Nkrumah's Statue, Accra. Photo by Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah

This limited attention elicited by Africa Day – a day which should ideally attract as much attention and publicity as July 4, the Independence Day does for many Americans – raises several questions and concerns about the meaning, significance and relevance of this day, the role of Africa in current global affairs and how Africans in general perceive this day, their continent and their role in its development and envisaged future.

Africa Day marks the historic moment and occasion that took place on May 25, 1963 when African Heads of States and Government meeting in Addis Abba, Ethiopia, adopted the OAU Charter in order to achieve a better life for African people in economic, political, social and cultural terms through the promotion of unity and solidarity amongst African states and people and the eradication of all forms of colonialism. This, together with the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), was an important step for a region and peoples emerging from colonialism, where many African nations and people were still struggling for their freedom against foreign domination and where their ethnic, national, religious and linguistic differences had been used for their subjugation – the divide and rule strategists.

The OAU, without any doubt, has played an important role in the decolonization process since its establishment and has supported liberation struggles in countries like Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and South Africa amongst many others. The institution of a regional human rights system through the adoption of the 1981 African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and its implementing and monitoring body, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was another achievement.

However, despite several achievements of the OAU, the advancement of democracy, good governance and the promotion and protection of human rights have been a major challenge for the organization and the continent has been marred and marked by coups after coups, armed conflict, poverty, underdevelopment, disease, corruption and poor leadership. The decolonization process for many African people, as a result, has largely been regarded as a process where foreign oppressors have simply been replaced by local ones who have generally behaved no differently from the departed colonialists and even worse in some instances. And the looting, mismanagement and misuse of the continent’s resources following the decolonization process have largely continued unabated with ethnic and religious differences of African people exploited with devastating impact and consequences.

These challenges led to pessimism and cynicism amongst many African people and contributed to their lack of enthusiasm and excitement for Africa Day and its historical significance and the importance of its underlying values and principles for Africa’s development. It is indeed difficult for any people to celebrate this day when corruption, poverty, conflict and lack of respect for human rights continue to take their toll on them.

Many African peoples are not even fully appreciative of this day and its significance in advancing Africa’s development and interests and the day has largely become another wining and dining event for African elites with a few cultural activities and soccer matches for the masses. This is partly due to the failure by many African governments to avail necessary efforts and resources in order to galvanize African people behind the ideals and objectives envisaged in the OAU Charter largely because of their aversion for meaningful and popular participatory democracy and fear of unity and solidarity of ordinary African peoples and the threat that presents to their positions, privileges and power.

While the OAU has been replaced by the African Union (AU) and the OAU Charter by the Constitutive Act of the African Union in order to address weaknesses of the regional system and help the continent meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, the old problems of underdevelopment, lack of democracy, conflict, corruption still exist and will do so for some time even though there are already positive changes taking place – such as the intolerance and rejection of undemocratic changes of government that has seen the suspension of states like Madagascar from the AU and declarations and pronouncements against corruption. Incidents of xenophobic attacks as seen in South Africa in 2008, religious conflicts between Christians and Moslems in Nigeria and Egypt, ethnic violence in Sudan and other places including recent events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Côte d’Ivoire are an indication of the work that still needs to be done in this regard by the AU.

It is therefore unfortunate and a terrible indictment that the 48th anniversary of Africa Day – African unity and solidarity – other than passing almost unnoticed, was marked by continuing incidents of armed conflict as in Sudan and Libya, death and suffering of millions of African due to preventable diseases, lack of adequate food, water, and health care, xenophobic attacks in parts of South Africa and elsewhere in the continent and lack of democratic governance in many parts of the continent such as Swaziland and Madagascar. It is equally sad for a continent that is so endowed with mineral resources, fertile soils and all other elements that would have made it one of the richest and prosperous, is today 48 years after the adoption of the OAU Charter, is still one of the most impoverished, under-developed, corrupt, undemocratic and conflict ridden regions in the world today.

The limited interest in Africa Day and the challenges the continent still faces highlight the need for greater efforts by African people to promote the ideals of African unity and solidarity without which true independence and economic, social, political and cultural advancement of Africa and its people will not materialize. Warning against African disunity and its consequences, Kwame Nkrumah in his address to the National Conference of African Freedom Fighter on June 4, 1962 said:

As I see it, our greatest danger stems from disunity and the inability to see that the realization of our hopes and aspirations, the realization of our objective of total African independence, and of our future progress and prosperity, is inextricably bound up with the necessity to unify our policy and actions in connection with the continuing struggle for independence and the greater task of economic and social reconstruction beyond it. He went on further to say:

“It is our unity that the imperialist agencies are trying by every means to obstruct and sever. It is the idea of African unity they fear most. ……So long as we remain disunited, so long as we remain balkanized whether regionally or in separate national units, we shall be at the mercy of imperialism and neo-colonialism.”

