The Vanguard
Triumvirate of the millennium
THE British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its African service sponsored
an "African of the millennium" competition last year in which clowns
nominated themselves or their fathers. But there were quite some serious
nominations.
The competition reflected Africans' poor sense of history and knowledge of
their past. It was therefore not surprising that most of the nominees were
people of contemporary times. Secondly, they were mainly politicians which
meant that we know little about our men of the intellect, about our writers
like Wole Soyinka, about our famous sculptors who produced fine works of
art, about heroes like Kinjeketile in Tanzania.
It is because we do not know about our historic, cultural and scientific
past that we fall victims of Western civilisation. Africans built the
pyramids. That technology is lost to us and the rest of humanity. The
science of preserving corpses like the mummies in Egypt seems lost forever;
all we know is the current system of cooling mortuaries, which involves
electricity and other expensive methods of embalming. Not many of us know
that one of the greatest tacticians and strategists in military history;
Hannibal is an African from Carthage in present day Tunisia.
Inspite of this lack of historical depth and consciousness, it is gratifying
that those who won the competition were all Pan Africanists and not Uncle
Toms or colonial stooges. They are men who made contributions to the
emancipation of their countries, the African continent and blacks in the
Diaspora.
Kwame Nkrumah who won the competition is already a legend who became more
powerful across the continent in death than his towering political status
while he was President of Ghana. When political independence came on March
6, 1957, Nkrumah who through the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) led the
anti-colonial struggle by "positive action" had declared that the
independence of Ghana was meaningless if it is not linked with the
liberation of the entire African continent.
The Osagyefo (captain) was a man of immense organisational abilities. Within
Ghana, he established mass movements like the Young Pioneers, the United
Council and the Workers Brigade. He also established an ideological
institution and political training ground in Winneba. An independent Ghana
was an habour for all Africans who sought refuge, a safe or conducive place
to carry on their activities. Just as he welcomed liberation fighters so did
he provide shelter and training ground for political dissidents harassed or
endangered by neo-colonical governments in the continent.
Some of the most famous pan-Africanists in history like W.E.B. du Bois and
George Padmore also moved to Ghana. Outside the continent, he built the
Non-Aligned Movement with Marshall Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Abdel Nasser
of Egypt. He was a strong advocate of African unity. He believed that as
scattered states living in small economies and manufacturing petty
rivalries, Africa cannot survive imperialism.
His book Africa Must Unite written in 1963 set out his thoughts just as
another, Neocolonialism, alarmed the western powers. Despite his
contributions and his being loved within Ghana and by black people across
the globe, Nkrumah was overthrown.
The perpetuators of this February 24, 1966 coup were unpatriotic elements in
the army led by Colonel Emmanuel Kotoka and Major Akwasi Afrifa. Nkrumah
died in Bucharest, Romania on April 27 1972. The vote for him as the African
of the millennium by fellow Africans is a mere confirmation that this star
of the African history will not fade away.
Nelson Mandela who came second has a well-known history. But for the tragic
aspects of the struggle, his history is almost like a romantic tale; the
story of a man who fell in love with his people, his country and freedom and
was willing to go to the gallows for his belief.
The struggle, he said, was his life and for this he spent twenty-seven years
in prison. But when the country needed liberation, when it needed
purification, when it needed to be freed, the saintly figure of Mandela
emerged from jail to lead his people, black, Indians, whites to the promised
land. As an individual, Mandela has so much moral authority that other world
leaders seem like dwarfs beside him.
Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Zik of Africa emerged third. His choice might be
surprising to many Nigerians who may not even pick him as the Nigerian of
the century. Zik's strength and his strong showing in the competition lied
mainly with his early pan-Africanist years when he inspired many including
Kwame Nkrumah. He was well educated, a brilliant politician with a very wide
political horizon.
He was a colossus in the Pan-Africanist Movement whose books like Liberia in
world politics (1938) Renascent Africa (1939) and political Blue Print for
Nigeria (1943) influenced many.
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