Why Ghana?

Unbeknownst to many of her own children, Ghana is quite blessed.  The rains flow abundantly in rainy season, apparently ignoring the logging of 20% of our trees annually.  Not to mention, Ghana has known peace for the past two decades, despite the insistent turmoil in neighboring countries and the increasing oppression of the people right here in Ghana. And, needless to say, of a country previously called the Gold Coast, she is well endowed with the minerals and food that help to make Africa the bread basket of the world.

Yet the people are clamouring to get out, standing in cheese lines at the various foreign embassies, paying as much as $150 for an application with less than a 10% chance of acceptance and a no-money-back policy.  So they always ask, why Ghana?  Why would we come here?  A question you will, no doubt, ask yourself from time to time, after living here a few years.

I came to Ghana after I happened upon the flag.  The red, gold and green with the Black Star in the center, a symbol of  Pan African ideals and  a welcome mat if I ever saw one. That is why I choose Ghana, for the same reason my predecessors choose her, she was seen as a leader in Africa and a lighthouse for all dignified Africans drowning in a sea of subjugation.

History reveals that Kwame Nkrumah, the founding father of Ghana, warmly received the likes of such freedom fighters as Malcolm X, W. E. Dubois, and George Padmore, the latter two being amongst the first repatriates from the Diaspora.  It is also noted that his tutelage under Emperor Haile Selassie I, gave direction to his flame and fuelled his campaign for a free Africa. It was from Ethiopia that he borrowed the colors of our flag and from Marcus Garvey that he borrowed the Black Star. The stage was set for Ghana to lead Africa forward to her sovereignty.  All who could see had their eyes on Ghana.

History also reveals, that  America, in cohorts with Britain, organized and carried out the coup that overthrew Nkrumah and attempted to abort the progress made during his reign.  Through sinister means and meticulous calculations, the neo-colonialists undermined Nkrumah’s leadership and sabotaged his achievements.  So effective were their methods that they didn’t have to resort to fabricating civil unrest to achieve their goal of absent rule.  Instead they empowered corrupt stooges and attacked our economy, making dependents out of a wealthy nation.  Even today, with gold reaching historical heights, cocoa (chocolate) in insatiable demand, Ghana, the biggest world supplier of both, is classified as a Highly Indebted Poor Country.  Thanks to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and our own elected officials, Ghana’s masses teeter on the brink of poverty or wade in the pool of scarcity (not a nice city), though our land yields many of the world’s most sought after riches.

So why Ghana?  Not only did I chose Ghana, but I left from the spring board of America, that being Atlanta.  Noteworthy because, though I was born in New York, there was a migration of Africans forward to the south.  After years of migrating up north for better living, the crime and the clutter started to lend appeal to the south.  Atlanta, for many Africans living in America, represents the Black capital.  Another phenomenon worth examining considering its previous claim to fame was that of a major trading post for African captives.  Many of us here have concluded that it was only natural for us to retrace our paths. The record clearly states that captives brought to America, were taken primarily from West Africa and channelled in through the south, where they worked the plantations.    Though my own ancestors were shuttled to the Caribbean and possibly from Nigeria or Senegal, the magnetic field of kindred souls, whose indelible mark remained for those of us who would never give up our search for our home nor accept slavery as a way of life, served as the north star.  I, like many other repatriates, came to Ghana looking for the freedom and justice that is Ghana’s motto.   I came here because it is here I belong, at least for this part of the journey.  I intend to continue in, having re-entered the gates of Zion and crashed down the doors of no return, to explore this vast continent and lay claim to my inheritance, but  Ghana is not a bad place to start.  Don’t fight the feeling, the draw is legit.  Though challenges exist, this is the gateway and a most appropriate place to begin.