The Tangled Legacy Of The Man Who Led Africa’s Liberation

BY JENNIFER SZALAI

In 1951, when Kwame Nkrumah arrived on American shores for a whirlwind visit to the United States, only a few months had passed since he had won a landslide election from a Gold Coast prison cell; in subsequent years, he would secure the colony’s independence from British rule, becoming the first prime minister of Ghana, the country formed in its place, in 1957.

While he was in New York, Nkrumah sat down for a flurry of press interviews. In Washington, he was feted with a State Department luncheon. The mayor of Philadelphia presented him with the keys to the city — an especially stark sign of how much had changed for Nkrumah, who had previously spent a decade in the United States, earning four degrees (in sociology, theology, education and philosophy). In the early 1940s, as an impecunious graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, he was harassed by Philadelphia’s police officers for sleeping overnight in the train station.

“Nkrumah and his delegation were given prominent coverage in almost all of America’s Black newspapers, which hailed him effusively,” Howard W. French writes in “The Second Emancipation.” The outpouring, French suggests, was inversely proportionate to the demeaning treatment African Americans faced on a daily basis. His capacious book traces the connections between the American civil rights movement and global pan-Africanism, with Nkrumah at the center.

As the title suggests, decolonization was a second emancipation, ending the forced labor and subjugation imposed by the European powers on their colonies. The 1950s and 1960s saw momentous transformations taking place on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1960 alone, 17 countries in Africa obtained their independence. That year, James Baldwin reported on a sit-in in Florida by young African Americans. These students “were born at the very moment at which Europe’s domination of Africa was ending,” Baldwin wrote in an article for Mademoiselle. Decolonization expanded the sense of possibility. Baldwin still remembered Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935; the touchstone for the new generation was “the establishment of the Republic of Ghana.”

Nkrumah, for his part, comes across as a fascinating and enigmatic figure. He was ostensibly born in 1909, the only child of his mother, though details of his early life are fuzzy. Nkrumah’s own autobiography was the kind of “polished and streamlined” account that’s typical of a political memoir. It was published in 1957, the same year that the Gold Coast became Ghana, and was handed out at the independence ceremony, presenting his ascent as a matter of destiny.

That kind of messianic thinking would become ever more pronounced as the years wore on. French chronicles how, during his nine-year rule, Nkrumah grew increasingly authoritarian, jailing political opponents, proclaiming a one-party system and giving himself the title of “president for life.” At the same time, he was drawn to the world outside of Ghana, promoting pan-Africanism — a sense of unity and purpose on the continent and among the African diaspora — to the inspiration of some and the consternation of others.

“Critics and foes called his pursuit of pan-Africanism an exorbitant distraction,” French writes, showing how Nkrumah’s lofty transnationalism could seem disconnected from the internal divisions and material problems faced by his own nation. Ghana, a dominant cocoa-producing country, was vulnerable to fickle cocoa prices, and so Nkrumah became fixated on the prospect of rapid industrialization. He was determined to build a hydroelectric dam, refusing to believe skeptical economists who warned that such a project would allow foreign companies to profit at Ghana’s expense.

French, a professor of journalism at Columbia and a former foreign correspondent for The New York Times, covers a lot of ground in a book that merges biography with panorama. His previous book, “Born in Blackness,” showed how the making of the modern world wasn’t just a story about Europe; it was also about Africa. “The Second Emancipation” is a sequel, bringing that approach into the postwar era. Nkrumah, like other leaders of Africa’s newly independent states, struggled to stay neutral amid the Cold War. “We face neither East nor West,” Nkrumah once said. “We face forward.”

Nkrumah may not have been interested in the Cold War, but the Cold War was most definitely interested in him. An avowed socialist, he was continually dogged by suspicions that he was a “closet communist” (he was not, French says). He kept investing in education, but he also became paranoid and withdrawn. “The regime had begun to commit autophagy, cannibalizing itself,” French writes. A vicious circle proceeded apace: Dictatorial rule fueled assassination attempts, which deepened dictatorial rule. While traveling to Vietnam in 1966, Nkrumah was deposed in a coup, with Washington providing, “at a minimum, quiet encouragement.”

“The Second Emancipation” ably treads the line on Nkrumah’s complicated legacy. French keeps reminding the reader of the larger context, pointing out how European colonies were laboratories not for good governance but for authoritarianism. He also emphasizes the central role of time. Nkrumah noted that European powers had centuries to work through their contradictions: “What other countries have taken 300 years or more to achieve, a once dependent territory must try to accomplish in a generation if it is to survive.”

It was this shared sense of urgency that made pan-Africanism such a potent force, even if French concludes that a “can-do vision” must never lose sight of the more humble, painstaking work necessary for truly sustainable development. He quotes Julius Nyerere, the founding leader of Tanzania, who recalled Nkrumah’s impatience as double-edged — a source of tremendous energy as well as inevitable frustration: “My differences with Kwame were that Kwame thought there was somehow a shortcut, and I was saying that there was no shortcut. This is what we have inherited, and we will have to proceed within the limitations that that inheritance has imposed on us.”

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

Black Colleges Alarmed By Bomb Threats, But Undeterred

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY AND JEFF MARTIN

FILE - Rev. John Cross points to the wreckage of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 19, 1963. The church was damaged heavily by a bomb blast on Sunday, Sept. 15, which killed four young girls and injured many others. Workmen have begun repairing the damage. Threats against Black institutions are deeply rooted in U.S. history and leaders say the history of violence against people of color should be passed on to new generations so the lessons of the past can be applied to the present. (AP Photo, File)

From her office in Birmingham, Alabama, DeJuana Thompson looks across the street and sees a daily reminder of terror. Her window overlooks the 16th Street Baptist Church, where a bomb in 1963 killed four young Black girls.

“Living in the era of bomb threats is not new to people of color,” said Thompson, president and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Nearly six decades after that bombing by the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI is now investigating last week’s bomb threats against at least 17 historically Black colleges and universities across the U.S. Thompson said the threats underscore the need to teach new generations the history of violence targeting people of color so the lessons of the past can be applied to the present.

The FBI said the hate crimes probe involves more than 20 field offices and “is of the highest priority.” Investigators have identified at least five “persons of interest,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

In one of the cases, a caller claiming to be affiliated with the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division described a plot at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida involving seven bombs hidden in bags, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said.

University campuses are considered “soft targets,” but “they’re not as soft as they used to be,” said Robert McCrie, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Universities have traditionally been easily accessible to the public, but many hardened their security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Now, picture IDs are needed to enter buildings on McCrie’s campus and others, he said.

Though no devices were found at the schools threatened last week, “people of color don’t have that privilege to think it’s not real,” said Lance Wheeler, director of exhibitions at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.