At the turn of the twenty-first century, heads of States and Governments in adopting the UN Millennium Declaration in New York in September 2000 made a special commitment to help African meets its challenges of development, poverty, conflict, human rights, good governance and democracy and to ensure that the continent takes its rightful role in global affairs. This desire will not materialize until there is greater unity and solidarity amongst African people and their states.

What the past decades since the adoption of the OAU Charter in 1963 have clearly indicated is that the attainment of meaningful and significant African unity and solidarity will not happen at the instance of African governments and leaders by themselves. African people in their different walks of life, occupation and activity need to get more involved in the promotion and advancement of African unity and solidarity and not leave this important task to African governments, African leaders and the international community.

African people in their walks of life should work towards a day when Africa Day will be celebrated for the meaningful progress the continent would have made in terms of democracy, human rights, peace and development and for its role in global affairs. That day is real and achievable through unity and solidarity of African people and African descendants and through their demand and push for better governance and usage of Africa’s immense natural resources.

Political developments and changes that took place in North Africa at the beginning of the year in Tunisia and Egypt – referred to as the Arab Spring – have, notwithstanding several challenges and setbacks, shown that unity and solidarity of African people can bring about change.

What happens in any part of the African continent and what affects the continent whether in the United Nations or the AU should, in the spirit of African unity and solidarity and the pursuit of its underlying ideals and objectives, be a concern of all African people. This is the only way in which Africa as envisioned by the likes of Nkrumah can really be independent and attain the desired economic, political and social development necessary to promote the welfare and well-being of African people – a commitment and loyalty to the continent that transcends ethnic, religious and national differences and a commitment that helped to attain political freedom for South Africans and that could help the people of Zimbabwe, Swaziland and other parts of the continent to overcome their political and economic challenges and that could end the scourge of HIV/AIDS, gender discrimination and conflict and demand good governance and good leadership.

By Tseliso Thipanyane

Tseliso Thipanyane, independent consultant on human rights, democracy and good governance and former chief executive officer of the South African Human Rights Commission. Tseliso is Director-Editorial and Marketing at AfrobeatRadio. He can be reached at tseliso@afrobeatradio.com

The National Council of Ghanaian Associations (NCOGA) will be celebrating the upcoming Ghana’s 54th Independence celebration with a two part activity as follows:

HEALTH EXPO
Date: Saturday, March 5, 2011
Time: 10AM to 4PM
Where: Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 259-261 W 123rd St., NYC

DINNER DANCE
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2011
Where: Armenia Center, 630 2nd Ave., NYC
Time: 7PM
Attire: Traditional or formal

Atongo Zimba

The soul of African music, says Atongo Zimba, lies in our traditional musical instruments. Atongo Zimba, is a master of the Koloko, a two stringed Calabash lute played in the savannahs of northern Ghana. His music, a fusion of the traditional and the modern, is rooted in this tradition. Meet a successful musician whose passion it is to preserve African musical instruments!

Atongo Zimba was born on the savannahs of northern Ghana in 1967. His grandfather taught him how to build and play the koliko or molo, and the first songs he learned were rooted firmly in tradition, dealing with everyday life in the countryside of northern Ghana’s Bolgatanga region.

Being a child of his time, he was also exposed to African popular music on the radio and like many of his contemporaries; he was enthralled by the sounds of Fela Kuti’s afrobeat. It was to have a seminal influence on his musical development and Afrobeat inspired him so much, he decided to leave his hometown and explore the musical idioms of the surrounding regions.

Avisi Asaw of Radio Netherland Worldwide caught up with him in Mali to explore the untold success story of Atongo Zimba. Avisi’s interview with Atongo is embedded in this post.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Producer and arranger Sultan Makendé (aka Dave Yowell), who co-produced the legendary Captain Yaba album in the late 1990s, came up with a funky modern African sound which fused modern electronic instruments with the acoustic roots of the African Sahel.

Savannah Breeze builds on the musical ideas and grooves he pioneered together with Francis Fuster. Working with musicians steeped in jazz, funk and African music, Savannah Breeze moves effortlessly through a variety of grooves available to the contemporary musician – funk here, jazz there, a searing griot solo.

Atongos’s own repertoire has also been informed by his countless encounters with musicians from a variety of traditions. His cover version of the polka classic “No Beer In Heaven” is a major hit in Ghana! Atongo Zimba loves to play music and it shows.

And indeed, what catches your ear throughout, is that distinctive voice, alternately praising, and cajoling, poking fun, criticizing, and caressing.

Written by Alex Ampadu Oware
Audio files supported by Radio Netherlands Worldwide link up between African in the Diaspora and Africans in Africa

This post is a shortened reprint (modified fragments are marked by square brackets) of the speech by Jerry John Rawling at the 5th Annual Trust Dialogue in 2008.

