“In many countries (in Africa) the wrong kind have made it to leadership. they see power for the sake of power and for their own aggrandisement rather than a real understanding of the need to use power to improve their countries. The quality of the leaders, the misery they have brought to their people and my inability to work with them to turn the situation round are very depressing, unless we find a way of getting them to focus on resolving conflicts and turn to key issues of economic and social development, the effort that we are all making will be for naught”.
__Busumuru Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United nations
The Afternoon with H. E. Kofi Annan was beautifully and effectively jointly choreographed by Ambassador Dr. William G. M. Brandful (MOBA ‘69) as the Master of Ceremonies (MC) and Dr. Andrew Ananie Arkutu (MOBA ‘55) as the Chairman. Dr. Brandful with 35 year working career as a Ghanaian Foreign Service Officer, is a former Head Prefect of the School and the son of Rev. W.G.M. Brandful, the fearless former Headmaster of the School who strongly opposed the formation of a branch of the Ghana Young Pioneers on the Kwabotwe Hill. His stand cost him his position as Headmaster and was ignominiously dismissed by Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP administration. Dr. Arkutu, a qualified medical doctor and a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Naturally, the Ebusuapanyin, Capt. Paul Forjoe (MOBA ’73) welcomed the guests to this august ceremony which has been slated to be an annual affair. Capt. Forjoe worked for 35 years as a commercial pilot.
The main activity of the afternoon was the speech by Busumuru. His speech traced the political history and the African leadership over four periods. Busumuru started his speech recollecting the fact that as a member of the MOBA ’57 Year Group, the year he finished form five at Mfantsipim, i.e. 1957, was also the year Ghana gained independence. Independence brought with it immense hope to Ghana and Africa and how heroic young African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdel Nasser who were below forty years of age prevailed over western colonialism and showed a bold and articulate face of Africa to the whole world. Ghana became a trailblazer and a mere three years after Ghana’s independence, seventeen other African countries achieved independence.
1960 was identified as the time of the first wave as it was the year the world recognised the growing vitality of the African identity and aspiration. The continent was on the cusp of a promising new future in which Africans would be masters of their own destiny after decades of colonial rule. That was the time post-colonial governments sought to unify the strength of the independence movements through the consolidation of economic and political powers. Unfortunately, after a promising start, Africa was hit by the second wave – the Second World War exacerbated by the Cold War. The African continent became a battlefield characterised by civil wars, tyrannical military rule, human rights violations and deep economic stagnation as the rival superpowers sided with various regimes and rebel movements, fueling a string of proxy wars in some cases and prolonging existing conflicts in others. The resulting effect was that the political context fueled corruption, decreased food production, massive indebtedness due to huge trade imbalance, economic mismanagement and squander of resources. The sad fact was that, above all, basic human rights for which Africans have struggled against were trampled upon by most post-colonial regimes.
The saving grace was that when the Cold War came to an end, it ushered in a period of hope in Africa which characterised the third wave. Many of the civil wars which had been influenced by the Cold War came to an end, democracy gained ground and many African countries were democratically elected. By the end of the millennium, donors had forgiven much of the burden of debt that had saddled the countries of Africa for decades and governments across the continent improved their economic management capacity by the early 2000s.
With the economy managed better, private investment boomed in many countries gradually eclipsing foreign aid. The continent became involved in setting global development goals such as achieving universal education, fighting preventable diseases, and providing safe drinking water which resulted in achieving huge strides in those areas. The combination of changes set the stage for the wrap of aggregate economic growth of 5 to 6% for 15 years across the continent from the turn of the millennium and the 40% fall in extreme poverty since 1990. While the hope is there, Busumuru cautioned that the continent cannot rest on its laurels as he sees a fourth wave gathering momentum.
The period of fast economic growth came to an end in 2014 with the fall in commodity prices only for the continent to realise that the fruits of growth had not been invested wisely. The continent also continues to be over-reliant on its raw materials despite years of talk at the regional and national levels of the importance of reducing this dependence. The crisis also revealed that the previous economic growth had not be inclusive and had in fact exacerbated the deep inequalities that characterize our continent. Busumuru expressed alarm at the fact that the poor economic picture is mirrored by the political one as many countries on the continent seemed to be backsliding on democratic gains. A growing number of presidents are changing their constitutions and subverting elections to remain in power indefinitely.
Observations by international watchdogs indicate that democratic freedoms seem to be in retreat. Although elections are organised by governments, many of them lack integrity. Many of the elections have also paradoxically exacerbated identity politics as unscrupulous politicians pander to ethnic and religious grievances and prejudices to mobilise votes in their favour.
Busumuru examined the serious nature of these worrying trends on the continent judging by the fact of the size and expectations on our youthful population. The population of the continent will grow to two billion by 2050 and four billion by the end of the century. This demographic boom can be a blessing as well as a curse depending on the policies the continent adopts. However on the current trends, Busumuru believes there are grounds for concern.
E-mail: macgyasi@ug.edu.gh
By Kwame Gyasi