Afrikan Goddess (AG) Online

African Today - Rise Up and Walk! 
By: Nii Amu Darko (November 12, 2009)

Interesting heading I will say. Very interesting especially for those of us who had the privilege of attending University of Ghana in the late 80’s.

In those days and I hope it is the same today, there was a subject called African Studies which we used to call Afro studs. It was a funny course in the sense that it did not add up to your eventual grade but you might not move to the next level if you did not pass it. Such was the nature of the subject that we referred to it as ‘’non-score’’.

Afro studs had many streams, one of which was AFRICA TODAY. Actually, the name of the course till we went to Legon in 1987 was AFRICA TODAY. It was changed to AFRICA IN THE MODERN WORLD and that in itself became a source of confusion. Some of the lecturers were still referring to it as Africa Today and to make matters worse, on the exams time-table it was Africa Today but on the exams paper itself it was Africa in the Modern World. Obviously, the time-table was just recycling of the old stencil. Nothing changes; this is Africa at the highest level. This is the premier university of the premier independent state of Africa. Confusion over name of a course. Hmmmmm, things have been bad for a long time.

I chose Africa today as my Afro studs course. I reckon that goes without saying. I could not have chosen any other course. Three reasons accounted for that choice;

1.    My personal interest in African affairs

2.    The feeling that I could pass that paper without attending one single class because the ‘’too known’’ me believed I knew more than 50% of whatever I would be taught there anyway.

3.    A very good friend of mine did the same course the year before so I would inherit ready-made notes, making attending lectures super optional

The interesting thing about the last reason was that it was based on an assumption that the notes would be the same, which was again based on the fact that nothing significant would have happened in Africa in a year and even if anything did happen it would not have filtered through to the highest institution of learning. That was a world unto itself detached from what was happening in the larger outside world. I did part of my post A level National Service as a Technician in the Department of Chemistry of the same University  in 1986/7. At that time we were using 1968 protocols for Chemistry experiments. If nothing changed in Science in 18years what would change in Afro studs in one year. I was not disappointed. It was the same notes. This is Africa, nothing changes.

The Afro studs lectures were in the evening at the N block, the Africa Today class was by far the largest. I reckon it was very popular because many students felt it was the continuation of A level General Paper and could pass it with minimal or no effort. Most of the students were understandably in the liberal arts and for them it was a walk over since they were doing aspects of the topics in their main subjects.

My favourite lecturer was Ms. Takyiwa Manu, a very nice, cute and well spoken lady. She belonged to the left wing group (the Socialist Group) on Campus. She was the reason for the few lectures I attended. At that time, yours truly was also a ‘’die – hard’’ socialist. Do you blame me for a being a socialist? Of course not. Having grown up in Osu, the capital suburb of Ghana and having seen the great divide between the haves and have-nots, the natural inclination was to seek to redress the imbalance and the readily available tool at my disposal was the Marxist theory.

By the age of 14, I had read virtually all the books of Marx and Lenin, courtesy my form 2 history teacher Alfred Ansah Sackey who took advantage of the Russian Revolution he taught us to ‘’indoctrinate’’ me with Scientific Socialism. The fact that my house was close to the Russian Bookshop made it all the more easy for me to get hold of those books which at that time cost next to nothing. Very interesting books for a young enquiring mind. All of a sudden I started reading the inequalities around me in books written thousands of kilometres away.

Anyway, back to Legon and Afro studs. The budding intellectuals, those who were supposed to be trail blazers were choosing courses on the basis of how minimal efforts they would need to apply to pass. The whole education was and I am afraid to say is about passing exams. I was equally guilty. How could we move ahead if the essence of education was rooted 100% in passing exams? That was Africa Today then, is the Africa Today of 2009 any different? I am very sorry to say a big NO. I bet you, the same notes are being given to those taking the Africa Today course in 2009. Why? Is it because the lecturers are lazy? I do not think so. It is because there has not been any significant change in the African scenario.

