Arthur Kennedy on Ghana @ 60!

Sixty years ago today, Ghana had the world's attention. The world watched in awe and with hope as we became the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from Great Britain. There were many notables, including Vice-President Nixon of the United States, Adam Powell, Ralph Bunche and A. Phillip Randolph.

Another person who was there was Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, together with his wife Coretta. Barely ten weeks after the Montgomery bus boycott, MLK arrived with the weight of the civil rights movement on his mind and in a spirit of despair. But his batteries were recharged in Accra.

On his first Sunday back in the pulpit after returning from Ghana, he preached a sermon titled, "Birth of a New Nation". He stated in the sermon, "And I could hear that old Negro spiritual once more crying out "Free at last, free at last. Great God almighty, I'm free at last." They were experiencing that in their very soul".

Then he went on to reflect on the meaning of Ghana's independence, "You can interpret Ghana any kind of way but Ghana tells me that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice". He was obviously inspired. So inspired that the "Free at last" moment he experienced in Accra would make its way into his "I have a dream speech" of 1963 as the peroration.

Nobody understood the moment better than Nkrumah, who had experienced segregation first hand in America and was, like Dr. King, a preacher. He knew that Ghana had to succeed, not just for the sake of Africa's Africans but for the sake of Africans in the diaspora as well. After the disappointment of Haiti, blacks needed Ghana to succeed.

That is why Nkrumah stated in his autobiography, GHANA that "What other countries have taken 300 years or more to achieve a once dependent territory must accomplish in a generation if it is to survive."

Then he laid out the vision of his government for the New country in a Christmas eve broadcast in 1957, "We shall measure our progress by the improvements in the health of our people; by the number of children in school and BY THE QUALITY of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride and it is by this that my government will ask to be judged." (Caps mine). In other words, in the words of Danquah, we needed to build a "property-owning democracy"!

Then there was the linking of the meaning of our independence with the liberation of all of Africa.

Those were exciting times.

A wag once said that when Nkrumah said we had a right to manage or mismanage our own affairs, our succeeding leaders only heard the mismanage part. We have retreated consistently from all the lofty goals. Today, there will be the usual excuses-- the biggest one being that we have only been independent for 60 years. Don't believe that for a moment.

Nkrumah and Danquah were modest and here is why. Between 1981 and 2011, China alone lifted 753 million people out of poverty, according to the World Bank. According to the same institution, while Ghana and South Korea had the same GDP per capita in 1957, 30 years later, South Korea's per capita GDP was ten times that of Ghana. Today, it is 27,222 USD or 20 times that of Ghana! During the same time Singapore has, in the words of Premier Lee Kwan Yew, moved from third to first world. And they have chronicled how they did it-- in books and pithy quotes.

As Deng Xiaoping put it in his understated way, "Reform is China's second revolution". It can be done with good leadership and active citizenship.

Meanwhile, we, the nation that built the world's largest man-made lake to generate electricity have developed a new word, "DUMSOR" to underline the scope and permanence of our inability to address our energy problems. We have, with the unhelpful encouragement of the IMF and the World Bank, sold off our state-owned enterprises to cronies of those in power at "donkomi" prices. We have become, like addicts who can't quit, dependent on the IMF for periodic bailouts following announcements of success. Our educational system is misaligned with our development needs. We have institutionalized corruption and made it non-partisan. Our Healthcare system is decrepit and mediocre. We do not even win in soccer anymore. The last time we won the African Cup of Nations was 1982, thirty-four years ago!

And we have acquired the dangerous habit of unpatriotic partisanship, characterized by the defence of the indefensible and the willingness to insult those we disagree with regardless of their age or status. Today, for partisan reasons, many have made their support for the Black Stars conditional on whether their party is in power. In the name of partisanship, we tolerate and even celebrate mediocrity and mediocrities. Unfortunately for Africa, when Ghana went off the rails, most of Africa followed.

Nkrumah and Danquah's lofty commitment has been replaced by excuse-making. Today, "We are not as bad as country X or Y" has become our mantra.

My countrymen. This is not the Ghana our founders dreamed of. This is not the country that inspired MLK and Mandela and blacks around the world. This is not the country that made every African claim with pride, "I am a Ghanaian". I want that country back. Africa needs that country back. The world needs that country back.

The Bible counseled leaders in Philippians 2:4, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others". Why do we and our leaders frequent places of worship even as we ignore religious guidance on leadership?

Perhaps, the President was right. Only an aroused citizenry, who see themselves not as subjects but guardians of our nation can save us. We must, while hoping for the best from this new government, look to business leaders, professionals, religious leaders and non-governmental organizations to lead Ghana and Africa, back to the nation and continent Nkrumah and Danquah dreamed of and named together.

We can do it with more competence, more cooperation, less corruption and more change.

Happy birthday, Ghana.

Arthur K
Email: arkoke@aol.com