Jerry John Rawling

Mr. Rawling, a former Ghana’s leader since the 1981 coup until the 2000 elections, was a Flight Lieutenant in the Air Force and a militant populist when he led the first coup in 1979, that overthrew the regime of Gen. Fred Akuffo, who had, in turn, deposed his predecessor, Gen. I.K. Acheampong, in a palace coup. Rawlings, unlike many other leaders in Ghana’s history, subsequently led the country through the difficult years of economic recovery and succeeded in giving back to Ghanaians their national pride. Rawlings saw his leadership role to be that of a “watchdog” for ordinary people and he addressed problems of incompetence, injustice and corruption. Rawlings also instituted a transition from authoritarianism to multi-party democracy by attempting to decentralize the functions of government from Accra to other parts of the country. He remains a subject of diverse opinions.

The Annual Trust Dialogues began 6 years ago where participants brainstorm on key national and global issues. It is a meeting, diverse participants are contributing to discussion on topical national issue of the time including economic reform, free and fair election, etc.

The Challenges of Democracy in Africa

Abuja, 17th January, 2008

[...] Before I go any further, however, let me recall that political observers and leaders of the western world have already judged African countries to be practising democracy only since the beginning of the I 990s, hence the current improvement in security, stability and economies in various parts of the continent. They have therefore concluded subsequently that unless African countries accept western ideas of democracy, especially as formulated in conditionalities of donor countries and international financial institutions, the future for Africa is bound to be bleak. In my view, this is a rather arrogant and erroneous claim which seeks to deny the African originality or any organisational ability in the matter of governance. On the contrary, a serious study of the history of traditional governance on the continent confirms that democratic ideas are not new to Africa, and that the majority of precolonial systems of traditional governance in Africa had, and in many cases still have, strong democratic elements. The pre-colonial contact with Europeans and the colonial period itself rather disrupted the old systems in many ways, and have left behind situations which are the root causes of many of today’s problems. The practice of good governance in Africa today is also therefore an extension of an inherited traditional governance. In stating this point of view, I am by no means denying the possible advantages of western ideas, institutions and systems which are generally labelled ‘good governance’. I merely wish to emphasise that the modern norms of governance are not that foreign to Africans whose decision-making, for example, has too often been erroneously attributed to the whims of their all-powerful chiefs. Traditional societies, as you are aware, have enjoined their chiefs and leaders to consult and listen to individuals, representatives of interest groups such as women, the youth, and even strangers living in the area. Lengthy debates led to consensus that paved the way for unity in action. It is a fact that it was the colonial period that rather corrupted traditional systems of governance and, in many ways, have triggered some of the challenges that confront democratic governance today.

[...] After half a century of post-colonial governance, which was admittedly fraught with many political and economic hiccups, the set of norms generally accepted by our countries have brought only relative stability and prosperity, as indicators have not been quick to point out. Be that as it may, within only two decades, we are all confronted by new difficulties that must be addressed if our system of democratic governance is to survive and move forward. The resulting challenges have arisen also because human society is dynamic and is in itself also impacted upon by political, economic and social considerations at any given time. But, for the purposes of this presentation and in the interest of brevity, let me place the challenges into the following general groups: • Political challenges • The challenges of African Political Leadership, and • Economic and social challenges.

Political Challenges

Most of our peoples have already noticed that the new system of governance is being severely tested by the lack of good faith in certain leaders and administrations. What is more, it is clear that some of those very politicians who gained leadership positions as a result of the strict adherence to the norms of democracy are now, and at the end of their tenures, the very people trying to corrupt the democratic system of governance because of a selfish lust for power and money. And so, we see emerging a serious challenge to the meticulous adherence to constitutionalism. They are busy attempting to prolong their stay in power through fair or foul means, to modify, sometimes crudely, multiparty democracy into a virtual one-party state, to arrogantly abuse the concept of the separation of powers, to ignore the rule of law, to undermine judicial independence, to interfere with the fundamental human rights of political opponents especially, and to capriciously use decentralisation to promote parochial or sectarian interests.

Ghanaian 2002 election poster (Source: flourish.org)

In Ghana, for example, I am proud to recall that when the National Democratic Congress, the political party that I led in government, suffered a defeat at the polls in December 2000, we ensured that there was peaceful and credible transition to the new government. When the next elections were held in December 2004, however, the National Patriotic Party government stole the verdict by illegally pre-empting the National Electoral Commission when one of its senior Ministers suddenly announced that his party had won the Presidential elections b) a certain percentage of the votes cast — a procedure that is frowned’ upon by our electoral laws. Not satisfied with this fraudulent behaviour, some individuals of our party took the National Electoral Commisson to court requesting it to gazette the results of the polls, polling station by polling station, as required by law. The case is still yet to be heard. Meanwhile, the ballot papers protected by law have been illegally destroyed in some district capitals, in contravention of an injunction granted by our High Court. I understand that the doctored figures have been published recently, four years after the highly controversial declaration of results and at a time when verification is virtually impossible.

