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EXCITING TIMES FOR AFRICANS
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THERE is a new wave of positive excitement sweeping across Africa. The African renaissance, so much talked about especially in recent times, seems to strike perfect cords in the ears of many leaders across the continent.
At the just ended African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, leader after leader exultingly sang the paean of the positive achievements in Africa by Africans. Their collective confidence depicted a continent that now sees a somewhat blissful future for her people. |
As the international press and observers present at the summit yearned to hear the usual cup-in-hand plea that were to be their news headlines, leaders of our Africa sought to relay to the world that we are now ready for serious international partnerships and not patronage.
Somalia, Sudan, Ivory Coast, and the other conflictrigged countries were all discussed with African insights.
The AU moved to more sustainable solutions and pledged support to both regional and international efforts at curbing what observers see as the stumbling blocks to the continentÕs growth. The summit also discussed the many other problems that have beset Africa for years.
President Kuffour of Ghana, the newly-elected leader of the AU asked that we take pride in our achievements so far and work towards a unified approach to solving development problems of Africa.
He noted that no individual African country could singularly hope to successfully overcome these challenges. Prez Kuffour added that by pooling our tremendous human and material resources and working together with a sense of common purpose we could certainly overcome these problems and set Africa in its right place in the world.
Interestingly the selecting of Kuffour to lead the AU at this moment in history tells of the seriousness attached to the African renaissance. As Ghana celebrates its 50th anniversary we are all also reminded of how Kwame Nkrumah, the first black African, south of the Sahara to win independence (with others) from white colonial rule, fought hard to unify the continent.
Nkrumah, a great pan- Africanist, noted at the dawn of Ghana's independence that, “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of the entire African continent.”
In hindsight, the great foreseer could tell that there is strength in togetherness. He knew that the 'iness' in individuality could yield no great achievements. And he has been proved right. Nkrumah is truly vindicated in this instance. Bless his soul!
Now, Africans all over have woken up to the dream of our total togetherness. Although, we still have lots of black spots dotted across the continent the ideology of freedom and development is gradually being tied also with the idea of Ōnew peace'.
This idea of peace is just not the one of the absence of war, but one of the absence of war coupled with the idea of hard work, healthy living, enlightenment, development and finally growth.
This is the new wave of excitement sweeping over the souls of Africans today. We want to be taken seriously; we want to live lives to the fullest as human beings; we want our kids to go to school and be truly creative and innovative; we want to do away with the stigma of a backward, antagonist, and 'jungle people'; we want the world to know that the days when we were taken for granted are over.
Now, trade, development and growth are blossoming in many parts of Africa. Most leaders take democracy seriously, health care is improving, education is still very much in the agenda, agriculture is improving and the people are upwardly creeping into prominence once again.
Indeed these are very exciting times in Africa! The collective leadership sees something good in the term 'renaissance'. Psychologically, this word, a glittering generality in itself, creates a feel-good dissonance that reminds us of the new transitional era in Africa. It creates excitement and ultimately drives people to transformable good.
On the other hand, some western media still prefer to describe anything African in derogatory terms. They prefer to demonise everything with words like dark, obsolete, poorest, underdeveloped, backward, diseased, and the sort.
Y'know what? We are, in many ways. We were, in some ways. But we'll never always be all the time. I'll explain this: it is because we admit to them.
It could be that we allowed ourselves to be deceived, cheated, and ripped off some of our riches, that's why they still see like that.
Another thing is that a lot of the people who say so are very ignorant. They could be politicians, journalists, and scholars and all but they may choose to hide their lack of understanding and ignorance in ash-tanning and marginalising Africa.
See, not all people think that way. There are even some among them who may argue otherwise. Now, it is even refreshing that attitudes in this country and most part of the western world are changing. For instance, just take Big Brother's Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody's case and the furore it created, with Shilpa eventually winning.
My point about the negativity portrayed in the western media is that some will knowingly or unknowingly come up with things that leave little to the imagination.
I'll tell you what! We might be poor and all that but never will our dignity be stolen away. And now it is even more exciting to know that the continent is turning around.
What are you going to do? Nkrumah once said here in England when he addressed a group known as the Black Panther that: For those of you who want to go home, go because your continent needs you. And for those who want to stay behind know that in whatever you do you should be good ambassadors of Africa. God bless Africa!
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