The arrival of America's first black
president whose father
hailed from Kenya, was a historic moment
savored in much
of the region
Ghana Web,
Ghana
Mr. Obama: It's
Time for America to Give Back to Africa
"We fought alongside
the West for freedom and to preserve its values and culture, but Westerners responded
by destroying ours. Can we begin to make up for this with a bit of reparation
for the millions of slaves that represented our youth and who labored to create
the wealth of the 'free world'?"
By Kojo Tamakloe
July 10,
2009
Ghana
- Ghana Web - Original Article (English)
Hello brother and sister Obama. Welcome to Ghana.
We're especially proud that you chose the land of the philosopher and innovator
extraordinaire, Dr. Osagyefo
Kwame Nkrumah. I hope you know that due to his efforts, even U.S. Blacks have
benefited. For example, Ghanaians had the vote before African Americans. Please
open your eyes to see the long journey, particularly of your wife and chief
counselor. I don't only refer to physical distance, but the distance between
slavery and being your first lady and confidante.
We want to assure you we're with you on your journey, which aims
to transform your own country, the West and the wider world. I know this trip
is part of that plan - and you have described this is the New Dawn. The continent of your father and your kinfolk shall not
continue to be marginalized. You and your wife are here to sound a clarion
call. The eagle must spread its wings and fly and take its rightful place among
nations.
You've already made a statement by not going to Nigeria
or to your fatherland, Kenya.
You eschew corruption. I hope my fellow
Ghanaians listen and back President Mills in removing this cancer from our
midst. This I got from your speech
at the G8 in Italy when you mentioned Kenya
as an example. We grapple with this here, since some want double standards. Drivers
are jailed for speeding, while [former presidential chief of staff] Mpiani and
others are untouchable.
I'm sure you'll listen to our plea for a Marshall Plan for Africa.
We fought alongside the West for freedom and to preserve its values and culture,
but Westerners responded by destroying ours and continuing to colonize us
economically. Can we begin to make up for this with a bit of reparation for the
millions of slaves that represented our youth and who labored to create the
wealth of the "free world"?
Not content with this, during the 60s and 70s you used to
raid us through a program called African Scholarship Program of American
Universities - taking our best and brightest to the U.S.
No compensation was ever paid.
President Barack Obama addresses Ghana's Parliament in
Accra, Ghana, July 11.
[CLICK HERE
OR CLICK PHOTO TO WATCH]
And on a fateful February morning in 1966, your intelligence
agency under the mistaken guise of battling communism, removed Ghana's
dynamic President Kwame Nkrumah, replacing him with a group of retards and
stopping short our march to progress. We haven't recovered since. His "replacements"
shut down all factories and projects that were in progress - some of which had been
begun with money borrowed from your institutions that which still had to be
repaid. We're still paying for these by way of interest and capital. This is a
loss of revenue that could go instead be spent to our development.
[Editor's Note: While
President Nkrumah was on a state
visit to North Vietnam and China in 1966, his government was overthrown in a military coup, which was backed by
the CIA, according to former decorated CIA officer John
R. Stockwell].
FAIR TRADE NOT FREE TRADE
We thank you for the aid and grants you continue to give us.
God bless you. But as the Chinese say, "Give me fish and I eat for a day;
teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime." It's time we were treated as
adults. We want fair trade - whereas you subsidize your farmers you instruct
and punish us when we do the same. "Trade" is when you tell us how
much to pay for our own products and services but you tell us how much we must
pay for yours. Can we call that free or fair trade? I can tell you that we were
on the verge of self sufficiency in rice before the 1966 coup, but now have to
import everything. Beyond that, our oceans have been fished dry. And can you
help change the rules so that we can industrialize? We import toothpicks,
sugar, milk, toilet paper and many other things. Soon we'll be importing water
and air. How can we support our growing population like this? You have an
immigration problem, do you not? Wouldn’t it help if we were able to keep our
people home and having you trade with us? Wouldn't that make us better allies rather
than having to create Africom?
