Friday 5 November 2010

The new lords in town and my quest for the Authentic Africa- Rashweat Mukundu

As I continue my long and winding journey to attend an African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) NGO Forum meeting on freedom of expression in Banjul, The Gambia, my journey has taken me through Ghana, the venerable cradle of Africa’s nationalist movement and first African independent state. I last visited Ghana 6 years ago, then I was intrigued by the physical presence of the Institute of African Studies at Ghana University. It is right at the entrance of the University, and is the first thing you see. It is the enduring testimony of Kwame Nkrumah’s: “seek ye the political kingdom first and everything will be added unto you”, only that there are now new lords in town, and far from the situation Nkrumah would have dreamed of.

Having a whole day to seat and do nothing in Accra I tried my luck at a transit VISA to be freed from the prison that is Kotoko International airport. Kotoko international airport is right in the thick of things in Accra and a walkable distance to nearby shops. As I strolled into town, a familiar sound of sirens and blue lights became audible and later visible from a distance, increasingly getting closer. My thinking was these are the usual chiefs of the city, Hon Vice Presidents and Ministers. If it was the Chief of Chiefs himself, then I am sure to have seen a kilometer long line of mean-looking outriders, hovering helicopters and a whole battalion of soldiers. As the single police bike and three 4x4s got closer, the confusion increased so much that I had to jump out of the way into a ditch lest I was hit by a taxi that dangerously weaved its way out of the oncoming blue lights. Lo and behold sat two Chinese men in the Toyota Fortuner that was sandwiched in the middle by two blue lights cars and the motorbike in front. The Men were not dressed formally but wore T shirts and seemed to be scrutinizing the many new buildings sprouting in Accra. The link cannot be lost. Within minutes the spectacle was gone and I intently focused on which direction to take amid the irritating humid sun and noisy honing by taxis enticing me for a ride at a price. I finally settled for Chris, simply because he was alone. I wanted someone I could talk, ask abot Ghana, life and a favour to take me to a peoples market and possibly buy myself an authentic Ghanaian kente shirt. It was the quest for the authentic Africa, the fulfillment of the image of Ghana that I have always had and one that I always look for when in town. Hence started the debate and disappointment. First Chris was not that good at English, and as we struggled at what I really wanted, he had one thing in mind to showcase to me the latest mall in town. All my attempts to explain that I wanted to go to a peoples market fell on deaf ears, “It nice, Shoprite, Mr. Price, yu see der, all of dem, let gooo let gooo” he insisted. I relented and headed to Accra shopping mall, a gigantic South African modeled shopping mall, that exhibits the growing economic and cultural imperialism of South Africa beyond doubt.

Chris was so happy to share with me the new success stories of Ghana, the shopping mall and the new buildings that the China man in the Toyota Fortuner was intently looking at. The Accra I knew is no longer recognizable as the new developments take shape, new buildings are at every corner, the latest cars, and yet the same vendors I last saw years ago remain in their place. One gets a foreboding feeling that amidst the changes that are blinding Chris, my taxi driver; nothing really is changing in the lives of ordinary Ghanaians. The same poverty, the same daily struggles, elections, new leaders, life goes on and years mingle into history, into the past, like they were never separate. The new lords in town can now afford to move under tight security and possibly remind, more vividly, of how far Ghana has moved from Nkrumah into into the hands of a new master, the Chinese. This is not to say China has no right to invest where it wishes, but the nature of the investment seems not to have a people development approach. China’s relations exhibit this irony, of too much investment whose result are devoid of ending poverty. The workers building the new buildings are Chinese, the contractors Chinese and i am sure the money is going back to China. This and the disappointment of failing to buy a kente shirt led me to track back to my base.
“I told yu its good haaa” said Chris, I simply nodded my head, my mind drifting so far away.
//End//

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