The bomb threats against Black institutions are deeply rooted in U.S. history. In Alabama, people used to call Birmingham “Bombingham” because of how many bombs and bomb threats occurred, Thompson said. Among the many victims: the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader whose home was damaged on Christmas Day in 1956 by 16 sticks of dynamite placed beneath his bedroom window. When a KKK member suggested he leave town, Shuttlesworth responded that “I wasn’t saved to run,” U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. told the House of Representatives after Shuttlesworth died in 2011.

“How we responded then is how we are responding now,” Thompson said. “We will not stand for these hate crimes, we will not stand for this intimidation, we shall not be moved.”

The Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus’ statement on the latest bomb threats recalled 1969 racial segregation protests at North Carolina A&T that prompted an armed response by the National Guard and police. One student was killed, dozens injured and more than 300 people arrested as gunfire was exchanged from campus buildings. The protests followed the first sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter by four Black men, later known as the Greensboro Four.

“We know from history that in spite of external threats, HBCUs are resilient institutions that will persist through all forms of adversity,” the statement said.

Universities in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and other states targeted last week have resumed operations since the lockdowns. But many still worry about future threats and efforts to prosecute those responsible.

Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party and strategist for the Movement for Black Lives, said HBCUs and independent Black institutions are targeted because they represent independence and resilience for African Americans, which is a threat to a white supremacist ideology.

“The mere existence of Black schools, Black churches, Black political organizations and Black business are a threat,” he said. “We see upswings in these attacks as backlash to Black resistance, the exercising of independent Black political power, the influence of Black social movements.”

The attacks are “ways to try to put fear into communities that are trying to obtain freedom,” Wheeler said.

The impact of the Black vote this last election has been felt at the ballot box, such as Georgia flipping two Senate seats for Democrats including the election of Raphael Warnock as the first Black senator to represent the state. And the Black Lives Matter movement has led a national push for protests against police violence and injustice, including murder convictions for the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and George Floyd in Minneapolis.

There is a “culture of fear of Black independence, of Black people building our own institutions, our own power and setting out our own direction politically, economically. There’s always efforts to suppress that, and I think that is what’s happening right now,” Mitchell said. “The best way to challenge these white supremacists and haters is by doubling down and investing in HBCUs long term and strengthening them as institutions.”

National Urban League President Marc Morial called the latest bomb threats “part of the poisonous tree of hate,” putting them in the same category as legislative proposals that would suppress the vote, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a spike in hate crimes and backlash against affirmative action.

“Terrorism is always about creating discord, creating unrest and fear — it’s about disrupting society,” said Warren Eller, who also teaches at John Jay.

Delaware State University President Tony Allen said students and community members shouldn’t let threats disrupt their spaces. Sharing in Thompson’s message, Allen wrote a letter to the university community shortly after a bomb threat on his campus.

“Here is what I say to these bullies, these fearmongers of our day: ‘We shall not be moved,’” he said.

Mumphrey reported from Phoenix. She is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cheymumph. Martin reported from Atlanta. AP reporter Michael Balsamo in New York contributed.

--------------The Associated Press

If Germany Atoned For The Holocaust, The US Can Pay Reparations For Slavery

Kwame Nkrumah

BY BERND REITER

THE CONVERSATION
The idea of paying reparations for slavery is gaining momentum in the United States, despite being long derided as an unrealistic plan, to compensate for state violence committed by and against people long dead.

The topic saw substantive debate in the July 30 Democratic primary debate, with candidate Marianne Williamson calling slavery “a debt that is owed.” Some Democratic congressional representatives are also pushing for financial recompense for the descendants of enslaved people.

Calls for reparations in the U.S. are generally met with skepticism: What would reparations achieve? Who should receive them, and under what conditions?

Other countries have tackled these questions. In 1995, South Africa established its Truth and Reconciliation Commission and paid reparations to the victims of apartheid. Eight years before, the United States apologized to 82,000 Japanese Americans unduly imprisoned during World War II and paid them US$20,000 each to compensate for their suffering.

Even Germany, birthplace of the worst racism ever institutionalized and elevated to official policy, has some lessons for the United States as it considers reparations.
Compensating victims of Nazi enslavement

I am a professor of political science who studies the relationship between democracy, citizenship and justice. My recent work on Germany examines how the country dealt with the horrors of the Holocaust.

Nazi Germany not only killed millions of Jews between 1933 and 1945. It also forced over 20 million people into slave labor, working them to their death in German industries. By 1944, a quarter of the German workforce was enslaved laborers.

After Hitler’s defeat in World War II, the newly democratic government of West Germany knew it had to face the evils of the past.

Nazi industries that used slave labor, such as the steel and artillery producer Krupp, were dismantled. High-ranking Krupp CEOs were judged war criminals at the Nuremberg Trialsand imprisoned.

Pressured by Israeli leaders David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer agreed to pay 3 billion German marks in reparations to Israel between 1953 and 1967. Germany also paid 450 million German marks to the World Jewish Congress, an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations.

Assuming the midcentury rate of 4 German marks to $1, that’s the equivalent today of $7 billion for Israel and $1 billion for the Jewish Congress.

Some Germans protested against Adenauer’s support for Israel. Their country was just beginning its economic recovery after the war – a process aided, incidentally, by the U.S.-funded Marshall Plan – and many Germans insisted they had nothing to do with the persecution of the Jews.

In negotiating the German reparations agreement of 1952, Ben-Gurion invoked the biblical question, from Kings 21:29, “Have you murdered and also inherited?”

Germany’s post-war Chancellor Adenauer knew that, for the German people, the answer was yes.

“In the name of the German people, unspeakable crimes were committed which create a duty of moral and material restitution,” he said.

By 1956, the German state was supplying 87.5% of Israel’s state revenue. The young new country used the money to buy equipment and raw materials to build up its industry, railways and electrical grid. Mining equipment, irrigation and fuel were also high on the list of Israel’s reparations-fueled development priorities.
Atonement is a process

Germany’s efforts to atone for the Holocaust were not limited to money.

To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, the 1949 German Constitution – as well as the penal and criminal codes of the country – outlaw the use of symbols that incite hatred against any segment of its population. The Constitution also guarantees asylum to political refugees and all people fleeing war.

In 1952 Germany officially apologized for the Nazis’ crimes, at Israel’s demand.

“The responsibility rests on the German nation as a whole,” replied Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett of making amends for the Holocaust.

Reparations went to individuals, too. In 2000, the German government, together with partner organizations from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic and the not-for-profit Jewish Claims Conference, created the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation.

By 2007, the organization had paid a total of $4.9 billion to 1.66 billion people worldwidewho’d been forced into labor and servitude by the Nazis, or to their living descendants – their share of the wealth slavery produced for Germany.

Most recently, the German government in 2013 agreed with the Jewish Claims Conference to pay about $1 billion for the home care of all elderly Holocaust survivors.

As a result of the reparations paid, Germany’s open admission of guilt and the policies it put in place to prevent another Holocaust from occurring, German-Jewish relations have largely normalized since World War II.

