Veep launches book on Obama

Accra, Aug. 6, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday observed that Ghana's diverse ethnic, religious and political mix must serve as a melting pot to wield the nation in unison and not a route to discord, strife and anarchy.

He said Ghana could draw some lessons from the American political system, which had enabled a black person to get to the topmost position of President, despite the imperfections of the structure. "Our religious and ethnic diversity should be a source of strength, not a cause of division," he emphasised.

The Vice President made the observation when he launched a book entitled "Barrack Obama - Africa's Gift to the World" authored by Daasebre (Dr) Oti Boateng, Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional area, in Accra on Thursday.

The book chronicles the life story of Mr Barack Obama as the first black President of the US.

It also dilates on the political, social and intellectual factors that have shaped Mr Obama's life and how the younger African generation could derive powerful lessons from the US President's historic achievement.

A subject matter of the 43-page mesh of scholarly articles, speeches and pictorials, is the lesson that Africans, particularly the youth, could draw from Mr Obama's successes and use that as an inspiration in overcoming the challenges confronting the continent. Vice President Mahama asked Ghanaians to reflect purposefully on the vision enunciated by President Obama when he visited Ghana recently and use the ideas as a rallying point of nation building. "President Obama's message of hope, unity and peace transcends racial, religious, generational and political barriers and brings disparate people together to participate in the electoral process and national development," he added.

Vice President Mahama said it was only by recognising that all people, regardless of their racial, ethnic, social, religious and other backgrounds mattered and as such must be given the opportunity to thrive that peace could be ensued.

Dwelling on some ideas of the late reputed Ghanaian academic, Dr Kwegyir Aggrey, he said without the mixture of black and other races in "equal partnership, mutual confidence and respect, the peace and harmony of the world would give way to strife and discord among the nations". Vice President Mahama said: "One cannot produce beautiful music on the piano without using both the black and the white keys." He said Mr Obama's ascendancy to the US Presidency was "no accident of history, but history unfolding" owing to the trail blazed by men of African descent such as Dr Marcus Garvey, W.E. Dubois, Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Martin Luther King Jnr.

Giving an expos=E9 of the book, Daasebre Oti Boateng said he came under the Obama inspiration after having watched him deliver a powerful speech to delegates at the Democratic Party Convention in 2004, and had since gone to believe the US President as a personality who rekindled hope in the new African generation.

Daasebre Oti Boateng said President Obama's ethos of changing the world's perception of races could be anchored in Ghana to change his compatriots' notions about races and ethnicity. What Ghana needs to do, he outlined, was to encourage its youth to develop sufficient educational, organisational and tactical abilities to face the world confidently.

Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), said the achievements of US President Obama should inspire Ghanaians to develop the requisite human resource base for development, promising his outfit will play its expected role in this regard.

Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso, a Senior Research Fellow at the UG Centre for International Affairs, who reviewed the book, described Vice President Mahama as the "gift of the Gonja people to Ghana" as President Obama is the Africa's gift to the world.

He said what came out clearly from Daasebre Oti Boateng's work was the need for Africans to become masters of their destiny. Former students of the Commonwealth Hall (Old vandals) of UG bought the first copy of the book for $1,000 while the office of the Vice President bought a copy for GH¢1,000.

Starting as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Daasebre Oti Boateng rose to Senior Lecturer before being appointed as Government Statistician and lately as Professor Emeritus at the All Nations University at Koforidua in the Eastern Region. 6 Aug. 09