Africans from all walks of life, in diaspora,
across the African continent and from the biggest cities to the remotest
hamlets were equally excited like the way most Americans were over the
historical presidency of Barack Hussein Obama on the night of the November 4,
2008 when he changed the course of the political history of the American nation
by becoming the first black person to win the White House and to break the
age-long racial barrier. Africans for the first time saw a great hope in this
historical event that happened in America thousands of miles away from the
African continent for two major reasons. Firstly, they were witnessing the
enthronement of a black person in American into the highest political office in
the only superpower nation of our 21st century world. Secondly, Barack Obama as
a black American has a very direct and a recent African descent, Barack Obama
was born to a Kenyan student that came to study in America.
Many important questions today are agitating the
minds of most Africans about the presidency of Barack Obama in relation to
Africa, a continent that has experienced to date the major destructive impacts
of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, European colonization of Africa, many failed
democracies, several military coups, decades of deadly civil wars, unspeakable genocides,
terrible famines, mammoth droughts, economically devastating brain drain to the west, refugees that were
displaced by civil unrests, massive poverty, HIV/AIDS at record high epidemic levels, bad
governments that are riddled with corruption, huge resource mismanagement and
the ongoing menace of terrorism in the name of the religion of Islam in
Nigeria, Mali, Somalia, Libya and Algeria.
What is the true significance of the presidency
of Barack Obama to Africa as a continent that is behind the rest of the world
in this 21st century in terms of all the important human development
indicators? What important legacies will President Barack Obama leave behind
for Africans, the African leaders and the unborn Africans at the end of his
historical presidency? How will African historians describe his presidency in
the nearest future? Will his presidency be a true blessing to the African
continent or not?
The political vision of the presidency of Barack
Obama can be summed up in two sentences: “The destiny of Africa is in the hands
of Africans to either make or mar. Africans should take the lead and then the America
will support". During the President Barack Obama’s first historical visit
to Africa, he highlighted the major challenges that have held the Africa
continent down in his address to the Ghana National Assembly in Accra.
President Barack Obama identified the various obstacles that have
prevented Africa from experiencing any tangible progress in this century.
President Barack Obama summed up the Africa’s problems in this way. "I will focus on four areas
that are critical to the future of Africa and the entire developing world:
democracy; opportunity; health; and the peaceful resolution of conflict." President Obama went further and was more
specific. "Repression takes many
forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people
to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the
economy to enrich themselves, or police that can be bought off by drug
traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims
20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person
wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of
brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the
time for it to end.” President Barack Obama concluded on this note "Development depends upon good governance. That is the
ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long.
That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential. And that is a
responsibility that can only be met by Africans"
President Barack Obama this week on his second
visit to Africa that took him to the nations of Senegal, South Africa and
Tanzania laid down clearly the vision of his presidency for Africa in these
words “If somebody says they want to
come build something here, are they hiring African workers? If somebody says
that they want to help you develop your natural resources, how much of the
money is staying in Africa? If they say that they're very interested in a
certain industry, is the manufacturing and value-added done in Africa? President Barack Obama then announced
the new $7 billion program titled the “African Power Plan” that will double the
availability of electricity to be nations of the sub-Saharan Africa. He urged the
African leaders to emulate the enduring legacies of Nelson Mandela of South
Africa. President Barack Obama also promised to invite the African leaders from
the sub-Sahara African region to a summit in Washington, DC next year to plan
the new proposed American-African Partnership Project.
The new
Obama’s vision for Africa that is based on the doctrine of equal partnership with
America has the potential of moving the Africa forward into the working
democracies, good governments, economic prosperity and emerging economies of
the new 21st century that are truly capable of meeting and
addressing this continent’s ongoing huge challenges and turning the African
continent into one of the global economic powers in our 21st century
human universe. Time alone will tell.
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