Features
Focus on Africa
The bottom line to my submission today is that Sub-Saharan Africa has been fundamental for global prosperity and the West will ensure Africans remain impoverished so that their economies can prosper.
When the Europeans set their colonial and imperial eyes on Africa, only one objective was on their mind; to plunder our natural resources even if it meant annihilating the ‘natives’.
To achieve this goal they had to draw long-term strategies to take care of their economies for eternity. Their strategies were to be unfurled over time, changing and being realigned with the changing times. First was to find what was on the continent that could benefit them.
The question was how to go about it. They thought we were savages that could be tamed by either a direct confrontation or by religious chicanery. So the Crown and the Church commissioned ships to sail to discover what they thought was the Dark Continent. They came with the Holy Bible in their armpits and told our people of an omnipotent God whose son died to save mankind who subscribed to their faith, not by idol worship.
While their missionaries got the people’s attention to their God, their explorers were busy looking for economic opportunities. Aside from natural resources they surmised that the fastest was the human resource for their plantations in the Americas and Caribbean. The Slave Trade was thus kick-started. And the Crown and the Church took commission on each slave delivered to those lands alive.
Meanwhile, the missionaries established schools to ‘educate’ the ‘natives’. They built forts and castles on our coastlines, armed with cannons, to ward off rival European adventurers. Many of these forts served as dungeons to keep slaves captive till the arrival of ships to cart them away. Some of the castles served as their schools.
Those ‘natives’ who opposed the Europeans were subjected to brutal attacks and raids on their lands. Asante resisted and fought the British, Ethiopia resisted and fought the Italians as did Libya. Hundreds of thousands of Zulus under King Chaka in Azania were slaughtered. Indeed, because they had superior firepower, the Europeans were able to subdue some of the people, except Ethiopia.
It must be stated quickly that while the Europeans were arriving by sea to sub-Sahara, Arabs were also making inroads by land through the northeast of the continent with their Quran in tow. This focus on Africa was from many directions.
The colonialists started to establish systems of governance in the areas they had taken roots in. Having indoctrinated our forebears into their religions, the next strategy was numeracy, not education, to make our people behave to suit their taste. The missionaries established mission schools on strict doctrinal principles.
I say numeracy because our forebears were already educated on the norms and nuances of our culture and appreciation in the fields of farming, fishing, governance and religion. The colonialists could be credited with bringing numeracy and formality though.
Having established their governance they then set to plundering our minerals and other natural resources like gold, timber, cocoa, coffee, iron, among others to enrich their economies back home.
They pretended to trade with us, but ended up dividing our ranks by pitting one ethnic group against the other.
Things began to change after our men went to fight their war in Burma, a war that had nothing to do with us in Africa, and realised that even the Europeans could die in battle. It became apparent that the Africans could manage their own affairs. This was the catalyst for independence agitation. Prior to this, the impression was that the Europeans were invincible against any adversary.
In effect, the colonialists have so far brought us religion, democracy of their type and lately LGBTQ+. We have embraced their religion and we are resisting and rejecting their LGBTQ+. Their democracy is not working on the continent the way they want it to.
Taking a step into the past, it was not easy for them to grant us independence. It was a struggle. The Mau Mau uprising saw hundreds of the people of Kenya murdered in cold blood by the British. Their women were raped and maimed. Is it not a paradox or irony that in spite of their disdain for the Black Race, these Europeans found attraction in our women’s genitalia?
The Germans also unleashed terror on the people of Namibia, killing the people for sport just as the Belgians and French did in the Congo Basin where millions of our people were killed. It is estimated that more than twenty million people of the Congo were murdered. Now, when only six million Jews were gassed by Hitler’s Third Reich the whole world has been brainwashed to call that a Holocaust.
What name would they give to the millions of Africans killed? I charge African leaders to find a nomenclature for the genocide against Africans. Then we can harp on this every minute of the day so it registers on their minds.
Having granted us independence, their strategy of keeping us in perpetual penury was kick-started. Neo Colonialism was triggered. They set up the Breton Woods institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pretend to lend us money when we are unable to balance our books. They give us conditions like cutting public jobs, infrastructure development, and devaluation of our currencies so they can buy our raw materials cheaply.
It becomes a never-ending cycle of dependence on these financial institutions to the detriment of our own progress as a people. Sadly, for the African continent the West finds it more convenient to deal with our corrupt leaders. They keep these leaders on a leash of blackmail to dance to their music. These leaders abound on the continent. When a country’s leaders are criticized by the West, that government is doing the right things for their people.
How many of us have noticed that all the Patriots who led our countries to independence were educated in the West? Having lived among their colonizers, these Africans saw the strengths and weaknesses in their systems and their people. This spurred them on to come home and fight to take their countries’ destinies into their own hands.