Germany’s Jewish population has even begun to recover from genocide. With 150,000 Jewish residents in 2018, Germany is home to Europe’s fourth-largest Jewish community.
Lessons for the United States

Instead of seeking to wipe the Holocaust from its history, the German government has worked hard to ensure remembrance, penance, recompense and justice.

The United States, in contrast, has no official policy of atoning for slavery.

While the House of Representatives and Senate made separate apologies for slavery in 2008 and 2009, these apologies were never reconciled or signed by President Barack Obama, due to lack of political support.

Racist symbols are openly displayed in the United States, protected by the First Amendment.

Nor has there been any financial compensation for the descendants of formerly enslaved Americans, despite President Abraham Lincoln’s famous promise of “40 acres and a mule” for all freed black men.

The German experience with reparations is, of course, not directly comparable to that of the United States.

Germany had to lose a devastating war before it compensated the Jewish people. And, as in the case of the Japanese American prisoners of war who received reparations, the Jewish victims of the Nazi regime and their descendants were relatively easy to identify.

The U.S. government paying reparations today for state terror that ended 150 years ago poses numerous practical challenges. They include identifying the rightful recipients and sourcing the money appropriately – whether state-based or federal.

Those who say they did not benefit from slavery must be persuaded that reparations are required to right a moral wrong. Polling shows a majority of Americans oppose cash payments as a redress for slavery.

But old injustices don’t simply disappear with time. Left unaddressed, they fuel the kind of division, shame and resentment that, as America knows well, can divide a nation.

Unite Or Perish – A Pan-African Cry

Ghana President Kwame Nkrumah (in suit) and his Egyptian-born wife, Madame Fatima Nkrumah (on Nkrumah's right), are flanked by paramount Chieftains January 20, 1963, as they dance to high life music during a reception. The affair was staged on the grounds of the Flagstaff House in Accra. Image: Bettmann Archives.

BY ADJEI-GYAMFI YAW
The outburst of joy and excitement that marked Ghana’s historic feat as the first African country south of the Sahara to gain its independence on 6 March 1957 had not died down when the government, led by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, began working towards the attainment of the status of a republic. On 1 July 1960, Ghana was declared a republic and Dr Kwame Nkrumah, having defeated Dr JB Danquah in a general election, was sworn in as the country’s first president. September 21 marks the birthday celebration of this astute son of Africa. Born in Nkroful on this day, Kwame Nkrumah grew to become a thorn in the flesh of colonial authorities in the Gold Coast, as well as the capitalist imperialists who had sworn to control the destiny of Africa by subjugation. On this day, people of Ghana and the entire continent of Africa, in unison, celebrate the life and work of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

After spending 10 years in America, Osagyefo returned to Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1947 and led the country to its independence in 1957, 10 years later. Woeli Dekutsey, in Kwame Nkrumah: The Great African, states that “this was long enough for him to have watched at first hand the working of the American system of government in capitalism. He witnessed the economic inequalities the system had generated.” It is imperative that as Ghana celebrates the 109th birthday of its first president, we remind ourselves of the need for the fight towards African unity, as a way to defeat the enemy of neo-colonialism.

Africa must unite: a Pan-African cry

After Ghana’s independence, the country became the headquarters of the Pan-African movement in Africa. Nkrumah conveyed his message of Pan-Africanism and African unity at various Pan-African conferences held in Accra. The writer Francis Botchway described Nkrumah as the “brain” behind the discussions to bring African states together to form a political union and to grow Pan-Africanism. Three years after Ghana became a republic, in 1963, Dr Nkrumah published his book Africa Must Unite. This was a blueprint detailing the mischievous agenda of the neo-colonial states and trumpeted the need for Africa to unite if it were ever going to see the continent attain total freedom. For Prof Tim Murithi, ”Freedom without development, however, is not genuine freedom.” For Nkrumah, as he says in Africa must Unite, “In practical terms, this deep-rooted unity has shown itself in the development of Pan-Africanism, and more recently in the projection of what has been called the African Personality in world affairs.” In his book, Nkrumah acknowledges the existence of those sceptics who do not believe in the possibility of a united Africa, saying, “There are those who maintain that Africa cannot unite because we lack three ingredients for unity: a common race, culture and language. It is true that we have for centuries been divided.” He, however, remained convinced that the forces seeking a disunited Africa had been outweighed by those making for African unity. He exhorted African leaders to eschew all forms of action and resist oppression by the neo-colonial states to discredit the unity of Africans. At the Casablanca Conference in 1961, he declared that:

What I fear worst of all is the fact that if we do not formulate plans for unity and take active steps to form a political union, we would soon be fighting and warring among ourselves with imperialists and colonialists standing behind the screen pulling vicious wires, to make us cut each other’s throat for the sake of their diabolical purposes in Africa).

In light of this strong desire for African unity, Nkrumah, in the opening statements of his passion-filled speech at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963, impressed upon the African leaders gathered there the need to unite, saying, “The objective is African union now. We must unite now or perish.”

Nkrumah, in the opening statements of his passion-filled speech at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963, impressed upon the African leaders gathered there the need to unite.

It is obvious that the relevance of the issues raised by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah cannot be overemphasised in discussions on Africa’s impoverished state in this contemporary era. For well over 50 years, the paradox of Africa has defined the state of the continent in her inability to develop in spite of the richness of the resources and productivity of their populations, causing Africans to wallow in poverty. Nkrumah lamented that “much of the general wealth of Africa, which ought to have been kept in Africa to develop basic industries here, has been systematically shipped away.” With Africa’s over-dependence on the exportation of raw materials, it opens up the continent to suffer from the unholy conditions of exploitation by the industrialised states. According to Mgina, “Another method is world market control; Europe and America maintain their control by fixing the price of African cash crops, keeping the prices low so that Africa remains dependent on their aid.” The resources of Africa must and should benefit the sons and daughters of the motherland. It is for this reason that, in my Letter to Mr Government, I admonished ‘him’ to materialise the dream of an industrialised Ghana through its 1D1F policy. Therefore, I look forward to its fruition.

Military bases on African soil

Additionally, Kwame Nkrumah envisioned that:

There would be no foreign military bases on African soil. With a united foreign policy and a common defence plan, there would be no need for them. In the concourse of African union, no Africa could be left in a position of solitary weakness in which it could be bullied into allowing them. Any kind of military pacts or alliances with outside powers would be unnecessary (pp. 202-203).

What is our reality now? The United States of America, dreadfully, can boast of a military base in Djibouti and African countries are ‘jubilant’ over several military agreements with the US. I did not foresee this ‘renewal of vows’ between Ghana and the US prior to my Letter to Mr Government. I am yet to come to terms with how an agreement spanning over 20 years, our government does not deem fit to terminate. Has our military not learnt enough from this cooperation all these years? Who else must defend Africa but Africa? A unified African defence collaboration should be sufficient to safeguard the continent since an attack on any African country would be regarded as an attack on all African states and receive a unified response. Wasn’t this the underlying ideology of the ‘neo-colonialist’ states’ Collective Security principle? Marcus Garvey proclaimed that, “the reliance of our race upon the progress and achievements of others for consideration in sympathy, justice and rights is like a dependence upon a broken stick, resting upon which will eventually consign you to the ground.” This economic colonisation of Africa has done as much damage to the continent as the imperial colonialism and its aftereffects did.

