A friend of mine asked me recently whether we would see African unity in our lifetime. Sixty-eight years after Ghana became independent, and with the centenary of African independence coming up, we must wake to the sad realization that African unity would not come about in our lifetime, if ever.
My frank answer to my friend was that it would not be possible; the simple reason is that the interests at play on the African continent are too many, too diverse for these interests to allow an African unity to become a reality.
Indeed, even if the question is reduced to whether Ghana can ever achieve sustainable prosperity led by true nationalism, I would say that the answer is an emphatic ‘no’. I am not being pessimistic. I have a friend who is deeply supportive of illegal mining and to Chinese leadership of this practice in Ghana. The reason for this attitude is not far to seek; his entire personal economy is dependent on his Chinese contacts.
Put in contest, it becomes clear that if a full-blooded Ghanaian is prepared to betray his nation to pay for his bowl of ‘fufu and light soup’, and for this factor would betray his very nation, we cannot blame others on the continent who are prepared to do the bidding of their international masters to betray the African dream.
If, however, African unity would remain a pipe-dream for centuries to come, how would we be able to improve the fortunes of this continent?
It starts by realizing that we would need to trim our expectations to a more achievable target. Instead of pulling Africa together in one direction, we should focus on pulling ‘small Ghana’ together in a more positive direction. And by this, I do not mean that we should build more skyscrapers, roads, towers and shiny hospitals and schools.
Rather, we should focus on more positive and achievable targets, such as behavioral change at all levels.
By behaviorial and attitudinal change, I mean that we should discourage and work together, actively, in a bi-partisan manner, to end the practice of hounding political leaders like criminals anytime there is a change of government.
Recently, I was deeply saddened when I read somewhere that a gentleman who had occupied some kind of position in the erstwhile Akufo-Addo Administration, had been stopped at the airport. At the time he was detained, the main suspicion was that he is believed to have embezzled some public funds.
From that, we can all presume that a future date, all those serving in government today would necessarily have to be prisoners in Ghana for a number of months (if not years) one governmental power slips into the hands of another set of politicians.
This practice of declaring all governmental appointees as criminals, would have to stop. In its place, we need to strengthen institutions like the Auditor-General and the Judiciary to do the work they have to do.
I was similarly distressed when I read the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Torkornoo, had been subjected to actual, physical body searching, on her way to attend an investigatory panel chaired by a colleague on the Supreme Court, Gabriel Pwamang. And the failure of a notable individual like Mr. Pwamang, (for whom I have a lot of respect) to speak out strongly against such abuse, in my mind, is a better testimony to why we are failing, than any foreign influence affecting Ghana’s (or Africa’s) progress.
This is where we are failing; in our inability to chart a course that makes us an admirable nation.
Many years ago, I had a friend called ‘Bob Cole’ (after the famous actor) who entertained a deadly fear of the Ghana Police (at that time it was a ‘Force’) Service. His fear had a basis; personnel of that force, during the days when the late John Jerry Rawlings held revolutionary sway in Ghana, had arrested him and given him brutal beatings, before letting him go, for what offense, he never knew till the day he died.
Bob hated the police, with reason.
That was nearly forty years ago. Today, as a lawyer, I am representing clients who have been subjected to the same level of assaults by the officers of the same Ghana Police Service. And, all indications are that even if they are able to free themselves of the spurious charges against them, they would never be able to get redress for the assaults they were given by police personnel.
In forty years, the attitude of personnel of the Ghana Police Service to round up their fellow Ghanaians and subject them to inhumane treatment, has not changed.
It is these things that militate against the progress of nations like Ghana, and by extension, Africa.
And not African unity.
(The above article is published under the column Periscope Depth of Monday, 3rd August, 2025 in the Daily Searchlight).
