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Obi Egbuna Jr Simunye
DURING his address to the UN General Assembly in September of 1960, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah eloquently stated: “Africa wants her freedom, Africa must be free. It is a simple call, but is also a signal lighting a red warning to those who tend to ignore it”.
What Africans at home and abroad will eventually realise is, as long as Mother Africa’s current political leadership remains predominantly neo-colonialist at both the Presidential and Parliamentary level, US President Barack Obama’s condescending tirades on African soil will be treated like either scripture or supreme intellect.
Whether our analytical tool is what the ancient Egyptians called the law of opposites or dialectical materialism, Africans are forced to recognise that Pan Africanism has positive and negative examples, this explains why certain African leaders would invite the butcher of Muammar Gaddafi and innocent Libyans to address the African Union.
Those who applauded the loudest along with the former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan were obviously the guilty culprits.
For this reason the most powerful statement made on our beloved continent last week, was President Mugabe’s decision to stay put in Zimbabwe, and proceed with the business of his country.
One common mistake that this current generation of Africa’s children, both on the continent and in the diaspora are guilty of, is portraying Barack Obama as a proud son of our sacred homeland.
At the beginning of his speech President Obama put this notion to rest when he stated that: “I stand before you as a proud American. I also stand before you as the son of an African”.
This statement not only reveals where President Obama’s political and cultural loyalty lies, it challenges so-called African Americans to admit the truth, that the main reason our people voted for him was his party affiliation not his biological makeup.
In other words if President Obama ran as a Republican, 95 percent of so-called African Americans would have cast their vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton, without hesitation or apology. The proof is that virtually all the Civil Rights organisations and the Congressional Black Caucus, decided to play it safe and vote for Mrs. Clinton not President Obama in the Democratic primaries for the US Presidency in 2008.
When addressing Ghana’s Parliament in 2009 President Obama stated: “This is a new moment of great promise only this time we’ve learned it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future. Instead it will be you the women and men in Ghana’s Parliament”
As Africans at home and abroad continue to be embroiled in a ruthless struggle to rid ourselves of the mental shackles of colonialism and slavery, the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction might be President Obama’s history books, and the manner he chooses to interpret our liberation struggle past and present.
For President Obama to give a speech in Ghana and not give Osagyefo Nkrumah his just due should never have been tolerated, only the enemies of Nkrumah and a revolutionary Pan African vision would take that lying down, especially from the mouth of someone who believes that only in the United States is his story possible.
Last week, President Obama felt obligated to remind those in attendance at the AU of his remarks from Ghana in 2009.
He said: “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”, which means in President Obama’s humble opinion, political parties like Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party in Ghana, Ahmed Seku Ture’s Democratic Party of Guinea, Amilcar Cabral’s Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde and ZANU-PF are not examples of the utmost strength and courage.
This is one of the many advantages President Obama would gain by sitting down with President Mugabe, whose time in Ghana teaching at St. Mary’s College in Takoradi, inspired him to return to Zimbabwe and put his life on the line in the Second Chimurenga.
It is truly unfortunate President Obama feels he can’t have a face to face healthy exchange of ideas, with a freedom fighter of the highest order, who has lived through the history that he can at best only highlight in a speech or interview.
A meeting with President Mugabe would also benefit but his wife First Lady Michelle Obama, who afterwards might feel compelled to sit down with her lovely daughters Sasha and Malia and learn about Amai Sally Mugabe who was a direct participant in the struggle, not mere beneficiaries like President Obama and his significant other.
Since President Mugabe is the current chair of the African Union, it appears that President Obama was advised not to attack him individually or Zimbabwe collectively, what President Obama did instead was for the second time in two years, comparing Madiba Nelson Mandela to the colonial pirate and war criminal George Washington.
President Obama stated, “When you look at Nelson Mandela — Madiba, like George Washington — forged a lasting legacy because they were willing to leave office and transfer power peacefully”.
What President Obama needs to be told is to compare Madiba to George Washington is not only worse than the persecution he endured during his 27 year imprisonment, but the equivalent of the late journalist and Zionist apologist Nat Hentoff referring to President Mugabe as the Hitler of Africa.
Some amongst the African family feel that President Obama’s callous remarks stem from a lack of exposure to our true history, it would be an error on our part if we overlook the influence of President Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham.
In 1968 Ms. Dunham served as the Assistant to the US Director of Lembaya Indonesia-Amerika, a bi-national organization financed the US Information Service and housed at the USAID office in Indonesia, Ms. Dunham taught English to Indonesian Government employees and businessman who were going to the US for Graduate studies, which was financed by USAID. A grant for Ms. Dunham’s graduate studies at the University of Hawaii were provided by the Asia Foundation, who according to US media sources in 1967 received covert funding from the CIA.
President Obama referred to his mother as “the dominant figure in my formative years the values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics”.
President Obama finally recognises that even Africa’s most subservient leaders to US-EU Imperialism feel that the President Clinton’s African Growth and Opportunity Act on its best day a paper tiger, however since he relishes at the opportunity to serve as their mouthpiece, felt the need to attack China on African soil.
President Obama said, “So I want to encourage everybody to do business with Africa and African countries and African countries should want to do business with every country. But economic relationships can’t simply be about building countries infrastructure with foreign labour or extracting Africa’s natural resources”.
We suppose President Obama considers Firestone’s efforts in Liberia, DeBeers and Oppenheimer’s history in Southern Africa and numerous Fortune 500 companies who have helped themselves to the Coltan in the Congo, positive examples of good investment that today’s entrepreneurs can learn from.
- Obi Egbuna Jr is the US Correspondent to the Herald and a US based member of the Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association. His e-mail is [email protected]
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