A second political challenge is how to avoid the politics of exclusion and the creation of a society of unequals. The ‘winner takes all’ mentality that we have inherited from the Westminster and other systems of western democracy has led to the overt rejection of the concept of power sharing or the involvement of other party members in a government of inclusion even when it is clearly in the national interest so to do.

This form of challenge has manifested itself in a number of countries, mine included, when an in-coming leader and his ministers have resorted to the vilification of the previous leader and his government and the purging of the military and civil services in the bid to gamer support and loyalty for their style of governance. This conduct is particularly deleterious and contributes to political tension that eventually polarises the country because it needlessly excludes important actors and sows the seed of division or polarisation in society.

A third form of challenge to democracy in Africa is the refusal of governments to adhere to the ‘Good Governance’ Agenda. We are all aware that for democracy to succeed, there must necessarily be a role for the opposition, decentralization must also be equitable, the media must be assisted to be free, pluralistic and independent, civil society organisations must have the unfettered freedom to operate and lastly, there must be a strong commitment to anti-corruption. In all these areas, we have seen leaders fail badly as the opposition is openly hounded and denied any significant role in governance, as leaders have themselves become absolutely steeped in corruption and opulent life-styles, as the powers that be refuse to prosecute corrupt Ministers especially, as the purchase of the loyalty and bias of a large section of the press erodes the rights of opponents and as the use of radio stations to attack opponents is sanctioned in the hope of making opponents unpopular over time, and as decentralisation is destroyed by targeting districts and ethnic areas for discrimination. Examples abound in almost all Africa countries, thus impeding fast progress towards the goals that alone can lift our countries and peoples out of poverty, ignorance and economic backwardness. Finally, let me cite the serious challenge of ensuring a democratic dividend for our women, youth, disabled, ethnic minorities, to mention but a few of interest groups. Half a century after achieving political indpendence and after almost two decades of having been acknowledged s practicing democracy, African women still hang precariously on the lower rungs of the political ladder, in spite of many constitutions and United Nations resolutions urging all countries to pay attention to their status and roles. The youth continue to be largely illiterate, unemployed and disillusioned, and ethnic minorities continue to live in fear and obvious disadvantage.

These are political challenges that we ignore to our own detriment.

[Challenges of Political Leadership]

[...] The lapses in the practice of democracy in Africa can be attributed to many factors, both internal and external to our respective countries, but there is the unquestionable evidence that the lapses are mainly as a result of bad political leadership. At the top of this failure of leadership is the scant respect that many of our leaders have for constitution and constitutionalism. The ease with which extra terms of office are pursued by certain leaders and the ruthless manner in which the illegal or unconstitutional objective is pursued has made this failing particularly objectionable and attributable to failed leadership.

A second challenge to African leadership is the tendency of leadership to foster ethnic or tribal ascendancy in political parties, the military and security situations. And so we are beginning to witness the creation of ethnic crimes and civil services. This deplorable tendency is one of the bagagges of our colonial period, when our peoples were not only identified in ethnic or tribal groups but also when in a number of colonial territories but certain tribes were preferred to others. The erstwhile notorious practice in Rwanda and Burundi whereby the colonial administrators formed a preference for the Tutsis as opposed to the Hutus thereby unleashing simmering resentment of Hutu agriculturists and which preference has persisted till now is too well known to be rejected. That was undoubtedly the divide and rule strategy of classical colonialism but I can assure you that its more refined, modern and sophisticated version is unfortunately practiced still in many African countries. Some of these practices have come to grief because they were overindulged in by African countries but by and large, leadership out of fear and insecurity still resort to the deplorable practices and need to be stopped in one way or another.

Perhaps the most current of leadership failures on the African continent is the manipulation of election results, described variously as ‘rigged election’ or ‘sham elections’ or ‘stolen verdict’. Since it is very much contemporaneous, let me cite what is currently happening in our sister country, Kenya, after the December 27th, 2007 elections as an example that African countries must guard against. A stable country until now, Kenya has been plunged into violence by the overt manipulation of the electoral process, as confirmed by international observers and resulting in 600 persons killed, about 200,000 internally displaced and the political credibility of that country damaged severely. But, as you know, Kenya is not alone in this political mess, we have seen similar conflicts and ‘developments in Togo and Nigeria, to refer specifically to our sub-region, and anyone who wishes these countries well will not fail to admit embarrassment and disappointment that leaders of repute have been involved in such attempts to violate the electoral process. Democracy is not only the observance of certain norms and traditions; its first requirement is the upholding of the integrity of the electoral process itself. An inseparable collateral to the respect of the electoral process is the assurance of a peaceful and constitutional transition from one government to another. As a leader whose political party has tasted defeat at the polls before, I can say that there should be nothing to fear in losing an election and therefore there should also be no need to tamper with the rotational principle in good governance.

