Happy Independence Ghana

55 years of independence for Ghana.

Nana Akufo-Addo said on HARDtalk with Stephen Sackur, that the Ghanaian independence project was really the African independence project, which is why the Ghana democracy project holds such significance every leap year.

God know the prayers of Ghanaians everywhere for the country, but today instead of highlighting our faults (like we do 364 other days in the year) let's just celebrate the good things happening in the country.

Happy Independence Day Warrior King.

A political place for the UK's ACSs

I sometimes worry that I'm a complainer not a doer, I would hate for that to become my modus operandi. So I comfort myself with the knowledge that thousands of thoughts and solutions could pass through my head on any given day, its not at all possible to act on all of these thoughts. You may be able to articulate them - like in a blog or something - but be content with knowing that you can't do everything.

This post is uneasy ground for me. I was President of my university's African Caribbean Society in the first semester of the 2010/2011 year. This is at the University of Manchester, the largest university with the largest student union in the country. I had heard rumours before enrolling here, that Manchester is where the protests happen, it's where the student movements begin and in first year a few events happened that had me believing that. Yet, in my last semester at this establishment I've come to realise you need one or a combination of these three things in order to start a student movement here: (1) an Israel-Palestine contention; (2) an LGBTQ contention and (3) alcohol. If you want someone to protest on behalf of Palestinians being denied from an Israeli gay bar where drinks are 99p (the Israeli currency equivalent), then Manchester is DEFINITELY your uni and we will have a good ol' knees up with borderline anti-semetic/islamophobic general privileged middle class none-of-this-actually-has-an-effect-on-my-life banter (and banners).

But if you want someone to campaign against the university holding a stake in an oil company like Royal Dutch Shell who are responsible for the impoverishing and destabilising of the Niger Delta both directly and indirectly - you won't even find the tumbleweed interested in showing up. I read first about this in our university newspaper - in that sense you could say the union have taken notice but in a passive "we're watching you" type way that will not worry or alarm any of the decision makers in the uni. I wonder however, if all the African Caribbean Societies in the country started getting louder on the issues that so greatly affect their families and cultures they exist to promote, could they make a difference. It won't be easy it never is, but I hear stories of the Africa Centre in London and how it was the hub for Africans here in the UK in their crusade to support independence movements and then again raising awareness of the atrocities of the Biafran War and then again in giving geographical coherence to the British anti-apartheid movement against South Africa. I hear that it has lost it's significance as a place of assembly for diaspora to campaign on issues affecting the homeland - but what is the difference between Africa in the 1960s and Africa today?

It was always my aim as President of UoM ACS to add political significance to the society's existence. I didn't succeed in doing so, but I deem it so necessary right now, that in conjuction with organisations like Operation Black Vote, and See Africa Differently and all the other things going on that ACSs, being of African descent (partly) and being radical students (in that all students have the potential to be radical when needs be) begin to dictate to the UK's policy. We can start with our universities. It's a new generation, people.

I am frustrated by the bias.

I watch Joy News via their YouTube channel.

Wow. I've never seen politics so heavily biased. I don't live in Ghana so perhaps I've missed the memo as to the agenda of Joy News, but they are extremely left-wing. In fact I don't think I can even say Left-wing. Ghana's political spectrum, given that it is undoubtedly a two-party system, is not yet formed. There is just NDC or NPP, but neither party (even less so the NDC than NPP) can place their ideology (if they have one), firmly in a place on the left-wing/right-wing spectrum.

I hope Ghanaians will be able to see through the illogical and frankly unfair and and dangerous rhetoric being promoted by the Joy News channel. I don't mind Joy News being pro-NDC, everyone must stick their standard somewhere; but whilst my family naturally support the NPP, I constantly criticise both parties equally. Both have faults. A true broadcaster looking out for the benefit of the country, whilst leaning to one side, will ensure or at least attempt to be as neutral as possible or provide at least once in an hour show some sense of challenge to the words of the government's representatives.

When Mills gained power, I said to my family, I hope Ghanaians inside and out, will give him a chance. When rumours spread that Kufuor and Kofi Annan had to make Nana Akufo Addo leave the result as it had been declared, I was disappointed at the prospect of Ghana's democracy being undermined by a poor loser; but just as Akufo Addo was on the verge of becoming a poor loser, President Mills in his fourth and final year of this term, is becoming - and allowing his party to become - bad winners. There is sportsmanship in winning and losing and neither side should forget that.

The media, if it will not be independent, should be fair. The structure and content of shows as I have seen on Joy News, will not help to put an end to the "politics of insults". If the older generation of Ghanaian journalists are too stuck in their ways to be fair and be unbiased (and this is to be professional in their field) then perhaps they should step aside to allow the younger generation to think for themselves, and take over the industry in the interest of the nation's democracy.

Objective 2008 analysis

For people who are involved in making this year's elections in Ghana more democratic and credible, I read this journal article and thought it was a good  read:

The successful Ghana election of 2008: a convenient myth? by Jockers, Heinz; Kohnert, Dirk; Nugent, Paul. The Journal of Modern African Studies 48. 1 (March 2010) 95-115

 http://search.proquest.com/docview/196399812/fulltextPDF?accountid=12253

I dunno perhaps you will need a university log in since I found this through my university library. It's good to look at objective criticisms, so that we know where the hurdles will be and how we can overcome them.

Support some eager students

I'm head of the University of Manchester's Delegation to the Harvard World Model United Nations.

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