Nkrumah cautioned that neo-colonialism would implicate the continuation of asymmetric trade between Africa and foreign nations, particularly those that had historically colonised the continent. He warned that any form of economic union negotiated singly between the fully industrialised states of Europe and the countries of Africa was bound to retard industrialisation, and therefore, the prosperity and the general economic and cultural development of these countries. He cautioned that any African country that was conned into joining this union will continue to serve as secured overseas markets for manufactured goods of their industrialised ‘partners’ and as sources of cheap raw materials. The Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) ought to be executed with apt precision and commitment to save the continent from the unbalanced trade terms it shares with the world. Africa is the only continent whose foreign trade is largely with the outside world. On 1 March 2018, Graphic Business reported that “Africa’s total exports of manufactured products is less than that of Vietnam, a single country. The value of Africa’s total exports in 2016 was US$91,7 billion against US$138,7 billion of Vietnam”. The CFTA was launched by the heads of state in June 2015 to fast-forward Africa’s economic integration. The agreement was signed at a summit in Kigali, Rwanda. It is hoped that the deal will increase prosperity for 1,2 billion Africans. Trade between African countries accounts for only 10 percent of all commerce on the continent.


The Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) ought to be executed with apt precision and commitment to save the continent from the unbalanced trade terms it shares with the world.

However, in theory, it is expected to boost commerce, growth and employment. To succeed, “the countries will need to summon the required political will,” says Moussa Faki Mahamat, the head of the AU Commission. There is the urgent need for a unified Africa in order to eradicate the damning effects and rid the continent of these ‘superpower’ states lest we perish. Nkrumah averred that:

We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back the millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation (pp. 217).

Unifying the masses against capitalism and imperialism

Pan-Africanists, representatives of workers’ unions, socialists and communists from over 60 countries, including Brazil, Cuba, DR Congo, Ghana, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia, converged at the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana to remember this remarkable African figure. The conference was convened by Pan-Africanism Today under the theme “Unifying the Masses against Capitalism and Imperialism”. Kwame Nkrumah remained committed to the fight against capitalism and its effect – the underdevelopment of Africa. Delegates described capitalism as “a crime against humanity” and that it possessed no answer or solutions to the problems of Africa. Speaking at the conference, Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, historian and philosopher, stated that Africans need to “follow, without deviating, the path Kwame Nkrumah carved for us to follow” and to realise the need for “a resolution of reincarnation” of Nkrumah’s “way of dreaming, acting, believing and living”. In so doing, Africa could liberate themselves from the “life-threatening nature of capitalism.”

Adding his voice to the call for the fight against capitalism, Fred M’membe, presidential candidate for the Zambian Socialist Party, proclaimed, “The ideas of Nkrumah will live forever.” He stressed that workers’ unions and cooperatives should unite in order to eradicate the harmful effects of capitalists’ exploitation and robbing of lands and resources by multinational corporations. He called for greater solidarity between Africans at home and abroad since a key feature of socialism is international solidarity against capitalism. He shuddered to think capitalism can solve “the inequality that has gripped our society today”, and prophesied that “a new wave of revolution has started here in Ghana today.” As capitalism and imperialism increase, so does our resistance and fight against it.

Pan-Africanism seems to have lost its lustre in the 21st century among the leaders on the African continent, with African leaders and their governments under the shackles of neo-colonialism. It is important that Africans remind themselves of the need to revisit the tenets of the movement in order to achieve their continent’s freedom and prepare Africa for the arrival of our economic independence. Let me re-echo the words of Osagyefo at the Casablanca Conference: “I can see no security for Africans unless African leaders, like ourselves, have realised beyond doubts that the salvation for Africa lies in Unity.”

BOOK REVIEW: A Common Man's Political Character



By Ambrose Ehirim

In The Shadows of Politics:

Reflections From My Mirror

By Sylvester A. Mensah

Author House, London; 163 pp., $14.95 Paperback

Leopoldville, Congo: His arms roped behind him, ousted Congo Premier Patrice Lumumba (center) is roughly handled by soldiers here. Lumumba, attempting to flee to his stronghold at Stanleyville, was captured by troops of Congolese strongman Col. Joseph Mobutu and returned to Leopoldville. on Dec. 6th. A Soviet effort to have Lumumba's treatment debated at the United Nations was defeated. Date: December 6, 1960. Image: Bettmann Collection

Sylvester A. Mensah's memoir "In The Shadows of Politics: Reflections From My Mirror" is full of stories dating back to the administration of Kwame Nkrumah in which he talks about his father's involvement from when Nkrumah took the mantle of leadership to its collapse, when Nkrumah was chased out of power from what was said to be threat he had posed to the international community, and, to the Western Hemisphere, in particular.

One can read Mensah's memoir in a take of a coffee break or sit under a tree, that is if you have the time for the leisure at the beach to read the fascinating story which tells the tale of a humble beginning that eventually sours, then picks up through stories of learning the traditional way, and growing up, emulating the foundations of leadership to propelling the ideal to the forefront--taking the lead to effect changes and what would pay off by way of hard work--living a dream--from around which there was no substitute. I read his book in a take and had to reread it again for this review.

Mensah begins each chapter and sub-chapters with quotations from men he had admired and followed--Benjamin Disraeli, Bruno Bettelheim, Sir William Hamilton, Chad Varah, Georges Pompidou, William Shakespeare, Napoleon Hill, Jim Yackel, Vinve Lombardi, Colin Powell, Abraham Marshlow, Mahatma Gandhi, George Orwell, the Biblical Corinthians 29, and other sayings of wisdom--that had inspired and guided him through his philosophical nurturing and political upbringing.

Starting his story with his father, Lovelace Mensah, who had registered as a party member affiliated to the Convention Peoples Party, the CPP, becoming Nkrumah's errand boy, sharing time and private moments with Nkrumah, a man he had admired and committed himself.

In Congo, Ghana had opened its foreign mission and Mensah, Sylvester's father, had among his other colleagues been assigned to the new diplomatic office during which time Sylvester's father met Patrice Lumumba and established a cordial relationship which was held strong until Lumumba became the prime minister of the Congo republic upon Congo's independence. Lumumba, according to Mensah,  "Africanized the Congo military" and promoted Mobutu Sese Seko to head the military, which in a few months upon that appointment, coupled by an "ensuing" anarchy, Sese Seko would seize power, sack Lumumba and place him under house arrest. When Lumumba was arrested, Nkrumah, disturbed, and of losing a very close ally sought ways and means to rescue the prime minister, overthrown by the military junta.

