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Opinions of Wednesday, 9 August 2023

Columnist: Kwafo

Niger on our minds - Africans in the diaspora outraged

A file photo A file photo

The ECOWAS States have truly shown to its people and the world at large that their mandate has never been to empower black people to stand up for what is right for all or what we all believe in, rather the leadership of ECOWAS has erred in a grand style in giving the Junta in Niger an ultimatum that was only aimed at pleasing its colonial masters, France

African youths across the board may seem very disenfranchised but united when it comes to the patriotic alliance to their identity as Africans and their quest for equal rights for all.

However, the older generation of Africans (pre-internet times) don’t seem to share the same sentiments because their generation still wants to hold onto the status quo that gives them false credibility while they remain blind to the geo-political strategies playing out around them, because they can’t seem to be bothered to learn about real-time happenings around the globe that many of the youth today follow thanks to the internet.

Democracy can’t be good to a people that do not have the same infrastructures that the writers of the democratic constitution have. Think about it, l know a particular song that l dance to each time l hear it, now l want you to dance to that same song without playing it for you, and that’s democracy explained. Can Africans say the same to Europeans /Americans when it comes to the sounds of African drums? (Though we all know they can’t dance).

Today, Africans in the Diaspora who are following events happening in Sub-Saharan Africa, are likening it to the Arab Spring packaged in Military uniform. From Guinea, Mali, Burkina-Faso, and Niger, all the military men and women involved in taking power, are doing so because they are seeing the cry of the African youth, whilst aging leaders enrich themselves with no care for the people they lead.

Western nations, crying foul and pretending to want what’s best for the African, and yet having never lived the African life is a joke, trying to dictate to the African how the African should dance, when the African drums teach the African otherwise is where the conflict begins.

Until the philosophy that forces the Africans to try to live the Western-style democracy is reviewed there would always be coups because African states don’t have the structures that oil the European democracy for Europeans on the African continent.

Ghana is one country that is trodding carelessly on the edges of an Army revolt, or coup d’etat, with all the tail, tell signs riddled in newspapers and media spaces continent-wide.

The chatter in Ghana is so deafening that one begins to wonder if the leadership in Ghana is actually paying attention or too busy amassing individual wealth at alarming rates. Ironically, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Holland are all beneficiaries to corrupt money from the West African corrupt leaders who hide their monies in Banks in their respective countries, buy expensive real estate properties in their countries and even stash raw cash in safes across Europe.

What happened in Niger is also a wake-up call to other West African states, and Ghana leads the pack as the most probably for such a revolt, due to the atrocities created under the current government under Nana Akuffo Addo Danquah, who seems to be overseeing the worst corruption the country has ever witnessed since its independence.

The people of Ghana, most especially the youth, on various platforms across the online space have Niger on their minds with some calling on the Ghana Army to grow balls and courage to save the country from the grips of Western puppets who lead them.

Ghana indeed is not a poor country yet its leaders would rather make the masses poor so that they can continue to dance to Western tunes, rather than embrace the African drum beats that unite all and embraces collective progress. Word to the wise is surely not in the north. Ghana must rise again.