By Kofi Akordor
“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”- Steve Biko
Putting the usual speeches aside, the 18th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) will be remembered for two main things. First, there was the relocation of the secretariat of the continental body to its new and magnificent headquarters, which we have been told is a gift from China, the emerging economic superpower on the continent.
We may be excited about the new edifice, which cost Chinese taxpayers US$300 million, but to some of us, this is a gift that will come with strings attached. Remember — he who pays the piper calls the tune. We should, therefore, not be surprised if, sooner than later, China begins to call the shots as to which of our abundant resources should go where and at what price. Like the US and the European powers, China will soon determine how Africa should vote on major issues at the UN or elsewhere.
But what will be of greater interest to many Africans on the mother continent and in the Diaspora was the unveiling of a giant bronze statue of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of the Republic of Ghana and founder member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the AU.
That historic and memorable event was carried out by the President, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, and witnessed by many dignitaries, including Prof Francis Nkrumah, Dr Nkrumah’s first son, and Ms Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, Dr Nkrumah’s daughter who was barely a baby when her father’s government was toppled by the Central Intelligence Agency-inspired coup.
In addition to this is the institution of the Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards which were conferred on two prominent scientists for promoting research work in the sciences on the continent.
The first recipients are Professor Oluwale Daniel Makinde of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, who received the Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation Award, and Prof Marike Labuschagne of the Bloemfontein University, who received the Life and Earth Science Award.
That was not the first time the AU was bestowing honour on Dr Nkrumah, the undisputable lead architect of Africa’s emancipation from colonialism and neo-colonialism, having dedicated to him the AU Day, which is celebrated every May 25 to commemorate the birth of the OAU, now the AU.
However, coming at a time when the AU is going through recognition crisis and struggling to establish its relevance on the international stage, the honour done Nkrumah can only be interpreted as an attempt by the continental leaders to invoke the spirit of Nkrumah, whose vision of seeing Africa a free and prosperous continent fully prepared to assert itself in the comity of nations remains a challenge.
Nkrumah, as a person, had his weaknesses and frailties, and as a politicians he had his detractors. But, by and large, Nkrumah stood tall among his peers and today, many decades after his death, it is becoming increasingly difficult to forget him.
He stood firmly and religiously for the total emancipation of the African continent from all vestiges of colonialism and its more cunning and sinister brother, neo-colonialism. He was also determined to purge the Black race of all forms inferiority complex and restore in Black people their psychological balance which had been devastated by slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.
On the home front, Nkrumah did not spend time lamenting over inadequate resources or mourning the side effects of colonialism and all the things African leaders use as excuses for their inaction. He hit the ground running, not recklessly, aimlessly or trying to cling on to anything floating. Nkrumah was purposeful in all his endeavours and on all fronts. He pursued a vigorous educational policy which astounded many and was the envy of many other countries on the continent and beyond. He foresaw that the country would require a high calibre of professionals in all spheres of national development and pursued his policy in that direction.
Basic education was free and compulsory; no two ways about that. Secondary education was made accessible to as many people as possible. Beyond secondary education, there were many teacher training colleges, technical and vocational institutes to suit the academic and intellectual capabilities of everybody.
At the tertiary level, Nkrumah was not only targeting bureaucrats to man the administrative class of the Civil Service. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology had, as its prime objective, the training of scientists and technologists to serve as the bulwark of the country’s industrial and manufacturing sectors.
There was no doubt that Ghana would have been a nuclear power by now had the initiative Nkrumah took in the early 1960s with the institution of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission not been terminated with the collapse of his administration.
The University of Cape Coast was purposely established to train graduate teachers for the numerous secondary schools that were springing up in the country.
His aggressive agricultural policies made it possible for agricultural scientists from Malaysia to come here and take away oil palm seedlings to their country. Today, Malaysia is one of the most powerful industrial and economic powers in south-east Asia whose wealth revolves around palm oil and cocoa, of which Ghana is a prime producer. Ghana’s fortunes, on the other hand, have dwindled to the extent that it has become a net importer of anything conceivable, from tooth picks to wheelbarrows.
Ghana’s industrial landscape was quite phenomenal in the Nkrumah era. One can hardly say the same today and the country, like most others on the continent, has become raw material producers.
On the social and infrastructural front, Nkrumah was determined to make Ghana an example of what a determined and proud people could do if galvanised into action and if they make judicious use of their resources. The Tema Port, the Volta River Project, which includes the hydro-electric dam and the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), the Accra-Tema Motorway and the factories that blossomed on the industrial landscape are ample evidence of the man’s vision and mission.
Some of his contemporaries claimed Nkrumah was galloping rather too fast. Maybe it was for a purpose. Nkrumah did not live long to see some his ideas come into fruition. But every true Ghanaian will admit that Ghana, even in the present day, is surviving mostly on the legacies of the Nkrumah era.
Nkrumah knew that Ghana was not going to enjoy its political independence if it was going to share borders with others still in colonial bondage. He, therefore, carried the battle of emancipation beyond Ghana’s borders.
He did not pursue only political freedom but also economic integration to steer the continent clear from its colonial roots. The greatest irony of our times is that Africa, one of the most endowed continents on earth, remains the poorest in terms of development.
Africa is now synonymous with poverty and hunger, illiteracy and ignorance and all the known killer diseases, including malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB and Buruli ulcer. Presiding over these developmental challenges on the continent are some of the most vicious and corrupt leaders the world has ever produced.
What could be described as Nkrumah’s greatest contribution to the emancipation of the Black race was his surge against mental slavery which had stripped Blacks of their self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence and self-acceptance. If, today, African leaders continue to junket the world looking for external assistance for everything in the midst of abundance, it is because they do not value personal and national pride.
Robert Nesta Marley, arguably one of the greatest philosophers of our time, delivered his message through music: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our weak mind.”
Mental slavery and its associated inferiority complex continue to cause havoc to the psyche of the African, reducing him to a second-rate citizen, even on his own land.
If in 2012 African leaders chose,“Boosting Intra-African Trade”, for its 18th Ordinary Session of the Summit of Heads of State and Government, it tells a story of how far they are from attaining the goals of continental unity which their predecessors, led by Nkrumah, fought for many decades ago.
Trade among African countries is very scanty, approximated to be between 10 and 12 per cent. That does not augur well for a continent that commands averagely about a third of the world’s natural resources. So while we ship our materials raw to other continents, we turn round to import finished products which came out of our raw materials at high prices. What that means is that all our efforts go to enrich producers on other continents.
Africa is highly marginalised, not because it is under-resourced but because it has a leadership that is very corrupt, myopic, selfish, unimaginative, yet always willing to go begging when everything needed for development is right here.
In 2000, Nkrumah was voted Africa’s Man of the Millennium by listeners to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service. This is a tribute to a man whose ideals and vision are beginning to make a serious impact on the minds of many Africans.
While the numerous awards and monuments erected in memory of Nkrumah in various parts of the world are inspiring and serve as a reminder of a mission unaccomplished, Africa needs a leadership that will be imbued with Nkrumah’s zeal and vision both at the national and continental levels.
What Africa is missing today is a person who will take up the mantle of Nkrumah and pursue his vision of a free and united Africa that will not play subservience to any power nor pander to the whims and caprices of neo-colonial interests. That is the vision which lives on.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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