Nkrumah with the plan to rescue Lumumba handed Mensah a handwritten letter to be delivered to Lumumba in his guarded residence. The letter had detailed out some techniques of maneuver to escape, but a suspicious military guardsmen who kept vigilant where Lumumba had been restricted to move freely at a time Lumumba was reading the letter from Nkrumah. With the soldiers advancing where Lumumba was kept, Mensah quickly "snatched" the letter from his friend, Lumumba, and chewed and swallowed it.

Mensah was beaten by the soldiers and arrested, tortured and interrogated  for clues that may lead to where the letters came from and its content. Mensah's arrest was published in Ghana's major newspapers wired from Reuters: "An official of the government of the Congo Coordination Committee has confirmed that a diplomat, Mr. Lovelace Mensah, has been arrested in Leopoldville. He said United Nations authorities were arranging to secure his release."

Despite all the efforts and the strategies by Nkrumah on Lumumba's rescue, the plan failed and Lumumba was not spared by his captives. Lumumba was executed and thus begun the Congo civil unrest and prolonged civil war.

In what had been why Mensah (Sylvester's father) was detained as published in the Congolese dailies on allegations of Ghana's plans to invade the Congo, though denied by the Ghanaian government, the anti-Lumumba Province of Katanga insisted, escalating the Congo-Ghana squabbles from Nkrumah's personal letter to Lumumba and an official letter to the United Nations Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold, asking for United Nations intervention in the Congo and release of Mensah.

Sylvester Mensah was born in Conakry, Guinea, on December 28, 1963 to Christiana Essie Atwel Mensah and Lovelace Mensah during his father's shuttle as a Ghanaian diplomat around the world. Mensah obtained his B.Sc. degree in Administration from the University of Ghana and his MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. With his first degree, he dabbled into Ghanaian politics swaggling his way into parliament serving the La Dadekotopon Constituency at the age of 33 and, being the youngest ever in the country to attain such position.

At La, Mensah found a place he could play local politics on which he was deeply involved, and meeting with prominent Ghanaian politicians and at the same time, sitting as MP, he became an "article 71" official bestowed by the "President of the Republic" and whose assignments included among others the Consolidated Fund of Ghana.

Initiating the Dadekotopon Education Trust Fund, the DRTF, with beginning sum of three thousand five hundred Ghanaian Cedis, its purpose was to help students who needed assistance financially for "educated-related activities that enhance learning."

Among the social programs and other welfare-related projects, a poverty alleviation fund, Roads and Drainage maintenance Projects, the Eastside Game Projects, the Cantonment Social Center Projects, the Dadekotopon Stadium Project, the La Market Rehabilitation Project, and the La Lorry Park Project were created and implemented under the leadership of Mensah as MP for the La Dadekotopon Constituency; and, also, on the poverty alleviation fund project aimed at "proving financial assistance to improve the livelihood of distressed members of the constituency.

In a Parliamentary order of democratic fabrics, Mensah's National Delegates Congress, the NDC, was defeated by the opposition party, the New Patriotic Party, the NPP, in an overwhelming landslide which left him redundant, broke and a hopeless future as he leaves the Ghanaian Parliament.

Mensah did not save enough cash during his MP years, had no house built he could call his own given that his MP years was open with every opportunity to amass wealth, enough to sustain his out of parliament life and at the same time able to have enough cash for other related investments common with politicians when in power. Mensah had decided to be honest, hard-working in performing his duties giving accounts of his stewardship transparently. That honesty cost him a whole lot which did open up options and other opportunities." as he moved on.

That misfortune of losing his seat in parliament paved way for his attempt to leave for England in order to advance his education since a bachelor's degree was not enough to fair well in Ghana in elevation of his status and the ability to meet up with the nation's current demands in the quest of thoroughness in the system and upholding democracy and the rule of law.

Leaving Ghana with only ninety British pound sterling in his pocket, he enrolled for the masters degree program at the University of Leicester, majoring in Finance. Soon, his wife joined him in the UK and both collectively worked to help each other. Mensah would teach here and there, in different colleges, had some money saved and moved back to Ghana to continue his political career while his family stayed for the meantime, as he gets things situated in Ghana. Securing a job at the Intercontinental Bank as Head of Service, Public Service Banking he eyed other opening opportunities.

Mensah's second coming as a political heavyweight was not an easy call. He had consulted with many Ghanaian personalities and government officials which included President John Dramani Mahama, then MP for the Bole Bomboi constituency and the late President John Evans Atta-Mills, then the party's flag-bearer for advise and guidelines in his quest to bounce back. He had also expected a better reception from poet Kofi Awoonor while exploring the possibilities of reentering politics and running for a position. He was not impressed with his encounter after meeting Awoonor who had told him that he came way too late. In my interview with Mensah, and asking him about his experiences during his second political attempt and especially regarding what he had expected from Awoonor, Mensah said:

'Professor Kofi Awoonor’s view was a disappointment at the time. But I took it as a candid opinion expressed by respectable man who always spoke his mind. Therefore, I chose to regard his opinion as an unspoken hint [from someone I respected] to double my effort if I really wanted to win. However, the eventual winner of the elections [Mr. Johnson  Asiedu-Nketia] has proved to be a real asset to the party as General Secretary, and this I acknowledge with humility. In hindsight, perhaps l should have given him my support rather than contesting him."

Ghana's attempt at reform and good governance went through a long haul of trials upon lowering of the Union Jack by the colonial administrators and the overthrow of Nkrumah's government by the Emmanuel kotoka-led military juntas. I was a living experience of Nkrumah-led administration alongside my childhood friends--Teddy Onyeji, John Bull and others, including President Mahama, at the Kanda Estate playgrounds and amusement parks which was a stonethrow away from the Flagstaff House, the state house where Nkrumah presided on the affairs of state.

As a tradition introduced into the African continent, and like Ghana, military coups and in-between short-lived civilian rule became the norm. From the Kotoka-led regime to Joseph Ankrah, after kotoka was murdered in a cold blood by counter coupers and, the sudden assumption of A.A. Afrifa charge d' affairs before a general election that saw the election of Kofi Busia, Ghana fell to its bottom low following years of uncertainties and bad leadership.

As it would happen, a young Airforce officer named John Jerry Rawlings would intercept what had destroyed Ghana's economy from years of bad governance. In my continued interview with Mensah, I had sought his thoughts on what had happened and why it was allowed to happen,  and what had gone wrong with a system of government engineered by the Nkrumah cabinet supposedly to have been emulated by other African states as a model to profound leadership and the deterioration upon fall of the First Republic. And if Rawlings should be justified in carrying out a revolution where three former Heads-of-State were murdered in his revolution, Mensah again:

"Jerry Rawlings was very much a product of his time, which you describe as ‘Ghana’s troubled past and revolution.’ Harsh as the events were, it is important to recognize that we all contributed to the turmoil of those times in our own ways! We need to learn the lessons of those days as we make strides into our new democratic future, and vow never again to allow things to degenerate to those levels. We must also ensure that the lessons of those times are thoroughly taught to future generations. That is the only way to protect our fledgling progress and avoid mistakes of the past."