These were selfless, nationalistic and patriotic individuals whose vision was the political and economic emancipation of their people. The Francophone had the likes of Sekou Toure of Guinea, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, Modibo Keita of Mali, Francois Tombalbaye of Chad and Maurice Yameogo of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). We had Ahounmadegbe in Benin, Grunitzky in Togo, Patrice Lumumba in Congo and many others.
The Anglophones were Siaka Stephens of Sierra Leone, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Milton Obote of Uganda, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria, Kamuzu Banda of Malawi, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and our own Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. The list is endless. The Lusophones did not have things easy. Augustino Neto and Louis Cabral will tell you.
These were people who never amassed personal wealth for themselves. There are virtually little policy landmarks in their various countries that were not in the master plans of these visionary leaders. Everything they initiated was in the interest of their people. Their former colonialists realised they were losing out and had to revise their strategy.
First, the British came up with the Commonwealth of Nations. The French also had their Assimilation and France-Afrique. In spite of this they began to fund the opposition in these young countries to undermine their governments. Where there was no credible opposition, the military was courted to overthrow the regimes. The result was the spate of coups d’etat from the mid-sixties into the seventies.
I will soon do a five-part series on France and its atrocities in Africa, but let me state quickly that Dr Kwame Nkrumah gave Guinea under Sekou Toure ten million British pounds to get that country started after France took even the minutest of items as office pins when they were packing out of Conakry.
Any progressive leader in Africa must be taken out. In many cases, those who removed them did not fare any better with their paymasters. Once they found out they had been used by the West and the cloudiness cleared out of their eyes, the West was ready to take them out too. It has never been a win-win situation for Africa.
Today, the weak leaderships on the continent have allowed Western military bases on their soil. To me, this is colonisation all over again. Who is Ghana fighting to want an American military detachment in the country? France has military bases all over the continent under the guise of protecting their former colonies from Islamic Jihadist attacks. This falsehood flies in the face of our knowledge that these soldiers are on the continent to protect the loot of our natural resources by their surrogate companies.
And we have leaders who pander to the whims of these colonialist economic vultures who rather have the effrontery to tell us what to do with our lives. The least they can do is to back off and get their soldiers off our soil and territories. Left alone, we have the capacity to manage our own affairs.
Writer’s email address:
akofa45@yahoo.com
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
Features
The Prophet part 4
Antobam woke up with a terrible headache. He checked the time on his mobile phone, 2:30 am. “What! Where is the money?” He asked aloud. “Where are those girls? Why did I drink so much of that whisky? What were those two girls up to?” He sat up on the bed and noticed a bulge close to the pillow.
He lifted the mattress and picked up the newspaper wrappers with the neatly arranged notes. He saw the neatly written record of the value of the notes. No, those girls are not thieves.
“It was my mistake. If I hadn’t drank myself to sleep they would be here in bed with me, giving me the time of my life. Pretty girls, those two. And so loyal and honest. Tomorrow will be different.”
“I will not drink any whisky, and I will show them that I am a real man. Just then he heard the whispers. Very soon it will be time, they seemed to be saying. This is an important day.”
The gold dealer will bring lots of money. Give him some of the liquid to drink, and we will prepare him. He will do very big business, and he will give you anything you ask for. There will be more miracles and testimonies today.
Antobam smiled to himself. “I am going to be a very rich man in only a few days man. Money, power, and women. Wow! Antobam got to the grounds at 5, but there were quite a number of people waiting.
Mr Kwame Dofu was among them. He greeted them all, and they came around to shake his hand. “My brothers and sisters, I assure you that whatever your problem is, you will not go home without a solution.” Shouts of “Amen” “thank” you Osofo and “you are a true man of God” responded.
“Please take your seats, and start talking to the great one about whatever bothers you. Before the service is over, there will be a solution.” He waved Mr Dofu over, and went with him to the wooden structure that serves as a temporary office.
“My brother, I have done quite a lot of work on the issue you came to see me about. I have prepared a special, powerful package for you. Take this, drink it, and go back to your business. I want to see you in two weeks.”
Beaming with smiles, Mr Dofu drank the foul smelling liquid in two gulps, said a big thank you to Antobam and took his leave. “I believe you, Papa Osofo. And I assure you that I will reward you, big time.”
Just when Osofo Antubam finished with Mr Dofu, Mary and Suzzie went over to him. “Good Morning ladies. I am very sorry about yesterday. I drank too much of the stuff you gave me. Today will be different, I assure you.”
“Don’t worry, Osofo. Since you are now setting things up, our main concern now is to help you to put things in place, and to make you comfortable. We are always there to serve you. This morning, Osofo, we want to go and clean up your place, and prepare something nice for you when you close.
And before coming to church, we will pass by the bank and collect the forms. After you have signed them, the account will be open. You can check the payments anytime and, of course, issue cheques whenever you need money.”
“Suzzie and Mary, I am happy I picked the two of you from the very start. Listen, I will take good care of you, okay? Here is some money. Buy whatever you need for the errands you have mentioned.
