africa has failed to form a united front to fight the ills and adverse consequences of mediocrity: by a lack of a Union Central Bank of Africa. It interesting to note that almost all continents are locked into a monetary and financial institution where they draw all their resources: or have a unionised financial institution from the European Central Bank to the Bank of China; and disputably the American Federal Reserve and the International Monetary fund. As a result, when Africa catches or inherits an economic crisis, there are no unionised indigenous institutions to bail her out since every nation must fend for themselves – everyone for themselves.

In this case, therefore, Africa’s huge economic potential is monumentally diminished because each individual state go cap in hand to their former colonial rulers for loans with dreadful and adverse conditions attached complete with prohibitive interest rates and catastrophic political implications. So, we have a vicious cycle where a potentially powerful continent is economically crippled; thus negating global financial power as a whole by summation.

The result has been that the industrialised nations then drew much of their finance from one source: from the East. Knowing full well that resources are scarce and limited, this financial dependence on the “rich” East and the disregard of the potentially powerful financial giant of Africa causes an asymmetrically bloated economic model and bubble that is always bound to burst with incalculable repercussions.

Thus, it can be surmised quite safely, that the boom and burst global cycles that has tormented international economies were as a result of western economic capitalist models not factoring the African economic variable: this is fundamental to the world as Africa is the mainstay of raw materials for the entire system – communist and capitalist (now potentially dead).

The time for African nation states to merge their economies so that they can draw on their full potential has come. This is a defining moment for the continent to move quickly so as to fill the vacuum left as a result of the sudden and perhaps a permanent deflation of the economic bubble that will go with the collapse of the former powers.

Congratulations President Elect Barack Obama

President Elect Barack Obama

Dear President Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden,

It is with great joy that I write to congratulate you for this stunning and historic victory at the United States Presidential elections that took place Tuesday 4 November 2008.

I believe this victory belongs to you, the citizens of the United States of America and all the people of the world.

There comes a time in the history of the world when the people see the light and choose what is right; so that social justice, peace and prosperity will reign: this is the moment.

It was your hard work, moral standing, unprecedented talent, energy, concern for the world and your enormous connection with humanity that made this possible. Not since the ancient times of our human ancestors has a victory been so celebrated by the entire world; and by all peoples of the world. It is with this note that we can surely say that your message was well received and I pray to God to guide you in delivering your promise in equity and justice for all.

I therefore join the American people to extend my sincere congratulations to you for this epoch-making event that has clearly ushered a new era of change for America and the entire world.

God bless you and your families.

Louis Egbe Mbua Ph.D.

Roger Milla: The African of the Decade into the 21st Century -- Part 2

By Louis Egbe Mbua

Poor Julius Nyerere! He chose the Socialist path and instituted a kind of system of "Villagisation" which nobody understood or had heard of. Poetically, his country languished in poverty and want: although the Chinese managed to help him build the excellent Tanzaam Railway Line. However, he prospered politically and we all respected the Late Leader's intellect.

And Nkrumah? He did not actually take sides in the end. Having spent extravagantly for eight years, one morning the Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana asked for an audience with the great man. Nkrumah was quickly informed that his country was bankrupt. Needless to say that he at first refused to accept this grim news; and now it was time for the West to move for the kill. Western financial Institutions pulled the rug from under him. Being a fighter, he turned to the socialist Camp for financial help. It was while he was visiting China, begging, that he was overthrown in 1966. He died in Bucharest in 1972, surely a broken man.

Nkrumah's legacy to Africa is incalculable. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia eulogised that "he was a significant leader of both the movement against White Domination and of Pan African Feeling. He was the moving spirit behind the Charter of African States (1961)." This document gave rise to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. It is a mark of respect for Nkrumah that W.E.B. Dubois chose Ghana as the African country of his choice to return more than 400 years after slavery. I do not believe Dubois could have chosen any other African country were he could safely consider himself as a free African man.

Nkrumah's only flaw which most certainly disqualified him as African of the century was his practice of personality cult and his institution of a one-party state that eroded the democratic gains of the 1950s and1960s. Since Nkrumah was the living spirit in Africa at the time, whatever he did was quickly emulated everywhere in the Continent. His undemocratic and autocratic propensities gave rise to one-party States all over Africa: Ahidjo's Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Guinea, Zambia etc. His personality cult obsession was re-incarnated in ruffians, butchers, cannibals, megalomaniacs and kleptomaniacs such as Idi Amin, Macias Nguema, Joseph-Desire Mobutu (of the Sese Seko), Afrifa, Acheampong, "Emperor" Jean-Bedel Bokassa, General Abacha, and Master Sergeant Doe. These were the mad men who nearly took Africa back to the Stone Age; causing untold suffering, death, poverty, ignorance, and want to millions of Africans.