In Mensah's own words, Rawlings came in because of the time and the necessities for a sense of purpose and belonging' which in its aftermath, a terrible cost paid in the Ghanaian revolution.

Mensah came from a home that's large, of polygamous making by a diplomat father. He did not find life as easy as it should have been considering the fact that his father was a Nkrumah ally and should be assumed all would be very well why he grew up. In a large family of his and rearing likely to be rowdy, grand in mischief and competition, at five, he had already seen much around him, and upon return from Rome, Italy, where his father had served as an attache under the Nkrumah administration, and from what would follow as "economic hardship," though survived the culture shock, adapted and assimilated into the Ghanaian culture of his ancestral home, all that came after was a fairy tale and a life of its future not really certain.

Going through school itself was a journey of confessional grades at a point. A house full of many siblings denied him privileges to obtain quality education, and, despite all the stumbling block from family hiccups, he gave it his best and eventually, overcame what had clouded his ability for profound scholarship. But as in determination and commitment to succeed, encountering the usual difficulties with the prospects of a better future that seemed to have vanished as a result of his father's expulsion as a diplomat and party affiliated political engagements, Mensah never gave up his dreams even though responsible for taking care of the family from his meager income which oftentimes could hinder every opportunity for growth, he secured a scholarship at the Cottbus Political College in Germany to study "Political Economy." There, he completed his brief course and returned home to his native Ghana.

Upon return to Ghana, he was admitted for the public administration program at the University of Ghana, Legon, where he obtained his diploma. Not enough in his academic pursuits and a bright future and while in the Ghanaian parliament representing the La Dadekotopon Constituency, he seized the moment and enrolled in a degree program earning a BS. in Human Resource Management.

Elsewhere, playing significant role in local politics at his constituency, and as Chief Executive Officer, the CEO of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the NHIS, and despite the challenges it posed, he worked tirelessly in "improving data integrity, employing the Consolidated Claims Processing Center", the CDC, to "full capacity," and the implementation to "enforce the directives of the Ministry of Health," by way of medications and prescription levels, and a thorough management of all related accounts to effect the changes demanded and why the Insurance scheme he headed had to be created on which he gave it his best shot, reviving what seemed to have been impossible. With all the difficult tasks, Mensah took a measure, according to him, that saw an "increased inflow of revenue" under his care and relocation of the department to a bigger complex in order to locate other necessary needs to enhance the schemes' programs.

As it would turn out from his efforts and the diligence to yield results positively in the insurance scheme he had held as CEO for four years, Mensah, noted with dignity that "the pillars of progress erected in the four years of my tenure, with the help of the able management team assisting me, ranges from a NHIS law  (Act 852 of 2012), a single payer system, and a medium term development plan these achievements are firmly anchored in a redefined vision and mission, both designed to stand the test of time, and both consistent with our objectives."

In the books' forward, Professor kwamena Akwoi of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, describes Mensah with vigor and the ambition that shares similar traits of "99 Days In Agege," the book about an optimistic individual during the 1980s Nigeria political crossroads and President Barack Obama's ideal of a "New dawn" in "Yes We Can."

Besides my interview with Mensah and questions regarding previous military regimes in his book and declining responses in detail, to fault the juntas as part of what had destroyed Ghana in its entirety after the fall of Nkrumah's government and upon Rawlings revolution which paved way for the Third and Fourth Republic, one presumes he had left the subject to be written and questions answered by others who probably have better insight in what had transpired during that era. 

Mensah's 163 page book is a fun read from a "kid" who grew up in a political environment, turned out a politician, justifying his every move and interest for a political career, even though there were other options to pursue something else. His dream and passion worked out to his timing, which also enhanced his book writing career, beginning with this biography.

For one with big ideas from the concept of the book and, now highly intelligent, thoughtful and principled, the sky is the limit and a shot at the presidency shouldn't come as a surprise. He would have earned it.

Ehirim Files Interview: The Sylvester Mensah Story

 BY AMBROSE EHIRIM

Sylvester A. Mensah Image: Ghana Today/Ehirim Files Images

Sylvester A. Mensah holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and a BSc. in Administration from the University of Ghana. He also serves on a number of public and private boards in Ghana. He served a full term as a Member of Parliament for the Dadekotopon Constituency in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana from 1997 to 2001. He is Chief Executive of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme and is credited with far-reaching organizational restructuring, innovations, and initiatives in reforming Ghana's NHIS. Under his stewardship, the NHIS emerged on the international healthcare landscape as a model of financial risk protection and in November 2010, Ghana's scheme received a United Nations Award for Excellence and Leadership in finacial risk protection.

In this interview, Mensah talks about his new book, what had inspired it, his diplomat father and role in the Kwame Nkrumah administration, his four years as a parliamentarian in Ghana, prospects of Ghana's Fourth Republic and lots more.
Excerpt:

 The Ambrose Ehirim Files: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Sylvester Mensah:  You may want to take a thorough journey into my book "In the Shadows of Politics" and the piece 'about the author' on page 153 and at the back of the book. You may also glean more   about me and my formative years and family life in various chapters of the book, especially chapters 3, 4 and 5.  This l believe provides better insights than any further attempt l make to talk about myself now

 TAEF: You have written a book. What inspired That?

Sylvester Mensah: As someone who loves words and the inherent power of words to communicate ideas, I have always cherished the hope of writing a book to share my inner most thoughts with the world. But as my schedule got busier it seemed for years that I might never get round to   doing that, until the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, published his first book, ["My First Coup d'etat"],  in 2012. Then I thought, if the President, who is exponentially busier than I was, could make time to write a book then I could do the same. That was when I began writing my book and had it published within six    months of starting.

TAEF: When did you begin to realize "In the Shadows of Politics: Reflections from My Mirror" must be Written?

Sylvester Mensah: The idea of writing a book had always engaged my thoughts based on reflections and the desire to share my experiences. The motivation was however triggered after reading the book of a gentleman l consider the busiest in Ghana, H. E. John Dramani Mahama. It felt natural to begin scripting my experiences.

TAEF: The book is very political. What compelled you to join politics when you could have done something Different?

Sylvester Mensah:  I decided that my maiden book should be one that told my story as truthfully as possible. And since my life after leaving school has centered on politics in the main, I had to tell it as it is. As to the choice of politics as a career, I did    not choose it really; it chose me. You will find the circumstances leading up to   that clearly explained in the opening chapters of my book.

TAEF: Your father was a diplomat and all your siblings happened to have been born in different countries. As a child being shuttled from country to country, what would you say you learned growing up from different environments?

 Sylvester Mensah: Not a lot beyond listening to my parents, doing as I was told and playing with my brothers and the few friends that came my way through school. I was quite little for much of that period. The bulk of what I remembered therefore was what I have narrated in my book.

TAEF : You talked about your father's involvement in the rescue of Patrice Lumumba from his captors which did fail. What had happened after, and what other stories did you learn on your own which your father did not tell you about?