Hear what the State President Atta Mills said recently; ‘’   President J. E. A. Mills has declared that his government will make agriculture the fulcrum of its economic policy. This is because a beggar nation has no respect in the comity of nations. He said the country’s ability to feed itself would, therefore, constitute a defining moment in its quest to build a self reliant economy.

Is the President serious? I do not really know what is wrong with us. He gave Kuffuor 3 Chrysler cars to drive when he knows that we are begging for food. Did he hear Obama giving cars to Bush? Did he even hear Gordon Brown giving cars to his own party boss Tony Blair? Yet these are the people we go begging food from. So why do we spend more extravagantly than those whose crumbs we scramble for? These nations have their ambassadors and high commissioners in our country and I am sure they were besides themselves when Kuffour formed a committee to determine his retirement package and how they secretly sneaked it in on the last day of the last parliament. I am sure they wondered, what kind of human beings are these? Wouldn’t you?

Since Obama came to power has he heard him signing off $50000 gift loan to congressmen? How can a country not able to feed itself part away with borrowed money in such senseless way?

Hear him lament further: He said 50 years down the line, it was unfortunate that “Ghana is still eating in the kitchen of the colonialists,” by receiving food handouts. According to the President, nothing has changed in 50years. We are still being fed by the colonialists; we are still scrambling for the crumbs which fall off the tables of the colonialists. What a sad story? If this had come out of a local newspaper, I would have attributed it to ‘’against’’ or sensationalism but to come out of the man who is supposed to know the health of the nation more than anyone else is extremely troubling.

Brothers and sisters, is there any hope? Can anything good come out of Africa? A very worrying question but it is a question we have to ask and we have to answer seriously and genuinely. Is there any hope for us?

For the 1^st time since I started writing this article, there is a smile on my face. I am smiling because I believe there is hope for us. The evidence is overwhelming, there is hope for us. Here is an example of the type of evidence I am talking about:

Just after the G8 meeting and before Obama embarked on his journey to Accra he granted an interview in which his views on Africa and the food situation were sought because part of the deliberations at the meeting had focused on that. This is what he said;
"There is no reason why Africa cannot be self-sufficient when it comes to food. It has sufficient arable land. What's lacking is the right seeds, the right irrigation, but also the kinds of institutional mechanisms that ensure that a farmer is going to be able to grow crops, get them to market, get a fair price. And so all these things have to be part of a comprehensive plan, and that's what I was trying to underscore during the meeting today’’.

Barack’s position on Africa contrary to what most people believe is not one of  hopelessness. He knows it’s very bad but he also believes it is correctable. He then went on to point out areas that needed strengthening and new structures that needed to be built. A friend commented that like me, Obama believes in Africa. That may be true but not necessarily so. Obama like me believes in patterns, type and the cyclical nature of life. What has been, is and will be. Nothing changes. Obama knows that kingdoms come and go. History is always repeating itself. He knows that the US will not remain the way it is today forever. He knows that the balance of power will not remain like it is now forever. If at the beginning of the 21st century no one gave an African – American chance of becoming US president but that’s happened in the 1st decade, then to him, all things are possible. He becomes like a type of Africa. He stood the same remote chance in 2000 as Africa does today. We all know of the difficulties he went through and will therefore be completely out of place for us to think that Africa’s upward movement will be rosy and problem free. In fact, we will have more problems in comparative terms than what Obama faced.

Obama’s position that Africa’s primary problem is not lack of money but internal reorganization, efficiency and good governance brings to the fore a classical biblical story every Ghanaian Christian knows of, indeed every Christian anywhere knows this story but how many know that it refers to the African scenario.