[the United States
Africa Command]. How many must die before we realize
that isn't the solution? It is poverty and hunger that create radicals and
militants. Let us prevent this.
It has been said [by President George W. Bush] "If you're
not with us, you're against us." But Nkrumah was never against you. He
loved the West - but loved Ghana
and Africa more. This can also be said of leaders like Thomas Sankara [Upper
Volta], Mobutu Sese Seko [Zaire],
Ahmed Ben Bella [Algeria].
Do you recall that Nelson Mandela was only removed from the U.S.
terrorist watch list last year? He, too, wanted freedom for his people. My president,
can you describe that as a crime or anti-West? We can be pro-West while using
the instruments of development to suit local conditions.
Being a social democrat is not anti-West. I'm glad you yourself
are one. So will you allow Africa to adopt developmental
methods without the doctrinaire approach of capitalism? Isn't it time to
restructure and change the policies behind the Bretton Woods System?
We neither have the capital nor the enterprises, so allow us to use whatever we
have to acquire what we need.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The African market and union have been a sore point. From an
accounting point of view, instead of producing things on a small scale for a
limited market and at great financial loss, as we and other African countries have
been forced to do, it makes sense to lower the cost per unit and avoid
duplication.
In the current economic downturn, can you imagine the effect
that building new roads, offices, houses, water supply networks, hospitals,
schools and factories would have on the global economy? This is virgin territory
so let's give it a try. Let's put the words, "land of the free and home of
the brave" into action. In light of the corruption the $10 billion a month
spent in Iraq, can
you imagine the amount of progress that could have made in regard to our
wellbeing and development such money could have had here, setting aside the 12
million mosquito nets [provided by the Bush Administration]? Don't you think
that's insulting to us? Furthermore, we need an end to conflicts in Somalia,
Sudan, Nigeria
and Kenya - all
of which are a direct result of poverty translated into clan and tribal war.
I'm sure the world will be a better place with some
technology transfer to Africa and solutions to the
energy crises and the West's war with the Arab's over its support of Israel,
which also set us back during the 1970s. We, too, can benefit from the development
of solar, wind, geothermal, oceanic and aquatic forms of energy production - despite
Ghana's recent discovery
of oil. I'm sure that with less demand on the continent due to the alternative
sources of energy, oil prices would stabilize and be a less effective tool in
the armory of Islamist radicals.
"There is no Blue America, Red America, only the United
States of America." I'm sure this is a
message you will want to translate across divided Africa.
In Ghana, we
don't have an Akan-Ghana or a non-Akan Ghana,
but one Ghana.
In Africa, we have neither an Arab Africa, Muslim Africa, a Black Africa nor a Christian
Africa, but one Africa. Together we are one.
Mr. President, You and President Mills have a lot in common,
both displaying humility and having been university professors. I see the
strength of purpose and resolve that binds both of you. President Mills may not
be a communicator like you are - and is probably not as speedy, but I'm sure that
together you will change the world. Always remember that it was the tortoise that
won the race - despite its slow pace. Good luck.
*Kojo Tamakloe is a
Nkrumaist who believes that African unity is the real solution to our underdevelopment.
Forward ever, backward never. Nkrumah never dies.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
The Ghanaian Chronicle, Ghana:
Ghana Should 'Cash In' on Obama's Visit
My Joy, Nigeria:
Residents of Elmina,
Ghana 'Demand' that
Obama Visit the Town
The Ghanaian Times:
Minister
Denies Obama-Visit Cloth Printed with State Funds
Ghana News Agency:
Obama-Visit Souvenir Cloth Goes on Sale
The Ghanaian Times:
'Why Obama Snubbed Nigeria'
The Daily Sun, Nigeria:
The 'Stoning' of President Barack Hussein Obama
This Day, Nigeria:
Obama's Choice to Visit Ghana and Not Nigeria Should Be a Lesson to Us
Boobab, Nigeria:
If Obama
Comes to Nigeria, 'I Will Stone Him'
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
July 11, 7:08pm]