Sylvester Mensah: That whole saga about the arrest and incarceration of Lumumba was a plot by his political enemies to eliminate him as a force for shaping the destiny of the fledgling Democratic Republic of Congo. Sadly, they carried this through. After the Ghanaian attempt to rescue him [which was spear-headed by my dad] fell through, a group of local activists loyal to Lumumba also attempted to free him by smuggling him to another city, Stanleyville. Unfortunately, that was not successful either. Fearing that their nefarious plot could fail, Lumumba's enemies moved him into the Katanga province in the Congo in January 1961 and shot him with two of his ministers. News of his death came out three weeks after the event. According to the conclusion of a committee set up to enquire into his death, the shooting was conducted under the supervision of President Moise Tsombe, representatives of his government from the Katanga province and Belgian military officers.

My dad said very little about what he did. In that regard he was very ‘old school’, believing that information must be given only to the deserving. As I explain in the first chapter of my book, I later discovered how closely he worked for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana, on his emancipation project for Africa. “My dad made himself available to [Dr. Kwame Nkrumah] unreservedly, and what seems clear is that the great man invited my dad’s thoughts and opinions across a range of subjects during the time they spent together. Their encounters, which took different forms, occurred at different times and often in different locations. Sometimes they met in the President’s office, or somewhere else chosen by the President. Sometimes it was over a meal or a drink, and other times in a car driving back to the President’s home. Occasionally, it was a walk in a secluded part of the President’s office gardens; at other times, a stroll at the beach or a favourite retreat. Their exchanges were focused and purposeful, oftentimes resulting in my dad running errands, which took him to some far-flung parts of the country or the continent for a specially targeted outcome.”

TAEF: Growing up you had always wanted to share the same resemblance of your accomplished kinsfolk--Dr. Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, Peter Ala Adjetey, etc.--do you see yourself in that category now?

Sylvester Mensah: No, not really; but it is very much work in progress.

TAEF: You said "My four years in parliament were some of the most eventful and fruitful years of my life." How, and what made you say that?

Sylvester Mensah: I saw my time in Parliament as an opportunity to learn how government really works. I was young and filled with deep respect for the institution of Parliament, so I immersed myself in the role of Member of Parliament – learning Parliamentary ways and means, participating fully in all debates, took up opportunities to serve on oversight committees and eagerly sought to utilize whatever I learnt for the benefit of my constituents.

TAEF: Is Ghana's Fourth Republic working as had been projected?

Sylvester Mensah: By and large the answer to this question is, yes! Democracy is challenging and expensive. This is true for all human societies that attempt to adopt it as their method of government. To the extent that Ghanaians are determined to make the most of the opportunity to administer our affairs by means of plural representation and principled dialogue, despite the challenges it brings to social cohesion and our economy, we can say that Ghana’s 4th republic is working as well as could be expected.

TAEF: What are the things not done, and in what areas are these things required to effect change?

Sylvester Mensah: If by this you mean ‘how our constitutional governance is organised’ as a whole, then my answer would be that our democratic governance systems have in-built mechanisms that allow the body politic to chart its own direction based on its needs and expectations.

But if you mean ‘how programmes of government’ are carried out for national development, then I would say that there is quite a gulf between where we are now and where we would wish to be. The strategic tension between what is and what ought to be is positive and progressive given that there is commitment to drive to a desired destination.

In all such circumstances, the inherent challenges of inadequate funding, priority setting, programme efficiency, transparency, accountability, programme leadership among others come into sharp focus.

TAEF: Do you think right now Ghana's democracy should be considered thorough in its applications?

Sylvester Mensah: I believe the most appropriate answer to this question is to ask to be shown a perfect democracy. In my view a good democracy is one that is responsive to the aspirations of the people in whom sovereignty resides. Over the years, Ghana’s democracy has demonstrated this, and to this end, I can confidently say that it has demonstrated a capacity to adapt to changing needs. 

TAEF: Ghanaians I have talked to said that President John Dramani Mahama isn't their best deal. What's your take on that?

Sylvester Mensah: As a journalist of your caliber and experience, I am sure you are well    aware that political assessments can often be subjective and tend to be colored by people’s political preferences, perceptions and prejudices. Therefore, to be on safer grounds, one would want to turn to published data by reputable sources on governance when making judgments about performance in office. I am sure you have your own trusted sources you consult for information. I recommend highly that you turn to your sources on this subject in order to come to a more reliable and a more rounded view of the performance of John Dramani Mahama. 

You may discover, for example, that among all Ghana’s presidents since 1957 when we gained independence, he was confronted with one of the most difficult set of circumstances, including a lengthy legal challenge to his legitimacy by an opposition party after a fairly conducted general election. This undoubtedly had implications for political stability and investor confidence in the Ghanaian economy. This coupled with low and falling commodity prices in an economy with high growth potential and development expectation may generate varying perceptions depending on one’s political persuasion and expectations. I dare say he has done a sterling  job of grappling with those difficult circumstances within just over a year of taking charge and is now on the verge of turning things around. If doing that is not a serious deal for government in the twenty first century, I’d like to know what is!

TAEF: When you came back from London and had wanted to get back on your feet by way of appropriate consultation with the influential, what was your view and what went through your mind when Kofi Awoonor said you "had come rather too late"?

Sylvester Mensah: As I observe in chapter 13 of my book, every party in a democratic dispensation has ‘internal stakeholders’ or ‘interest groups’ whose view must be reckoned with in the affairs of the party. It is the height of madness to desire to make headway in a political party in a democracy and choose to overlook this cardinal point. This explains my reason for consulting those many regarded as the shakers and movers of my party when I came back from England.

Professor Kofi Awoonor’s view was a disappointment at the time. But I took it as a candid opinion expressed by respectable man who always spoke his mind. Therefore, I chose to regard his opinion as an unspoken hint [from someone I respected] to double my effort if I really wanted to win. However, the eventual winner of the elections [Mr. Johnson  Asiedu-Nketia] has proved to be a real asset to the party as General Secretary, and this I acknowledge with humility. In hindsight, perhaps l should have given him my support rather than contesting him.

TAEF: On Africa, what would you say had been behind its progress and in your opinion, what measures should be taken?

Sylvester Mensah: For a start, far-sighted leaders of the pioneering generation, such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Modibo Keita, Sekou Toure, Robert Mugabe, to name a few, were successful in their efforts to wrestle independence from colonial masters and demonstrated that “the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.” This was a hugely significant step, for it opened the floodgates for many things we take for granted today to flow through. Social institutions such as schools, hospitals, and a host of other developmental agencies began to emerge.

The transformation process is on-going. Africa has always had the potential for growth. The huge populations on the continent constitute a viable internal market that could drive economic activity. The continent is richly endowed with natural resources. It was not for nothing that European nations in the past scrambled for Africa and named regions after resources – Gold Coast, Ivory Coast, Pepper Coast etc. The continent is rich in minerals such as gold, diamond, uranium, and has huge oil reserves.