However, evidence abounds that the over-weaning ambition of some political leaders makes the acceptance of election results rather difficult and has led some African leaders committing electoral crimes and the refusal to adhere to the process of a peaceful and smooth changeover of government.

I would be remiss in my responsibility toward our continent and its people if I fail to also draw attention to the unpalatable truth that more often than not, such deviant political behaviour is prompted and encouraged by certain outside powers who, for their own selfish national interest, prefer one African leader to another. It is a more daunting challenge as this patronising attitude of outside powers is more often than not predicated on the conscious corruption of leaders and the playing upon the abject poverty and ignorance of our people. When all these challenges are seriously considered, is it any wonder that the average African has developed a cynical and opportunistic view of ‘democratic politics’ and is ready to accept payoffs from any quarter? We must, Ladies and Gentlemen, strengthen our resolve to do away with such plain criminality in order to strengthen good governance in all parts of Africa.

Economic and Social Challenges

If any lesson in the experience gained by Africans in the practice of democratic governance is crystal clear, it is that democracy will not survive for long unless the mass of our people are introduced to significant economic prosperity. The failure of a large number of African economies in the first three decades of their independence showed all of us that the economy is also doomed to failure if such internal and external mismanagement of the economy is not brought to an end and reform, based on certain demonstrable capacities of leadership, is immediately substituted. The first challenge of that economic goal is therefore the achievement of economic self reliance and independence. Many African countries, which ignored the lessons of that experience hurriedly became consumer societies and adjuncts to certain developed country economies, following the attainment of political independence. Agriculture in those instances quickly failed from even its colonial standard and there was hardly any interest in creating and promoting of productive manufacturing bases. Today, African governments, by and large, continue to pay lip service to industrialisation and the promotion of production bases. Such countries and economies continue to make very slow progress towards integrating our production bases into the sub-region economic blocs of the continent. But even before we come to that stage, we must, as individual countries, learn the basic lessons of economic self reliance.

The second economic and social challenge to democracy on our continent is the lack of efficient attention to our non-existent or poor economic and social infrastructure. The building of roads, railways, harbours, and communication as well as the rehabilitation of dams, electricity plants, water systems etc continue to be of top priority for all of us. The reason why only a few are able to emerge out of this particular difficulty is the pervasive and debilitating nature of corruption which make those involved see this need only in terms of what is in it for themselves. The erstwhile 10 percent syndrome of corrupt countries has now turned into an evil partnership between African administrations and representatives of developed country donors to short-change an already poor people. While it is also true that the all-too-evident shortfall in human capacity is also part of the challenge, I have come to the painful conclusion that corruption and political apathy are the main culprits in the slow progress at the provision of the infrastructure necessary for the development of African countries. Another critical challenge at this point in time is the absence of economic cohesion among African states when it comes to confronting the developed economic organisations, cartels and the chief controllers of the changing patterns of world trade. Our south- south alliance in negotiations is weakening and African countries are having to decide for themselves individually how to react to the collective proposals of the developed world. The challenge facing the continent here is to develop the economic and technical skills and the adequate human resource for negotiating with the developed world at the World Trade and other fora. Unless we show a collective resolve in negotiations, our future will continue to be decided by those who are in the race for the fast dwindling resources of our planet.

[...] The last economic challenge to the survival of democracy in Africa which I wish to draw attention to in this presentation is the lack of resolve to empower certain important economic actors in the various countries. As one examines the economic condition of African countries, the abject poverty, illiteracy, deprivation and hunger shocks even the insensitive and one cannot but wonder how democracy and economic prosperity can be built if the unfortunate masses of our peoples are left in the present predicament. There is no alternative to the economic empowerment of the masses through an investment directly in their collective abilities to produce and market. African governments must ensure the survival of their citizens by appropriate administrative, medical and economic policy interventions. Our peoples must of course live and enjoy good health in order to produce. They must be paid living wages and not wage that will put more money in the pockets of those who are already comparatively well- off. What is more, leaders must adopt economic policies that will teach the lesson that work pays as opposed to glorifying corruption.

Conclusion

[...] In trying to find out why democratic governance is not working as well as intended, I have proffered certain reasons which I deem important, even critical, in our endeavour to succeed. The reasons are by no means exhaustive but have been advanced to assist the dialogue that is on-going on the matter. But, perhaps more importantly, let me advance a few ideas that I feel will assist in meeting the political, economic and social challenges. In so doing, it is not my intention to pontificate but rather to instigate discussions among our own peoples as to how to overcome the difficulties challenging us all.

