By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah, GNA
Kumasi Feb. 19, GNA-A development planner and Pan-Africanist, has expressed excitement at the new wave of Pan-Africanism and the prospect of opening a new leadership chapter for Africa’s development.
Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, said Ghana’s leader, President John Dramani Mahama, is hitting the right Pan-African notes from the last UN address and the subsequent press conference at the African Union meeting, especially, the principal quest to bring the history of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade into the front burner of the global political order.
“The Trans-Atlantic slave trade has been a painful missing chapter of black history, which continuously manifest itself under various imperialist guises”, he stated, adding that, history was the rudder of leadership and the signpost of development.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on recent calls by some African leaders, especially, President Mahama, for reparations to appease for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which had deprived Africa of its human and material resources for centuries, Mr Azongo said Ghana had again, shown its leadership in Africa’s development.
“Ghana is the citadel of pan-Africanism and it is important to put the Ghanaian flag in its proper historical context to appreciate its inspiration and Ghana’s pioneering leadership in Pan-Africanism”.
This, he said was historically relevant to appreciate Ghana’s status as the Pan-African blueprint.
Mr Azongo pointed out that, the Ghanaian flag reinforced Ghana’s status as the Pan-African blueprint and that, contrary to the popular establishment that Ghana’s red-gold-green tri-colour flag was original to Ghana, was fundamentally flawed in history and a missing link in Ghana’s historical Pan-African leadership.
According to him, Ghana’s flag was inspired by the Ethiopian tri-color red-gold-green flag, unveiled by King Menelik II of Ethiopia in 1897, to signify victory and resistance against colonialism after defeating the Italians seeking to colonize Ethiopia in the Battle of Adwa in 1896.
He said the flag was adopted by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, as the Pan-African colours in 1957 as the first Sub-Saharan country to attain independence.
Mr Azongo said the influence and inspiration of Dr Kwame Nkrumah led to Guinea’s independence in 1958 and about 17 other African countries attaining independence in 1960.
He said Ghana was well positioned historically to speak for Africa and the global black nation to recognize the horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the leadership role of President Mahama, in seeking reparations for Africa, was a clear demonstration of Ghana’s leadership in African issues.
GNA
Edited by Kwabia Owusu-Mensah/George-Ramsey Benamba