Conflicts have been a bane to the development of the continent. But with a more stable environment, investment and other economic activities get a boost. Moreover, slowly and steadily, democratic governance is taking hold on the African continent, and as democratic institutions become stronger, the prospects for growth are enhanced.

Furthermore, globalization also means that the continent is interconnected with the rest of the global economy and fairer terms of trade and investment among other factors, can only result in Africa realizing its potential and taking its rightful place in the world

TAEF: On Ghana's troubled past and revolution, was Jerry Rawlings justified for killing three of Ghana's past leaders on grounds of effecting change?

Sylvester Mensah: Jerry Rawlings was very much a product of his time, which you describe as ‘Ghana’s troubled past and revolution.’ Harsh as the events were, it is important to recognize that we all contributed to the turmoil of those times in our own ways! We need to learn the lessons of those days as we make strides into our new democratic future, and vow never again to allow things to degenerate to those levels. We must also ensure that the lessons of those times are thoroughly taught to future generations. That is the only way to protect our fledgling progress and avoid mistakes of the past.

TAEF: How about Kofi Busia, what justified his removal by the military juntas?

Sylvester Mensah: This is substantially no different from the previous question, in that they both involve mistakes of the past. Only as we learn the lessons of such mistakes can we avoid repeating   them as we head confidently into our future.

TAEF: And, Osagefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. What explains his removal by the Emmanuel Kotoka-led military juntas?

Sylvester Mensah:  Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s removal from office and subsequent humiliation by his political opponents was engineered and facilitated by western powers who felt threatened by the brilliance of his vision and what they saw as its inherent threat to their colonial/neo-colonial interests. This is well documented in the literature. But again, we have lessons to learn from that episode, at all levels, and pass them on to the younger generations. That’s the deeper benefit of his far-reaching personal sacrifice for the sake of his people.

TAEF : What do you have for the upcoming generation?

Sylvester Mensah: To help them to realize that the future is bright; that this is truly an exciting time to be growing up in Ghana. It is my pride and joy to help them understand that we have a rich history which is replete with precious lessons for nation building; that the pedigree of our country and its institutions among the nations of Africa and the world at large is respectable and therefore worthy of building upon; that if they utilize the opportunities which come their way, thoroughly learn the lessons of the past and intelligently harness the resources available to them, there will be no limits to their achievements and their ability  to transform this beautiful country we call home for the benefit of all.

TAEF : Your next move.

Sylvester Mensah: To continue serving my country to the best of my ability and to continue reading, writing and sharing my thoughts and experiences, especially to the upcoming generation.

Thank you and accept my appreciation for reading my book – ‘In The Shadows of politics – Reflections from my Mirror’

Memorable Images And Time (West African Leaders)

Jacqueline Kennedy chats with Mrs. Houphouet-Boigny (right) as they pose for photographers prior to a state dinner given by President and Mrs. Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast in honor of the Chief Executive and Mrs. Kennedy here tonight.Date: May 24, 1962. Location: Washington, D.C. Image: Bettmann


7/28/1966- Washington, DC: State visitor. President Johnson chats in his office with President Leopold Senghor of Senegal today after the African Chief Executive arrived for a nine-day visit. President Johnson welcomed President Senghor as "the head of a very friendly and vigorous African nation."


President John F. Kennedy greets the first Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa at the White House.Date: July 25, 1961. Location: Washington D.C. Image: Bettmann


7/24/1958-Washington, D.C.- Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana shown during his White House visit with President Eisenhower today. He later told newsmen that the President was "sympathetic" to the economic problems of his newly independent African state.

Memorable Images and Time

The enigmatic and a man of unstated charisma, Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo Republic, leaves the Idlewild Airport in New York, July 24, 1960, and escorted by United States Federal agents. Six months later, he will be toppled in a coup and murdered in the most brutal way. Photo: AFP/Getty Images


Osagefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana and his wife, Fatima, pays homage to WEB Dubois. The pan Africanist was overthrown by a group of youngish military juntas led by Emmanuel Kotoka in an alleged CIA plot.


The greatest Muhammed Ali faces off against George Foreman, twice his size, for the heavyweight title belt in "Rumble in the Jungle" October 30, 1974. Ali floored Foreman in the eight round as he predicted.


From left: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello and Obafemi Awolowo, founding fathers of the Nigerian republic as fabricated by the British Empire.

BOOK SHELF: The Door of No Return: The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade

Many lyrics have echoed about the horrific Trans Atlantic Slave Trade on the process of human cargo. In 1974, The O'Jays recorded Ship Ahoy paying homage to Africans who survived and overcame the predicament of slavery and human bondage. Also, Seventies Jamaican Reggae group, The Cimmarons released Ship Took Us Away From Africa, an overnight mindblowing sensation at a time of the reggae boom and Rastafarian prophesy which took roots reggae to newer heights.

William St Clair's remarkable new book The Door of No Return: The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade, came at the right time after extensive and exhaustive research digging into the archives. It was fifty years ago that on March 7, Kwame Nkrumah's practical and enigmatic leadership achieved full democratic fabric, making Ghana the first West African Coast to gain independence.

I haven't been familiar with a whole lot of stuff regarding the slave trade until St. Clairs in-depth, well-written book which caught my eye at the "Black Township" where I partly engage in African cultural relativism. Very few of us are African-born and most of the people here are aging and are fast-talking in joining the band wagon - homeward bound to motherland. Their focus had been Ghana as the free land offer by the Ghanaian government is attracting every African Diaspora.

Listening to these aging folks talk, I tried to imagine what must have gotten me in this place and why am I trying to figure out why these folks think going back to motherland is the last straw. These are mostly retired men who had thought a whole lot of time had been wasted thinking the land of the free was a safe heaven until now. I also imagine these aging folks, maybe there's nothing out there for them anymore, thus no longer productive in a society where free enterprise is highly comepetitive among the youngish capitalists. Or maybe, the bills are driving everyone crazy while their retirement benefits can afford them all sorts of luxury if they relocate to motherland. Why not?

Talking about enterprise, St. Clair's book noted the entrepreneurship of the slave trade and how detailed and organized it was relying on the archives of the Cape Coast Castle. The castle's first construction was commenced by a Swedish construction company in 1653 at the peak of the Scramble for Africa when for a decade (1653-1663) the Swedes and the Danes were the domineering colonists until the British empire conquered the castle in 1664. It was a game of chess among the European traders and dealers and despite all that, the local kingmakers had the upper hand and determined a good bargain on the people that were being traded for transport across the Atlantic to the shores of America.

The book is entirely drawn from St. Clair's personal research from the archives of the castle. I think from a personal point of view and based on the tedious research project carried out by St. Clair detailing on how the Coastal kings negotiated with European traders and an ensuing warfare as the castle almost got hit by the French in 1756 and the returning of some slaves, for instance, the return of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo who also became a slave trader makes this 282 pages of Blue Bridge Books quite interesting and engaging.