In the first place, I believe that we must persevere and even fast-track the building of those institutions that will promote democracy and economic betterment on our continent. Our laws and institutions such as Parliament, the Judiciary and the Civil Service must be so reformed and strengthened as to make them extremely difficult to be subverted by politicians and political leaders. We must strengthen the judiciary and anti-corruption units in our countries so as to enable them join meaningfully in the anti-corruption war. Secondly, African countries need to develop the systems that will hold their leadership to accountability without fear or favour. This comes from strengthening institutions such as the opposition, parliament, auditing bodies and the general public to be able to ask questions and demand answers. It is my belief that it is through the active vigilance of such institutions and our populations that arrogance and impunity can be discouraged. Thirdly, it is also important that Africans undergo an attitudinal change towards leadership that does not meet their expectations. Unless the citizens learn to boldly reject fraud and criminality in leaders, wrong-doing will persist. Unless our people disabuse the mind of politicians who think the electorates can be bought to surrender their rights and votes, leadership will continue to thereby commit fraud, rig elections and amass ill-gotten gains at the expense of the whole country; unless our people learn to stand up against dictators and political charlatans, democracy will continue to fail in different countries at different times. It is time, therefore, to change our attitude to those things.

Fourthly, we need to co-operate among states in confronting corruption and waging war on other lapses. The continued existence and prospering of many of these challenges in one another’s country gives support and nourishment to the lapses themselves. In this regard, the example of the holding of today’s dialogue is a fitting lesson on how to begin the exchange of ideas and the subsequent determination of how African countries should find strength in cooperation against such the challenges as posed by outside powers. But above all, we must respect ourselves, for without this self esteem and respect for one another, we cannot teach any lessons to those who suffer from tyrants, incompetent leaders and economic exploiters. I hope we are successful in achieving these aims.

[...]

African Democracy Series is compiled by Mark Bajkowski.

Mark, born in Poland, is a Jack of all trades, master of none, who lives in New York since 1979. Mark has an unusually wide range of interests and is known to relate well to the people half of his age. Since his early childhood, he felt a curious relation to Africa, which unavoidably brings up the controversial subject of multiple-life experiences.

On Friday August 20, 2010 an aide to President Mills, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije told Citi FM(an Accra based radio station) in an interview that President Mills fully supports the comments by NDC party Chairman Kwabena Adjei that the government will intervene and “clean the judiciary”, if the Chief Justice fails to fight what he sees as growing rot within the judiciary.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dr. Kwabena Adjei has been the subject of public discussion with a barrage of criticisms from members of the law profession and the opposition NPP who say his comments undermines the authority of the judiciary and subverts the constitution.

Speaking on Citi FM’s talk show programme “The Big Issue” on Saturday August 21, John Ndebugri said he believes Nii Lantey’s comments are a figment of his own imagination adding that he doubts that the President, who is a law Professor, will support such threatening comments.

The PNC man, who crossed carpet to join the NPP after the 2008 elections, charged President Mills who is currently on leave in the United States of America to distance himself from the comments made by Kwabena Adjei.

According to Mr Ndebugri, President Mills could be impeached if he supports such “dangerous” comments that subvert the constitution of the country.

“I heard the Special aide to the President Nii Lantey Vanderpuije say that the President stands solidly behind his chairman. I don’t want to believe that my good old Professor would stand solidly behind such subversive words, I believe that this gentleman is acting ultra vires his functions as special aide, but if he does and we go to the Supreme court and we get a declaration and we get the necessary direction then the way will be clear for the President to be impeached. He will be removed”.

“The President shouldn’t wait to arrive, he should quickly speak to us like Yar’ Adua did when he was far away receiving treatment, he should speak to us immediately and distance himself from the words of Dr Kwabena Adjei otherwise he is directly inferring lines to be impeached”.

Meanwhile David Annang a member of the NDC legal team, says the NDC as a party fully supports the comments made by Kwabena Adjei.

According to him the comments made by the NDC Chairman has been misinterpreted by members of the minority. He said the comments were a reminder to the judiciary and not a threat.

News Report by Alex Ampadu

The WGWC team reported from Ghana:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Traveling from Assinie, Côte d’Ivoire to Accra, Ghana was an adventure in and of itself. Hitchhiking in the early morning, negotiating with an obstinate bush taxi driver, cramming ourselves into a mini-bus with 9 other people and all of our collective luggage, and finally transferring to an extended 15-pass van, practically sitting on top of each other. Quite the up close and personal way to get to know the local people!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Accra was well worth the crowded traveling conditions. During our stay there, we had the pleasure of interviewing Abedi Pele and Stephen Appiah!! These football stars, one retired and one currently playing in the World Cup, provided a clear window into the Ghanaian soccer world. While exploring Appiah’s boyhood stomping grounds, we were fortunate to meet Bokum Banku, a local boxing star. Sebastien was even brave enough to strap on the gloves and step into the ring with him!

