WHEN I think of Ghana the first things that usually come to my mind are Kwameh Nkrumah, kente cloth, kenke (I prefer Ga kenke). I would have loved to talk about why I love the three above-mentioned but today "all eyes are on Ghana" not for its rich culture and place in history and in the world today but because it is laying to rest Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, its 3rd President under the IV Republic and 13th leader since independence (1957). Mills had died on 24th July 2012.
Like everyone else, I was shocked to hear his demise. Although death is the
unavoidable end for humans, it always catches us unexpectedly.
The
long line of Ghanaians queuing past his remains, messages on social media, RIP t-shirts printed for the occasion, people dressed in black and
red to bid their leader farewell tell a lot about the respect they had for the
man who was widely regarded as the prince of peace "Asumdwoehene".
I didn’t
personally know Mills, but one think I will always remember him for is his soft-spokeness,
very poised and above all his determination
never giving up on his dream of becoming head of state, losing two bids for the highest position in 2000
and 2004.
I didn't say a word about Mills on this blog until this morning when I noticed in a story a statement Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan made when talking to
the media at the Kotoka airport on Thursday after his arrival for the funeral.
Jonathan said: “The past four to five years had been very
bad for Africa in terms of the death of sitting presidents”. It got me thinking as i wanted to tweet something about it.
I thought a determining factor had to come in, like a milestone in Africa which all countries share despite all our differeces. Bringing up the African Union when all eyes are on Ghana seems normal considering the role Osagyefo (Redeemer) Kwameh Nkrumah played in establishing the Organization of African Unity (OAU) .
2002 is the year in which the Organization of the African Unity (OAU) metamophosed into the African Union (AU). This date is supposed to be the begining of the African renaissance towards unity as basically, all African countries agree on the need for the continent to unite. How and when that UNITY will happen is another story.
I thought to myself stopping at just this statement will be an excercise in self-censorship, “restrictive” in a way. Ghanians are not the only people that have mourned their leader recently.
And for me, recalling the leaders that died these past years was a way of telling Ghana, a country i love so much: "You are not alone, Our hearts are with you. We know what it is we've been through such a tragedy in the past".
My first tweet was the following, calling for inputs from my followers.
After receiving lost of feedback. This is the list of African leaders that died since Organization of the African Unity (OAU) became the African Union in 2002.
Togo's Eyadema Gnassingbe 5th February 2005
Zambia’s Levy Patrick Mwanawasa 19th August 2008
Guinea’s Lansana Conte 22nd December 2008
Gabon's Omar Bongo Odimba 8th June 2009
Guinea Bissau's Joao Bernado Nino Vieira 2nd March 2009, assassinated
Nigeria's Umaru Yar’Adua 5th May 2010
Libya's Muammar Khadaffi 20 October 2011, executed (some doubt he could still be considered President when he died)
Guinea Bissau, Malan Bacai Sanha 9th January 2012
Ghana's John Evans Atta-Mills 24th July 2012
The link with the OAU/AU is a shoutout to the father of Ghana's independence Nkrumah who strongly believed in African Unity.
Ghana was 1stsub-Saharan African countries to attain independence from European colons and it played a major role in helping other sister African countries attain independence.
This my token to the sad moment which concerns not only Ghana and its people but all Africans considering Ghana’s role throughout history from the Ghana Empire to Independence in Africa to becoming one of very few beacons of Democracy on the continent.
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