A GNA Feature by Hannah Asomaning
Accra, July 10, GNA - The struggle for true emancipation and independence of Africa is really not over yet. Indeed, Africa would discover the key to its socio-economic development within the fight for true emancipation.
Western cultures, ideologies, philosophies and development paradigm continued to guide every facet of the life of Africans, in that African countries essentially had imported the State apparatus, religion, education, hardware, politics and even economics.
Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhene of the Essikado Traditional Area, made the statement during the 2004 Emancipation Lecture. This discovery of the African key to socio-economic development is in line with the project dubbed "Joseph Project" aimed at facilitating the return of over 30 million Africans in the Diaspora to Ghana and the whole of Africa.
The "Joseph Project", based on the biblical story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, but later became the Prime Minister of Egypt and eventually reconciled with his brothers, reunited with his family members and saved them from hunger, would be launched in Ghana next year.
"We need to examine and re-examine the factors that led us into enslavement, colonialism and neo-colonialism in a native mindset instead of in borrowed or imported mindsets so that we could fully appreciate the forces and agencies that made us fight wars against ourselves and blinded us to the common enemy," Nana Nketia, who is also a History Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, said.
Perhaps it is the impact of the slave trade that has influenced the attention received by a light skin or a fair coloured person in Ghana or in Africa or perhaps even in the world.
Reactions from people when they see a light skinned person sometimes referred to as "Obroni" in Ghana, can be overwhelming. Somehow, when the "Obronis" are in town they feel very much honoured than in their own countries.
It is particularly interesting when people from the Diaspora visit Africa or Ghana. Many are not able to distinguish between an African-American in the Diaspora and a white person. For a lot of people once the person is not from Africa he or she is "Obroni". The attention received by the light skinned people is so open that for some blacks, they should bleach their skin to be fair or light coloured to get the attention they need from people.
Ms Josmar Roman, a member of Lifeline Expedition, a Christian non-governmental organization dedicated to educating people about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade from Latin America, sharing her experience said: "Sometimes I don't know where I belong if I am walking in town and people call me Obroni."
Ms Roman is very fair with blonde hair and it amazes her how people call her "Obroni".
"In America, I am seen as a black person, and when I am in Ghana, people call me Obroni. I wonder if people know the difference between a white and me. I get the feeling that they think we have money and they keep asking you for money because you have a lighter skin," Josmar said. That goes to establish what Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Diasporean Relations, has been saying about the objectives of the "Joseph Project."
"We must see our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora as part of us. We must stop calling them "Obroni" and refer to them as "Ayenmi", which means my brother. We must always welcome them with a big smile and an Akwaaba."
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said the objective of the Project was to make the 21st century that of the African by reconciling African people so that their positive spirit and strength would be released in a focused manner.
Ms Roman said she was hurt when people treat the issue about slavery lightly because African-Americans were the result of the slave trade that happened many years ago.
"When I am in America, the first thing I think about when making a decision is my colour. It has an impact in the everyday lives of African-Americans," she said.
She asked how people could achieve their lot or could behave well when they were kept as slaves for 200 years and released only 50 years ago. The whites have had centuries to develop their country and themselves.
Ms Roman said while whites could afford to attend the best schools like Harvard most blacks could not.
According to Ms Roman, there was the belief that the whiter one was the wealthier he or she was; saying that belief was really having an impact on Africans.
"It is important that we trace our history, know our past and build on it for a brighter future," she said.
Ms Roman is not the only person with the view that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade had had an impact on her. There are a lot of Africa-Americans out there who feel the same way.
"We need to learn more about the slave trade, find out the roles of our ancestors in its perpetration; use it as a basis to understand our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora the more, and find out how to turn that tragedy into something more positive for our country, our Continent and our people, both here and in the Diaspora," Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said at the launch of this year's Emancipation Day celebration under a sub-theme: "Retracing Our Steps-The Path to Development."
However, in Ghana, it seems that it is just a few people, think about the slave trade or treat it with any seriousness.
The "Joseph Project" would start off with a gathering in Ghana of Africans in the Diaspora and chiefs from the West African coast, whose predecessors were active in facilitating the slave trade to appease the returnees on behalf of their ancestors.
Another assembly of chiefs would follow this from places where people were hunted as chattel slaves and the identification of "accepted" leaders of Africans in the Diaspora leading to a durbar of African peoples.
The Project would be climaxed with a healing concert involving big stars in the Diaspora and Ghana in Accra on July 1 2007. The healing concert is seen as a first step to making peace and harmony with Africans in the Diaspora
The "Joseph Project" seeks to encourage every African in the Diaspora to embark on a pilgrimage to Ghana at least once in their lifetime, then subsequently as tourists and eventually to invest in the country.
All slave forts, castles and other landmarks would be developed to offer different and unique experiences that every African in the Diaspora would be eager to experience.
The Government intends to introduce a Diaspora visa, which when granted after an initial visit would allow holders free entry into Ghana.
Another thing to see under the Project is the conversion of the James Fort Prison in Accra into a museum dedicated to Africans, who were taken as slaves to the Diaspora, Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said. "We will build on this slave fort, from which our peoples were shipped out probably never to return; a museum dedicated to those Africans from all walks of life that triumphed over slavery and continue to triumph over those, who sought to enchain them...we will build a monument to the true Joseph."
The museum would be used to demonstrate the African excellence, the strength of those Africans in the Diaspora, who rose and continued to rise far above their chains to display excellence.
In the Fort, a state of the art exhibition of the salve trade that would showcase the hunting of the captives, through the march to the coast, onto the plantation of the Americas and the continuing struggle for civil rights would be mounted.
The cells and dungeons of the slave fort, which had now been turned into a prison, exhibited the life stories of the biblical Joseph, who triumphed over extreme adversity.
It is expected that Ghanaians and Africans living in the Diaspora would draw inspiration upon entering the fort as it would not only tell the story of man's inhumanity to man but also tell the continual struggle for freedom in Africa.