In contrast to the hustle and bustle of big-city life in Accra, we also experienced a typical rural village. Konko is in North East of Accra and is small enough to be excluded from many maps! The slow-paced life was quite a challenge but also much appreciated by three New Yorkers!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The spirit of giving back and improving local communities was never in short supply, as evidenced by Jeff in Konko and the numerous other people we met.

Follow their journey on their website and on Facebook

Below you will find list of all other winners.  Click on name link of a winner for a pop-up photo to appear.

Samuel Eto’o came second with 69 points and Michael Essien third with 42 points. Given Drogba’s form for Chelsea this season, it’s tough to argue with the votes. This is Drogba’s second African Footballer of the Year win, after he collected the award in 2006. In 2007 he missed the title apparently by absence.

The Chelsea striker was the headline grabber, but he wasn’t the only winner. Other awards handed out were as follows:

In 2007, I have decided to create the Didier Drogba Foundation. Its first goal is to provide financial and material support in health and education to the underprivileged, especially women and children, who are often the ones who struggle the most. The children’s education is a very important matter to me, as much as their health. And to see women dying while giving birth in the 21st century is unthinkable to me but there is still too many today, particularly on the African continent.

Didier Drogba

Inter-Club Player of the Year
Tresor Mputu Mabi (T.P. Mazembe and DR Congo)

National Team of the Year
Algeria (presumably for their World Cup qualification achievement)

Club of the Year
T.P. Mazembe (DR Congo) – Winner of the 2009 CAF Champions League

Young Player of the Year
Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan and Ghana U-20) (Top scorer and Most Valuable Player at U-20 World Cup)

Coach of the Year
Sellas Tetteh (Ghana U-20) – Won U-20 World Cup for Ghana

Fair Play Award
Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) fans

Best Supporters Club
South Africa Supporters Club

African Football Legend:
Stephen Keshi (Nigeria)
Jules Bocande (Senegal)
Osvaldo Saturnino de Oliviera “Jesus” (Angola)

Platinum Award:
Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana

CAF Best XI
Goalkeeper – Muteba Kidiaba (T.P Mazembe and DR Congo)
Defenders – John Pantsil (Fulham and Ghana), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth and Algeria), Wael Gomaa (Al-Ahly and Egypt)
Midfielders – Alexander Song (Arsenal and Cameroon), Michael Essien (Chelsea and Ghana), Seydou Keita (Barcelona and Mali), Yaya Toure (Barcelona and Cote d’Ivoire)
Attackers – Tresor Mputu Mabi (T.P. Mazembe and DR Congo), Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan and Cameroon), Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Cote d’Ivoire)

Written by Mark Bajkowski.Mark, born in Poland, is a Jack of all trades, master of none, who lives in New York since 1979. Mark has an unusually wide range of interests and is known to relate well to the people half of his age. Since his early childhood, he felt a curious relation to Africa, which unavoidably brings up the controversial subject of multiple-life experiences.

"African Philosophy" by James Noel *

For me the time after the New Year is always a strange time: hopes mixing with dis-illusions seem to be a common thread of it. And it is also a quite reflective time. This takes me directly to the issue at hand: how much philosophy is able to help us, common folks, to succeed in everyday lives. What makes it harder for us is that we tend to connect our personal philosophy to our circumstances. Not surprisingly the persons that are financially independent and those starving tend to have diametrically different philosophies of life.  So many of us, however, are not aware of the fact that role of philosophy is not to be waved by our circumstances but rather to shape them.

For some time now, I believe that the philosophy is the next big hope in our global experience, but also, it is becoming a crucial force in life of the African continent. I hope also that the saying “the philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next” will be mostly correct for this one.

Not being a scholar, I determined recently that there are four main trends in the contemporary African philosophy. They all have quite fancy names but, luckily, they can be explained in more digestive terms.

Paulin Hountondji

First contemporary African philosophy trend gathers ideas that represent diverse African peoples under an unified system of knowledge. This trend tends to be most applicable to lives of common folks because it is mainly based on the stories, myths, folk-wisdom and the proverbs of the people. This trend is well represented by scholars such as Beninese philosopher and politician Paulin Hountondji (b.1942).

Kwame Nkrumah

The second trend of modern African philosophy is strongly related to national identity, familyhood, and social ideology that presses for a prompt social justice for those who are normally undeserved by a wider society. This trend tends to fuel politics and Ghanian Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) comes to mind as representing it.

The third trend is more reflective than a common wisdom of folks. It seems to be mostly responsible for rationally critical ideas that often result in alternatives to the commonly accepted opinions and practices. This trend is mainly based on the evidence rather than tradition. This trend is linked to the Kenyan philosopher Henry Odera Oruka (1944-1995). (If you have photo of him, please let me know, I’ll add it here.) His practical observations emphasize facts and their relations such as that Anton Wilhelm Amo (1703-ca.1759), a German philosopher, was originally a black Ghanaian, who lived in and studied in Germany, from the age of 4 until the age of about 50, where he lectured and wrote his philosophical texts some years before Emmanuel Kant was known.