The brain drain as a result of the actions of these men is so drastic that, the West Africa magazine stated that there are 24,000 (Twenty-four-Thousand) Igbo Medical Doctors in America alone. Where does that leave us in the twenty-first century? Bryan Appleyard of The Sunday Times in London effectively captured the global mood at the end of the twentieth century. In a prophetic headline article titled "The Party to end all Parties", he wrote: "The 20th century, the bloodiest in human history, has gone, not with a bang but with a whimper. With one last ironic master-stroke, the age of Mao and Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, of My Lai and Auschwitz, bowed its head and said an amazingly peaceful good night. The global party passed almost without incident." After reading his extract, one wondered why he did not include some African tyrants and why he said "almost without incident” when it to the author that he was writing from a global perspective while excluding Africa. Why? How can that be? Surely, this is unfair, I mused. Then I quickly cast my mind on the Coup in Ivory Coast on Christmas Eve. So the twentieth century did not end in Africa with a "whimper” but Bang! Bang! You are dead! God help Africa!

The general impression, therefore, is there are no plausible reasons to choose any African politician as The African of the twentieth Century. One is so disappointed with their performance; and the catalogue of failures, and woes that it is inconceivable to vote them to the coveted title. One would have been inclined to vote for Nelson Mandela, but he did little to change black people's poverty in South Africa while President. Mohammad Ali? Well, it depends on whether he can be nominated as a full African. Cheikh Anta Diop? An intellectual giant; and a pure Pan-Africanist: but intellect alone cannot save us. Moreover, he did most of his archaeological research in Europe: which leaves us with one choice: Roger Milla! A true African with the humblest of spirits; and a dedicated professional who played for his country at the age of 42: becoming the oldest man to score in a World Cup Final. What Milla did to African Pride in Italia'90, is equivalent to all the work of all African politicians put together. Because of Milla, Africa became recognisable again in the world stage. Africa had been forgotten by the World. Nobody gave a thought about the people. We were seen as pariahs, beggars and weakling, a useless continent. Certain Westerners were even proposing re-colonisation. Milla's four goals changed all that. I was watching the Cameroon-Columbia match, together with some Cameroonians and an English friend in my small one-bed flat in Muswell Hill, North London. One can hardly forget the joy and pride that filled our hearts as Africans when Milla beat Rene Aguitato score the second and winning goal. Few people used to respect Africans. But since that incident, wherever, we go we are respected, being offered free drinks to this day. I recently met a Rwandan Doctor who also said the same thing happened to him in Romania.

There are things money cannot buy - self-worth. Cameroon's performance in that tournament caused the Independent in London to feature an African Nation in their headline for the first time for something good. Cameroonian Mr. Tah Ndifornyen of the Tandy fame, owner of the Victoria pub in London, was in the front page News dancing in his pub. When Roger Milla and his Lions marginally lost to England, the England Manager, Bobby Robson, said "We pulled it out of the fire", and that it was "the hand of God" that helped England. If all our African leaders do their jobs as effectively, humbly, patriotically and selflessly as Milla, then "the hand of God" will save us and our poverty will disappear for good. Roger Milla! The African of the 20th Century.

Roger Milla: The African of the 21st Century Decade - Part 1

By Louis Egbe Mbua

This article first appeared in camnetwork on 7 January 2000, at the very dawn of the 21st century. It was written as a response to the debate as to who would covet the title of The African of the 20th century. At the time of writing, we were thinking of the future by retrospecting the past; and believing that we would now face a brighter future in Africa. Today, with the conduct of political African leaders in a manner that leaves the world gasping for breath, the writing is as true in 2000 as it is today. The same problems that plagued Africa in the 2oth century remain -- if not getting worse. Tyranny, poverty, disease, constitutional and electoral fraud; and political fiat continue with all the ferocity of a whirlwind and a storm combination. In 2000 Roger Milla won the day in the debates; and it still holds today.

Who is the African of the 20th Century?

There were some aspects of Nkrumah's achievements, which the author believes should warrant his nomination as “An African of the Century”: although I do not believe he will win the coveted title. If I could go by historical accounts, Kwame Nkrumah was only thirty-six years old (born in 1909) when he attended the Pan-Africanist Conference in 1945 in Manchester.Before then, he had already taught at Lincoln University in America;and being voted the best lecturer of the year. Although W.E.B Dubois wasvery instrumental in that particular conference, it was Nkrumah who read the signs of the times. On his return to Ghana in 1947, he quickly capitalised upon the injustices of World War II, and African domination by the Allied powers to demand "self-government now". Realising that the party which he was affiliated was dragging its feet, hequickly resigned his position as Secretary General. He then went on to form his ownparty, the Convention People's Party in 1949 that quickly captured the people's imagination. He worked closely with trade union leaders toorganise civil disobedience reminiscent of Gandhi in India. In fact, he is called in some well-informed quarters as "The Gandhi ofAfrica." A tireless and dynamic worker with a flair for showmanship; andunparalleled intellect, he was imprisoned several times. It is said thathe continued to smuggle messages written in bathroom tissues while inprison!

