Obama Inauguration: The message to Africa
Barking out the orders
The Obama circus continues apace and I already have my cage of seriously abused animals ready to perform antics for a paying audience as I crack my whip and bark out incomprehensible orders.
Well, really, I need to find out how to work my trusty but old combo Video Cassette Recorder/Television set system and make a recording of the event because I would be out at work when he raises his hand to be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America.
One interesting attraction in this circus should be the gaggle of inveterate nincompoops that have been seized from the wilderness of the Heart of Africa [1] where the gigantism of the organism does not necessarily lend itself to civility, civilization or civil behaviour.
Only Ghana deserves an invite
As it stands, Nigeria is sending a delegation [2] to the Obama Inauguration, I am not sure if they would have front-row seats but if they do, part of President Obama’s speech needs to home in on Africans without equivocation and euphuism but enough to upbraid with obloquy.
The only African delegation worthy of being present by invitation and by qualification is Ghana [3] where elections were held without resorting to selfish small-mindedness, where the will of the people might not have been decisive but was conclusive enough for those associated with the incumbent government to cede power to a winning opposition without rancour.
The erstwhile Ghanaian leader gave way to his successor and did not like other rotten African leaders who try to evolve into interfering kingmakers descend into hubris and arrogance which prevents them from recognising that other citizens can have a go at leadership and attempt to do a better job.
Time to talk seriously
The politics of prejudice, the preponderance of tribal affiliation and the corruption of the electoral process through gerrymandering, vote rigging, the purchase of franchise or sheer incompetence needs to be given short shrift.
The kindred of colour deserves that the truth must not be spoken in leasing, like the old Jewish saying proffers and I paraphrase, we have the brotherhood of closeness to hear each other enough for how we deal with strangers on serious issues.
So as President Barack Obama gives his speech, the figureheads from Africa who have flown out for a junket in their proud flowing gowns looking for handouts of American favour because a black man enters in the White House should be shamed into recognising that they represent the failure of leadership in Africa to address the problems of Africans in instituting change and offering hope for a better future.
Do not mince the words
They should be made to realise that they do not deserve to be in the august presence of people who really do believe in public service and can inspire others to greater things.
The self-interest that has lured them to seek photo opportunities at the inauguration should be no better than having them as circus caricatures, held in stocks and pelted with rotten cabbages, rotten eggs and decorated in bovine excrement; if I had my way, the entertainment value should be found in putting them in dunking stools.
Meanwhile, Ghana should be invited to enter into the commune of the President and exalted as the kind of example worthy of a relationship with America especially an America lead by a black man.
The speech to Africa
His speech must not mince words as he says, “I am proud of my African heritage, but the leaders of Africa are figures of shame and an embarrassment, being in positions of responsibility and privilege but not rising to the call of duty to lead their people to a place of hope and better aspirations.”
“I seek Africans I can call brothers and sisters who walk in honesty, in dignity, in honour with a sense of responsibility and duty, who see the suffering of their people and rather than revel in the bombastic audacity of impunity have risen to the challenge to reach out to the audacity of hope for their people.”
Ghana is a beacon of hope
The example that President Obama represents to Americans in pragmatism, level-headedness, the independence from the politics of self-interest is attainable in Africa and within the ability of willing people who aspire to leadership to exercise with humanity, humility and a sense of responsibility.
As Ghana as shown us, the people are not alien to Africa, they are diverse like many other countries in Africa, they have similar demographies and differences but have refused to exploit them for personal gain.
They have refused to make politics a do-or-die affair and have been willing to recognise the abilities of political rivals without demonising them or brutalising them with the state apparatus or the abuse of legal process – Ghanaians are Africans of great possibilities and Africans can aspire to be like Ghanaians and with that also capture the essence of what President Barack Obama represents.
I wish President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America Godspeed and the Africans would hopefully have learnt the right lessons to take home and work on.
Sources
[1] ::. Heart of Africa .:: Ministry of Information and Comunication, Nigeria
[2] allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Obama - Maduekwe Leads Country's Delegation to Inauguration
Web logs by Akin Akintayo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License.