<<Print>>Fear the ‘Black African President’ more than the ‘White Imperialist.’
Hello President John Dramani Mahama,
Greeting to your cabinet ministers who chartered a plane to Equatorial Guinea for the AFCON, I hope the State didn’t finance such trip!!!!
Permit me to share my 20 years aspiration for Ghana with you. I have had in my archives Madiba’s movie; Long Walk to Freedom but could not review it for a long time because I had other important issues to attend to, but after a long watch night service, feeling fatigued and insomniac at the same time, I decided to take a shot at this widely celebrated movie. Within few minutes into the movie, it became apparent that sleep would elude me for the next two and half hours as I had instantly fallen in love with it. All I had to do was to sit back and enjoy the Long Walk to Freedom.
Feeling restless and shedding so much tears is not how I envisioned my day to begin, but that is the reality. I found the distasteful treatment of the blacks by the white imperialist very distraughtening but then again upon a solemn reflection of what our own black leaders have been doing to our continent and our Mother Land in particular for the past 57 years, my anger turned into tears and distress. At first, my militant instincts were activated; I began to ponder on how to bring the techniques the ANC militant wing employed in fighting for their course home. I even thought about the possibility of joining a militant organisation to fight against all repressive governments and please note repression includes all governments that misuse and steal the resources of the poor citizens, who are also crushed whenever they want to voice their concerns because they hold no AK47 Rifles in their hands.
In this movie, a poor bereaved widow slipped a note to Madiba after a night of police crackdown, which read, ‘No Peace, Do Not Talk About Peace, We Have Had Enough, Please Mandela. No Peace!! Give Us Weapons.’ I happened to have travelled to some countries in the past year Mr. President and I felt sick to my stomach whenever Ghana was praised by a foreigner for our peaceful nature. I always wondered to myself, how long shall this peace last? Upon my return to our mother land, I engage all manner of people in conversations about the future of Ghana and from what I have gathered; people are restless in their spirit. People have had enough of all this Dum Dum which has been with us for about 30 years, corruption, poverty and lack of basic amenities of life even though we as a nation have been endowed with so many resources. I have also had enough Mr. President. If I were to be granted an opportunity to make a demand of you now, like that widow, I would demand you give us ‘weapons’. ‘Weapons’ meant for all government leaders who siphon millions of our monies and leave our roads dusty, communities without water and homes without electricity. ‘Weapons’ meant for contractors who bloat figures to rob the nation of millions of hard earned monies. ‘Weapons’ meant for all the hundreds of people in governance who have no business being there in the first place. Perhaps I may begin with the Flagstaff House. But I know better and shall do no such thing.
How long shall a nation which cannot dream hold itself together? What legacy shall a President who doesn’t even have a 20 year strategic plan leave behind? What legacy shall an African Head of State who cannot even fulfill his own promises leave behind? I have seen South Korea rise from poverty to become an OECD country. I have seen the leadership of Malaysia raise the country from poverty to provide decent accommodation, transportation system, good water and sanitation system etc. for their people. Is it too great a responsibility to make such demands of the man we pay to do so? It didn’t take Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia a hundred years. Why must it take Ghana 100 years? Can I ever dream of high speed trains connecting all the cities across this country? Can I genuinely envision a Ghana where citizens of other countries line up in our foreign embassies just to come and enjoy the good of our land? Is it legitimate to dream Mr. President? I ask again, should we even dream as a people? You don’t have to answer that!!!
We may be enjoying a superficial peace today but if things remain unchanged, then am sorry a ‘new dawn’ is fast approaching. A dawn where the people shall rise up and boldly declare to your hearing, we have had enough!!!! A dawn that may not be in the interest of all politicians!! I have been extremely disappointed with your performance over the years you have been president to say the least. You have a few years more and I pray you make the most of it. You have traversed many lands during your short period as our leader and I believe you have seen how developed countries look like. Permit my curiosity, what have you learnt out there? Much more important, have you sought to find out, how those countries made it and are you applying what you have learnt? My answer for you is a big No!!!
Madiba made a very profound statement in the movie, which is very relevant to this discourse. He asked his young grandchild, ‘if these white oppressors do what they do against us, is it right to repeat what they did against us?’ He went on to say,’ we must show them better’. I ask you Mr. President, what is the difference between a white imperialist and a black supremacist? A black leader who plunders his nation’s resources and leaves it desolate? What is the difference between a white colonialist (foreigner) who stole millions of our resources and a black president (native) who sits aloof while corrupt officials ravish the nation? What is the difference, I demand? The difference is called Treason!!!! Punishable by Death and I leave that to posterity.
It’s a New Year and I wish you well, I wish you and your entire staff a Prosperous New Year and my vision for Ghana in 20 years is to see a country that has reliable water and power supply, a country that has good transportation system, a country where common thieves in governance are prosecuted, a country where the resources are used to raise up the people from the dust, a country that is economically dependent and able to feed its populace. Nkrumah dreamed about Nuclear 50 years ago, Nkrumah dreamed about Akosombo Dam 50 years ago but he didn’t only dream, he woke up and began to implement his dreams. I say to you too, Dream Mr. President, Dream, but when you dream please do wake up and when you rise up, wash your face, it helps to see clearly and begin to implement your dreams.
Regards to the Babies with Sharp Teeth,
Author of Answers to Life’s Foundational Questions found on amazon, gumroad and google books https://books.google.com.gh/books?id=V4j0BQAAQBAJ
https://gum.co/OtWi
http://www.amazon.com/Answers-To-Lifes-Foundational-Questions-ebook/dp/B00R3H3UH8