Kwasi Wiredu

The fourth trend, and the closest to the “pure” philosophy that needs, as some profess, to be concerned often with the general analysis and interpretation of reality. This trend involves constructive criticism and argument to form knowledge which may be judged apart from cultural environment, biases and existential situations. The Internet-age inter-cultural trends seem to be well grounded in this trend and the Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu (b.1931) is considered a good representation of it.

Why, you may ask, I decided to go through a trouble of listing those four trends in this post? My short answer is that these four philosophies complement each others very nicely. After all, the philosophy, which drives directly our knowledge horizon, is all what we have outside of our relationships, careers and material possessions. Furthermore, our ideology is formed from our philosophy – often just for our own sense of edification and belonging; but, which is the main message here, only our actions, built on our philosophy and framed by our ideology, are what really can change change our life and lives of those around us.

Let’s then act, by combining those fours philosophies: respecting common wisdom, stopping to think, considering the objective evidence we gather, and armed with our common humanity make 2010 the best year to date. All that, in a balance, will allow us to make this world a little better place.

* The artwork image in this post is “African Philosophy”
(mixed media on illustration board, 32″ x 40″) by James Noel

Written by Mark Bajkowski.
Mark, born in Poland, is a Jack of all trades, master of none, who lives in New York since 1979. Mark has an unusually wide range of interests and is known to relate well to the people half of his age. Since his early childhood, he felt a curious relation to Africa, which unavoidably brings up the controversial subject of multiple life experiences.

New York street during Winter Holidays.

Seeing New York City in December must feel like being transported to another world for some Africa-born visitors when visiting it for the first time. And it is not about snow: Africans from parts of Morocco, Tunisia, Lesotho, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Africa might be well familiar with it. It can be more about intense commercial push supported by intense audio-visual winter holiday hoopla present all around. To some New Yorkers, especially those affected by recent global financial downturn, it may feel depressing to live daily in this commercial carnival. After all, winter holidays, besides some social side-effects, do not change peoples’ lives; on the contrary, they can make many lives more difficult by traditionally adding to the already obscene credit card debt.

Unrelated to my goodwill to contribute to the warmth of winter holidays I decided tonight to watch a documentary titled “Slavery: A Global Investigation” that presents the problem of child slave labor and a common greed that stimulates it. Then, I quickly realized that the winter holidays and the torturing of children have much more in common than I could even imagine. Let me explain.

In accordance with commerce statistics every winter holidays’ season triggers a sure increase of production of goods and their sales. One of the commodities that experience the winter holiday sale boom is cocoa – its production and sales double during that period of time. In accordance with the documentary, unsurprisingly, the price of cocoa directly affects the volume of the related slave labor. That got me interested in finding out how much exactly of relative suffering we are talking about here.

The above chart shows that the cocoa price near quadrupled in last 10 years and increased over 30% in 2008 alone; for this reason, it gets attention of child slave holders apparently interested in maximizing their profits. Occasional price drops also increase the volume of child slavery. But, you may ask, what all that have to do with Africa? Quite a lot: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon alone supply 2/3 of world’s cocoa; therefore, the most child slaves, working specifically with cocoa beans, live in Africa. Most of the cocoa is consumed in the West: 42.7% in Europe, 23.7% in the Americas, and only 14.3% of it in Africa (2007 data).

It’s safe then to state that during the winter holidays, while we are trying to promote love for children, we are also promoting their suffering.

I seem to clearly hear the words of one of the slave laborers who spoke in the documentary. He confessed that, in spite of working with cocoa beans for years, he never tasted chocolate. When asked what message he has for people in the West who love to consume chocolate, he simply said “They are eating my flash”. He is tragically right.

I am sure that I will not be able to have any chocolate during this winter holidays because of how much suffering, I just saw, the cocoa relates to. But, more so, I wonder how we all can make sure that we do not aid exploitation and torture of children. One of the ways would be to use a local, independent inspection and certification of suppliers. But such a network carries a substantial logistical and operational cost. Are we all ready to pay for it or it should be entirely handled by large food conglomerates profiteering from cocoa? Visit Cocoa Campaign page to find out more.

An estimated 44.6 million child laborers in Asia, 23.6 million in Africa, 5.1 million in Latin America, and on other continents, are waiting for their holidays. Click this map link to see global child labor saturation. In a mean time, have happy winter holidays, if that is even possible in a wider context of things.

Written by Mark Bajkowski.
Mark, born in Poland, is a Jack of all trades, master of none, who lives in New York since 1979. Mark has an unusually wide range of interests and is known to relate well to the people half of his age. Since his early childhood, he felt a curious relation to Africa, which unavoidably brings up the controversial subject of multiple life experiences.