What Africans are doing to Africa






Recently in the news, I heard that a prominent Ghanaian politician had died.  I had run into him in a hotel a couple of weeks prior and nothing about him said he was ready to kick the bucket.  When I saw him sitting in that lobby, and later on when I heard the news of his passing, the only thing I remembered was a conversation I’d had with my headmaster in Tema Secondary School years ago.

I’d visited the headmaster to lobby for a refund of some money the school owed us. We all feared our headmaster, popularly known as Headie, because he was generous with slaps and he had palms the size of a racquet. There was this story about how he’d slapped a female student who’d been playing with the school’s piano at midnight in the assembly hall, and the force of the slap had made the girl menstruate instantly.  I didn’t know if the story was true but I definitely didn’t want to find out for myself.  But on this day, I was broke. Everybody was broke. And the school was owing us. The boys had started chanting aluta songs in the dormitories but nobody dared go to the administration block. I was fed up with the cowardice and announced to everybody that I was going for my money. That’s how I ended up in Headie’s house.

He was pleasantly surprised to see the chapel prefect. He welcomed me warmly and offered me a seat. I began by thanking him for being the best headmaster we’d ever had, I thanked him for the oranges he had supplied us at dining from his own farms free of charge and also for the new television set we had at the assembly hall. He laughed and said well, the oranges did come from his farm, and they were in deed a gift for us but the television had been donated by the politician because he had caught him with a female student on the campus. The politician came to donate the television the morning after he’d been busted. We laughed. My headmaster had a wicked sense of humour. What I didn’t tell him was that one of the many girls the politician had been chasing on campus was my own girlfriend; and she had told me herself. Most of those girls were underage. We were just kids.  When he died, the praise singers got to work again and the fact that he had been a serial pedophile, womaniser and a corrupt man was never mentioned; even though he’d always had quite a reputation. Africa’s in the state it is because the late politician described above is not the exception. He’s the norm. He’s representative of about 80% of the men we call honorables, and on whose shoulders our communal destiny rests.

In my culture, we say there is no honour in vilifying the dead so I’ll quickly move on to focus on the living.  Yesterday, I said on Joy FM’s “Ghana Connects” and  in a subsequent interview that President Mahama inspires likability but not confidence and it’s enraged a lot of NDC people but what I didn’t say was that I, Nana Kofi Acquah, actually did vote for President Mahama and because I did, it is my responsibility to hold him accountable. I won’t wait for his term to end. I won’t wait till it is too late. I will constructively criticise him and urge him to rise to the high calling my vote has placed on him.  Ghana and Africa is in a dire place now. There’s the threat of terror, war, famine,  and now Ebola all around us… and this is no time for weak leadership.  When does the jokes end? When do we get serious? The current state of affairs in Ghana is like a driver who siphons the fuel meant for his vehicle and comes back wondering why the vehicle isn’t moving? 

If you think I am pessimistic or discouraged, you are mistaken. My faith in the continent is unshakable. It is what makes me rise every morning to face the sun; and I can tell you for a fact that there is a lot of light in Africa. Look to the light. Look to those men and women who make a difference everyday with their unwavering faith and attitudes of excellence in the passionate pursuit of their dreams- the same dream: To make Africa rise.  To prove that the black man can actually handle his own affairs. There are a lot of Africans, mostly young, who daily prove stupidity is an education problem not a genetic one. These people prove daily that if the African can change their attitude, they can change their world. 

Africa can rise but not when it prefers to sleep. Africa can rise but not when it’s afraid to hold its leaders accountable. Africa can rise but not when our leaders are quite content to sit on gold and beg for brass.  Africa will rise from the day we stop blaming slavery, colonialism, apartheid and everybody else. We cannot change what other people did to us but we must question what we are doing to ourselves. Africans must start taking responsibility for the state of affairs on the continent. We must question the sources of people’s wealth. We must stop celebrating Africans who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars so they can park them next to rubbish dumps. We must start hooting at civil servants who live in houses and drive cars they obviously cannot afford based on their salaries. We must stop teaching our children that the only way to progress in life is to bribe your way through every hurdle. We must stop treating education as an end and start questioning our doctors, engineers, planners, scientists and professors on exactly what they have been able to achieve with their education?  

Africa must rise and it must start with every single one of us.





Comments

Nana said…
Couldn't have said it any better. I love your writings and the inspiration I get from it after feeling so defeated at our current state of affairs. Thank you. with that said, I would love to join a group, donate, start a project or something to change the status quo. What do I do?
Bravo! You knows to capture and analyze African and Ghanaian society .
By your extraordinary photographs entering a continent on the move.
By your words and the relevance of your socio-political analysis too. Love your work!
Unknown said…
Whenever I read your posts, I have hope that the young people of Ghana are capable of holding our leaders to account. Nana, I am proud of you. More fire.
Unknown said…
Breda kofi this is a masterpiece.
Larita Appiah said…
Keep preaching, no matter how many times it seems like your words fall on deaf ears. I haven't been in Ghana for almost five years, but my heart for the country has not changed. My children are half-Ghanaian and I hope to some day take them to their home country and have it be a place they can be proud to be part of. Men like you can make it that.
Unknown said…
I love love this. Blunt, thought and action provoking. I am not Ghanaian but I am African and hope that our leaders will do the right things.
The Amu Mawutoh said…
I like the last paragraph of the endless possibilities of how great our nation can be. it's sad when the younger generation seem to be walking in the ugly and retrogressive steps of the older generation. i pray we are challenged as young men and women to be different in our unique fields of endeavor.Thanx bro for sharing this piece.
The Amu Mawutoh said…
I like the last paragraph of the endless possibilities of how great our nation can be. it's sad when the younger generation seem to be walking in the ugly and retrogressive steps of the older generation. i pray we are challenged as young men and women to be different in our unique fields of endeavor.Thanx bro for sharing this piece
African Chicks said…
We can only hope that Africa will rise,but it will take a long,long time.There are young women and men who hold the torch,those who are enlightened,hope is pinned on them to make a change.
Mayer said…

This images are so real man! It feels like you are actually there. I love every single one....check out this competition I think you can actually win some of this cash
Atunbi said…
I wish i could shoot more of these kind of photos, am so into weddings, If i usually don't see a cheque my camera don't come out lol.
Anonymous said…
I am an English teacher in the United States and created a blog for my students. I have been teaching my students about ancient Africa, Kush, The Gold Coast, Kemet etc I am also always trying to learn more about Africa and the nations within it. Please keep writing these blogs and comment on my blog for my students. I am glad to see people wanting to make changes in their lives and in their nation.

The only way a leader can become a great leader is through the advice, tears, comments and input of the followers. I believe that if you want something you have to think about it, then talk about it, form a plan and then put action to that plan. I think you all are on your way. I would love to visit Ghana one day. I want to plan a trip with my students to visit Ghana.
Unknown said…
This is old but gold! Thanks so much for capturing the feelings in the heart of many Ghanaians
Victor said…
First, you have some of the most endearing and though-provoking shots I have seen in a while. The analyses behind the shots are just as though-provoking and informative. Indeed, Africa can rise, but not when it chooses to sleep. The statement echoes volumes to every African and African leader. I wish we could drum that through the streets of Accra, Lagos, Abuja, Younde, Addis Ababa, Pretoria and Jo'burg and more. Well said. Good job.

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