And here is the key. Please come back as early as you can. You know I need you here.” The service was very lively. The lively singing of praise songs was followed by one and a half hours of testimonies.
Most of them related to money – big sales, new jobs and overdue debts paid. But there were also testimonies about healing. Barren women had taken seed, and, of course, several men who had lost their bedroom authority had regained them, to the delight of their partners.
As he had promised, Antobam preached for only 30 minutes, exhorting the congregation to attend church regularly, pay their tithes and offerings, and strictly follow his ‘directions’ for securing solutions to their problems.
After another round of praises during which the congregation danced to the floor to drop their offering, he closed the service, grabbed the big bowl which was full to the brim with money, and moved to his desk. A long queue was quickly formed at the desk.
Meanwhile, Mary and Suzzie had gone to give Antobam’s place quite a decent look. A new bedsheet and pillows, a secondhand carpet and four plastic chairs placed in the verandah had done the trick.
They also prepared two fish and chicken stews. After all these, they rushed to the National Savings Bank and collected application forms for opening current and savings accounts.
They joined the service a few minutes before the main session closed. Antobam looked round and saw, to his relief, Mary and Suzzie moving towards him. “Hello ladies. What have you been up to?” “Quite a bit, Osofo. We’ve just collected your drink. Here you are. We’ve made a few changes at your place. I think you will like it. You will also have something nice to eat. Now, here are the forms for the savings and current accounts.
If you will sign them, the bank will open the account. From today, we can pay all monies direct into the account.” ‘How can I thank you, ladies?” “You don’t need to thank us,” Suzzie said. “It is our duty to help a man of God succeed.” “Okay, my ladies, please take the offerings and count them as you did yesterday.
You can add the payments made after the consultations. Will it be possible to pay them into the account today?” “Yes,” Mary said. “The bank closes at four. If we leave here at three, we would be there just in time.”
The two friends started counting, as Osofo Antobam gave his clients his directions for solving their problems. On quite a few occasions he closed his eyes as if he was receiving direction from above on what to do.
But as the fetish priest at the Nana Kofi Broni shrine and the dwarfs had assured him, the solutions would certainly be provided. Having heard the huge testimonies earlier in the day, the clients parted with substantial sums of money in expectation.
By Ekow de Heer
Features
The issue of spiritual father in our churches
A student was supposed to go to school as the natural cause of events should be when universities or schools in general opens but this was not the case in a certain young man’s life.
He decided to postpone his trip because apparently he could not get to meet his pastor, his spiritual father. The question is, should this spiritual father die, will the young man’s life come to an end?
Does it mean in such an instance, he is going to curtail his education? This is a worrying trend in a lot of churches where the pastors use this notion of spiritual father to manipulate members especially the youth.
Some unscrupulous pastors utilise this spiritual father concept to have affairs with gullible young ladies in their churches.
Now with homosexuality gradually making inroads into some of the churches, young men are becoming vulnerable to pastors who have hidden homosexual inclinations.
This spiritual father concept is a Biblical concept that runs through both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. We see it in 2 Kings 4:12 where Gehazi is serving Elisha and also in the New Testament we see Paul relating to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:2 as a Spiritual Father.
In fact, the concept of spiritual father is a good thing if executed according to the word of God since it helps in guiding the younger ones. However, it becomes problematic when it is being executed by unscrupulous wolves in sheepskins as described by Jesus in Mathew 7:15.
I see it as a way that these unscrupulous so-called men of God maintain their hold on the congregants so they do not question their unchristian actions.
One of the things I have observed since I got born again many years ago is that, any pastor who often insists that members recognise that he is their spiritual father is a warning sign that he is doing some wrong things or is about to indulge in some wrong things.
A parent complained about how his daughter was being influenced by a pastor of the church she attends and how worried he was. I am sure there are many parents out there with stories to tell about how their wards are being made to see their pastors almost like their Jesus.
These pastors have managed to make their congregants so loyal to them and to believe in them so much that it is terrifying, as a parent.
The way things are going, an immediate intervention is required otherwise I am not a prophet of doom but I forsee unfortunate instances where parents burst into church auditoriums and star shooting some Pastors out of frustration and anger.
We cannot look on unconcerned as a society and allow unscrupulous fraudsters using the name of God to create problems for families. My recommendation is for a certain amount of regulation in order to bring some sanity in religious practices.
I agree that ordinarily regulating religious practices makes it a bit restrictive in terms of freedom of worship as enshrined in our constitution but given the way things are going, a bit of regulation will not be out of place.
Disgusting stuff are being attributed to some men of God. There are cases of manipulation of young ladies and sometimes married women by so called men of God and it is bringing Christianity and therefore the name of the Lord into disrepute.
Christianity is gradually losing its attractiveness as a result of the negative reportage resulting from disgusting stuff happening in Christian circles. The way some pastors have been manipulating congregants to take money from them leaves much to be desired to the point where they are convincing some of the youth to give out their phones. May God help us.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