The story is that of the lame man at the beautiful gate as recorded in Acts of the Apostles¹. There is this man lame from birth who was brought everyday to the path leading to Solomon’s porch part of the Temple. A very nice spot, probably the most conspicuous and vantage point in the Temple’s vicinity. That was his office that was the place he plied his business of begging - a very convenient place to tickle the conscience of those going to the house of the Lord, more like blackmail. I am sure he would say to himself, ‘’this is the best spot on earth, how could they ignore me when going to pray to God who has said they should give to the poor’’. The people always obliged and the man became very comfortable. He was there daily even if the alms from the previous day could suffice for a week - a professional beggar whose begging activity had nothing to do with his needs. Meanwhile, he knew that the only difference between himself and rest was his lameness. He had everything the others had but he never sought solution to his basic problem, he was happy to beg. His moment in history came when on one of the days, he tried to get some money from the Apostles Peter and James on their way to the Temple to pray. Peter, in his usual blunt way told the man to look at him and then with an authoritative voice said ‘’ silver and gold had he none, but such as he has will he give, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. He then stretched his hands to the man whose legs received strength and for the 1^st time in his life walked, limping and jumping, praising God.

The parallels to Africa are too obvious to comment further. Africa has been dependent and crippled from independence. From day one, many African countries declared their inability to govern themselves, in fact some heads of states were representing their newly independent nations in the parliament of the former colonial master and their budget underwritten by the master. We were beggars from day 1. We beg day and night, whether we need the money or not. You see African countries trying to undo each other in servitude to the master so they will get the bigger crumbs from master’s table. We struggle to position ourselves firmly at the beautiful gate where we would be conspicuously seen. Someone once commented that some African leaders even prayed for natural disasters so they could beg for more. Like the lame man, they never use the money from begging to improve themselves. We are clearly at the mercy of others. Like the lame man we need them on a daily basis to survive. We cannot even organize elections without them. We even jubilate when they throw in fake money (remember the IFC loan?). We beat our chest when master says that we’re the best of the lot when actually 50% of our recurrent expenditure is from loans and grants. So what is our standard? Like the lame man, we have no standard. Meanwhile, we all know that we have everything master has, the only problem is some structural defects in our organization and governance arenas, yet we have never sought to genuinely look for solutions for these intrinsic problems which have crippled and turned us into professional beggars. When Obama won the US Presidency, many Africans said, Ohhh, now that one of us is the President of the richest nation on earth, the money will flow, the aid will flow and everything will be alright. Yes, alright we will be, but not because of flow of money from US. We don’t need that. A South African friend asked me whether I believed Obama’s coming to Ghana would open the way for more US aid to Africa. I asked her whether the US can ever give South Africa even a tenth of what gold gives it or a tenth of what oil gives Nigeria. If Nigeria cannot govern itself with over 2m barrels of oil/day, which is over $130m/day then no amount of money from America can save that country. If South Africa producing 25% of world gold cannot provide water for all its citizens then there is nothing America can do to solve that problem. Africa does not need anyone’s money. Like the lame man, all we need is power into our weak legs, I mean our weak institutions of commerce and governance so can stand on our own. Mind you, this was the first miracle by the Apostles and Obama coming to Ghana was his first appearance in sub – Saharans Africa. He knew we were hoping for more money from America but like Peter, he knew that was not the solution to our begging status. Like Peter, he said look at me (I am just like you but look at what I have achieved), silver and gold I have none but such as I have, I give, in the name of accountability, good governance and democracy rise up and walk. The curious thing is that like Peter (stretching out his hand to help the lame man stand up for the 1^st time), Obama is also prepared to give us a helping hand as we get off the ground. That is all he can give and that is all we should expect from him. Like the lame man, we should be able to accept the encouragement, get strength into our legs, rise up and walk and beg no more.

If the lame man from birth could receive strength into his legs, rise up and walk and beg no more, then paralyzed Africa can also receive strength into its weak institutions and can rise up and walk and beg no more if we accept the encouragement from Bro. Obama. Obama is our Peter. Africa, rise up and walk.

Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika.

God Bless Afrika