Only ten years after returning to Ghana from the UK, Nkrumah was PrimeMinister of Ghana with his country becoming the first Black Africanstate to achieve independence having completely out-manoeuvred theBritish on intellectual grounds. This achievement alone totallychanged the African political landscape since this provided otherAfrican leaders with the inspiration to challenge colonialism head-on – genuinely or pretentiously. As a result, some African Nationalists lost their lives - Um Nyobe was killed in 1958 and Patrice Lumumba who was brutally murdered in 1964 duringthe Congo crises – allegedly with connivances by the CIA: for these are the very sad episodes what resulted from Nkrumah’s historic political achievement. However, Cameroon and Congo Kinshasa both managed to gain independence in the early 1960's. Others followed in quick succession- Algeria under Ben Bella, Kenya under Jomo Kenyata, Nigeria etc. all in the early 1960s.

It may also be recalled that it was perhaps as a consequence of Nkrumah's achievement --in this respect -- that the great man, Nelson Mandela, decided tochallenge the then racist bastion or clique in Pretoria by force ofarms in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Well, we all know whathappened to him. Spending Twenty-seven years in jail under atrocious conditionsis not something pleasurable at all. With all due respect for Mandela, what Nkrumah achieved in ten years, Mandela took Thirty-one years toachieve in 1994 when he became the first black President in a democraticSouth-Africa. So, we can say, without any foe to utter a contrary position, that what Nkrumah achieved in 1957, in the twentieth century, caused the total liberation of the entire continent. What he gained in the late 1950s is still felt in Africa in the Twenty-firstcentury in the person of Nelson Mandela who has since honourably stooddown for the younger generation living in retirement in SouthAfrica.Nkrumah did not stop there. It is a known fact – or open secret dependent on what side you belong -- the British left Ghana a very rich country indeed.

Living up to its former name, the GoldCoast, the government coffers were panelled with gold; and Nkrumah went aboutbuilding a nation. He built excellent schools, Universities (CapeCoast, Kumasi Institute of Technology) which attracted first class minds from all over the world. With education being free at the time; It is not acoincidence that the first sub-Saharan African Secretary-General ofthe United Nations, Koffi Annan, is partly a product of Ghanaianeducational system. In fact, one of my Economics Lecturer, anEnglishman, in my Undergraduate days commented that Ghanaian farmersspoke very good English - better than Welch farmers (people fromWales). How amazing!Nkrumah also promoted cultural activities by wearing his "nationaldress when attending Commonwealth Heads of Government conferences (CHGM). A friend of the author working for an NGO; and who visits severalAfrican countries, once commented that Ghanaians are the most culturally conscious; and that their civil service, the most efficient.

Nkrumah also built roads, Airports, improved the country'stelecommunication system and embarked on the Volta Project that led tothe gigantic Akosombo Dam for the smelting of Aluminium from Bauxiteand for electricity. Millions of Ghanaians found employment in theseprojects. He promoted hard work, confidence and self-reliance. It is afact that Ghanaians in Diaspora are one of the most hard-working ofall Africans.His foreign policy was very aggressive towards the westbecause he foresaw neo-colonialism. In this respect, Nkrumah tried hisold tactics of direct confrontation, brinksmanship, flamboyance andNationalism. Surely, this was a mistake that was to become his undoing.He tried to play a double game by his non-aligned stance: at one pointhe was a Socialist aligned to the Soviet Union; In another momenthe needed Loans from the West for his grandiose projects. He could notwin because the Cold War was raging meaning he had to choose which side he belonged. Nobody was allowed to have his cake and eat it: for Ideology was thegame. You had to be a sheep in wolf's clothing.

Fidel Castro cleverly, on the other hand, chose and exploited the Soviet Union and prospered politically and economically. Our own very Ahidjo, cunningly sided with the West: healso prospered politically and economically. Cameroonians then went onto party, drinking, eating, dancing and enjoying unimaginable salaryhikes until they woke up one morning to find out that there is nomoney in the bank – It had been stolen by kleptocratic politicians while they were busy dancing: the party was over. Sekou Toure mistakenly sided with the Socialists. Well, the French came in and uprooted their lamp posts in Conakry as the entire country was plunged into darkness ofhardship and poverty. One-Party state became fashionable to put downdissent with the pretext of encouraging unity. Whatever the case, he remained in power until his death.